BCC remains in lockdown after Oct. 20 mayhem

The Baffin Correctional Centre is chronically overcrowded, but “I got a clear message from this house that investing in prisons in Nunavut is not important,” Nunavut justice minister Peterson said Oct. 24 in the Nunavut legislature. (FILE PHOTO)

A fire lit by three inmates in a bathroom at the Baffin Correctional Centre on Oct. 20 has led to a lockdown at the Iqaluit jail, Nunavut’s justice minister Keith Peterson said Oct. 24 in legislative assembly.

Since Oct. 20, BCC has since been under lockdown, with prisoners remaining in their cells, while the facility’s staff and the RCMP investigate the incident, he said.

It’s still not clear what provoked BCC inmates into lighting the fire, but some reports say they set fire to bed linens, upset a billiard table and threw various items around during the evening of Oct. 20.

Peterson said prisoners in the affected area were safely evacuated and no injuries were reported.

But in an Oct. 24 letter to Nunatsiaq News, Nunavut’s former fire marshall Tony Noakes Jr. says the safety of BCC’s inmates, staff and the general public remain at risk any time a fire or a riot takes place.

That’s because there is no other facility in Iqaluit able to to secure prisoners if BCC were to burn down.

Noakes also claims other incidents involving fires have occurred at the jail, which holds prisoners in remand and those with sentences of less than two years.

The Government of Nunavut dismissed Noakes Jr. in 2010 after he went public with reports of fire and safety violations at BCC.

Speaking in the legislature on Oct. 24, Iqaluit West MLA Monica Ell questioned Peterson about how his department plans to prevent repeat incidents from taking place at the correctional centre.

“My understanding is that BCC is too old and too small [for the territory’s needs],” Ell said, asking if a new prison was a “feasible and affordable” option.

Overcrowding is “no secret” at a centre originally built in the mid-1980s to accommodate 42 inmates, although upgrades have expanded its official capacity to 72, Peterson replied.

At one point in 2010, BCC held 102 prisoners.

“When you get people in large gatherings, you can never guarantee that these events won’t happen,” Peterson said. “The centre’s gymnasium is often used to accommodate overcrowding.”

The new correctional facility expected to open next spring in Rankin Inlet will help address that issue, Peterson said.

But there are no plans to build a new facility or expand the current one in Iqaluit, he said.

And that’s despite new federal legislation, called the Safe Streets and Communities Act, which seeks mandatory minimum sentences for child sex offences and drug trafficking and an end to pardons for serious violent and repeat offenders.

“We do have concerns that Bill C-10 will place more of a burden on Nunavut’s correctional facilities,” Peterson said, adding he has asked officials to look at alternatives and temporary methods for holding minimum security prisoners.

“Any support we can get from members of this house would be greatly appreciated,” he said, noting he hopes the new legislation doesn’t eliminate the need for some of the territory’s other correctional programs, such as its “on the land” camps.

“You can’t just lock people up,” Peterson said. “We have to offer rehabilitation programs to the individuals so they can reintegrate into their communities.”

Peterson also pointed out that in 2009, MLAs rejected a $300,000 feasibility study to look at upgrading or replacing the 26-year-old BCC.

At that time, some regular MLAs cited overcrowded homes and schools in Nunavut as a higher priority than the overcrowded prison.

“I got a clear message from this house that investing in prisons in Nunavut is not important,” Peterson said.