Direct Supervision In Remand Centre

Direct Supervision In Remand Centre - July 1/09
Remand centre guards up in arms over plans to station them among prisoners with no partitions
By ANDREW HANON
Mere weeks after a guard was attacked by a prisoner and hospitalized, staff at the notorious Edmonton Remand Centre are about to be thrown in with the inmates.
"There will be no protective glass between us and them," said one correctional peace officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We'll be at a desk right in the units, where we're totally exposed and vulnerable." The locked, secure observation decks where the CPOs oversee the prisoners, known as "bubbles," are being phased out in favour of "direct supervision," where staff work alone or in pairs right alongside the prisoners in the cramped, overcrowded units. The new system begins experimentally in a single unit on July 8 and will be phased in over the next year. It will feature rewards for inmates who behave. If prisoners obey the rules and co-operate, they get extra privileges. If they cause trouble, privileges are taken away. One source said the privileges will include flat-screen TVs and fridges full of goodies in common areas. The head of the guards' union is calling for a hazard assessment of the plan. Alberta Union of Provincial Employees president Doug Knight said direct supervision at the Edmonton remand is "ludicrous." 'COMPLETELY DIFFERENT' It might work in other jails, he said, but "the atmosphere in a remand centre is completely different from a longer-term institution." Remand centres hold prisoners still awaiting trial. They don't yet know their fates and are often tense and edgy. Some are extremely violent and, once sentenced, will be sent to maximum-security prisons. Many come into the remand with "street beefs" and end up face-to-face with their enemies from the outside. Add to that the Edmonton centre's gulag-like overcrowding -- there are more than 800 inmates in a facility built for 340 -- and you have a powderkeg of tension, anger and hostility, Knight explained. "This will put the inmates at risk, too," said another union member, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. "What you need in there is more control, not less." Solicitor General spokesman Sharon Lopatka said studies in the U.S. have shown that direct supervision actually "reduces tensions." "It allows (CPOs) to quickly deal with problems before they escalate," she said. "Because they're better able to observe the inmates they get to know the habits, what's going on, what the inmates are saying." BETTER RAPPORT Because they spend more time with the prisoners, the guards can build a better rapport with them, Lopatka added. A new, $620-million, 2,000-inmate remand centre will open in 2011 at 127 Street and 186 Avenue. Lopatka said the new facility is designed with direct supervision in mind, and imposing it now will give staff a chance to learn the new system. But a lot of staff at the remand don't buy it, said one staffer. They're skeptical of the system in a new facility, but feel they're being thrown to the wolves in the old remand. Last month, a guard was hospitalized after a prisoner managed to slip into a secure office and attack him while the CPO did paperwork. A week earlier, another guard had to fend off an attacker with pepper spray after he tried to break up a fight between two inmates. One staffer warned that tough economic times could make things even more tense in the remand. "They don't get as many programs as sentenced prisoners get," he explained. "And, with the overcrowding, they're not getting as much as they should anyway. "During a recession, one of the first places the government cuts back is programs for prisoners." He added ominously: "A busy offender is an offender who's not making shivs."