Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds

By Jill Sperling

KRCC

Kamloops correctional officers use rally to draw attention to prison violence

Oct 17, 2019 | 4:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — Correctional officers held a rally outside the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre (KRCC) this afternoon.

The demonstration was held to draw attention to the growing issue of violence against correctional officers inside the maximum security facility.

Throughout B.C., there have been 124 assaults this year.

In Kamloops, the numbers are on pace to set a record.

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“They’re at 14 assaults right now on correctional officers,” said Dean Purdy, chair of the Corrections and Sheriff Services for the BC Government and Service Employees’ Union. “Over the last five years, they’ve averaged 16.4, so we’re on pace to go past that again and that’s really concerning for us.”

Mental health issues and inmate crowding are among the safety issues facing correctional officers.

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds

“The officer to inmate ratios are currently, at this facility, as high as 1:40, whereas every other jail across the country have two officers in their living units and we want to see that put in place as well,” Purdy said. “Because, that’s something that, working alone in an environment, in a maximum-security jail you can understand there’s not immediate backup, there isn’t both the mental and physical support that’s needed in this job.”