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Federal Correctional Officers Want Pepper Spray

Bruce Monkhouse

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http://www.kingstonthisweek.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=118122&catname=Local+News&classif=News+%2D+Local

KP officers want to carry pepper spray
Union reacts to latest attack on prison workers
Stephen Petrick
Local News - Tuesday, July 19, 2005 @ 08:00

The Union of Canadian Correctional Officers is calling for better protection of workers after a vicious attack sent two Kingston Penitentiary officers to hospital last week
One correctional officer needed stitches to the head and face and the other needed both stitches and treatment for a separated shoulder.

The incident has raised more tension between Correctional Service Canada and union leaders, who have been without a contract for 39 months.
â Å“This is exactly why we demand that correctional officers be equipped with OC (pepper) spray as part of their uniform,â ? said UCCO President Sylvain Martel. 

â Å“The vast majority of serious violence-related injuries to both correctional officers and inmates could be avoided with this one tool.â ?
A CSC spokesperson confirmed the attack happened on July 13 when the inmate was being led back to his range after a meeting with a programs officer.

â Å“This is a serious incident and we will have an investigation to see how an incident like this can be prevented in the future,â ? said Holly Knowles, CSC Ontario region spokesperson.
She said the injuries to the two officers were non-life threatening and that Kingston Police will lay charges on the inmate, who has since been removed to the Special Handling Unit in Quebec, where problematic prisoners are kept.
Both CSC and the union believe the attack was unexpected and unprovoked.

But they agree on little else.
Martel says incidents like this are common in Canadian prisons and that Kingston Penitentiary sees an average of one or two assaults per month.
He's been lobbying the government to allow prison workers to carry more safety equipment right on their uniforms, arguing that pepper spray is a useless defence tool if it's kept in a closet.

However, Knowles says the number of assaults reported in federal prisons in the 2004-05 fiscal year was one, and the previous two years the numbers were zero.
She explained that guards will soon have stab-proof vests and that more safety equipment, such as pepper spray, is always within a minute's reach at the prison, should a violent clash occur.
She also said correction workers are trained at how to handle irate inmates.

Gee, and its any wonder the CSC senoir management is a laughing stock, lies from the top on down......

**Lets see if I can say this with a straight face**  " Ah, yes, even though we have only had one assault in three years we ordered expensive stab-proof vests for all our officers." ::)
...and I didn't even see her boss pull her string.....
 
Correctional Officers, IMO, should be entitled to carry any-damn-thing they want to, including spiked brass knuckles, cattle-prods, and bullwhips.
 
Bruce Monkhouse said:
http://www.kingstonthisweek.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=118122&catname=Local+News&classif=News+%2D+Local

The incident has raised more tension between Correctional Service Canada and union leaders, who have been without a contract for 39 months.
â Å“This is exactly why we demand that correctional officers be equipped with OC (pepper) spray as part of their uniform,â ? said UCCO President Sylvain Martel.  
:eek: 39 months without a contract holy crap!!

â Å“This is a serious incident and we will have an investigation to see how an incident like this can be prevented in the future,â ? said Holly Knowles,
WTF? Lets see how this sort of thing can be prevent, I dunno how about give guards defensive weapons that will make an inmate think twice before attacking.

However, Knowles says the number of assaults reported in federal prisons in the 2004-05 fiscal year was one, and the previous two years the numbers were zero.
She explained that guards will soon have stab-proof vests and that more safety equipment, such as pepper spray, is always within a minute's reach at the prison, should a violent clash occur.
obviously this woman (and her supperiors) have never been in fight, were you are literally fighting for you life.  That one minute can be a real long time if you get into that kind of situation. [/quote]

She also said correction workers are trained at how to handle irate inmates.

I am sure words (and empty hand techniques) will work really well on 6'5" 300lb Bubba, who has been lifting weights for the last ten years and was probably put in the pen for being a violent SOB in the first place. What typical liberal thinking, that words are all you will ever need in a confrontation.
 
I agree 100%. Give them the tools to do the job, after all this is PRISON not a day care centre! Of course to listen to our government, all inmates are just products of society and want to be upstanding, good, productive, honest and caring people! What a load of SH*T, prisoners are in jail because they screwed up, and people in prisons REALLY screwed up! But then I suppose prisoners rights are more important than the safety of prison guards! ::)
 
Cheer up comrades.....All will be well soon....


Here is a pic of Monkey....(Herr Monkhouse) posing in the new "Ontario Corrections" anti-Stab (anti-staff?) gear.....




SB

 
Im aware this is a fairly old thread however I felt its important to weigh in on the issue as a federal CO. The union has lots of far out ideas on what we should be doing at work. Now again Im about having safety equipment and want all my brothers and sisters to come home. But in a federal prison carrying something like OC on the range is not a practical recommendation. Gas is kept in all the bubbles on the unit- in the bubble you ALWAYS have a CO monitoring any movement happening on our ranges. This is without exception if their is another CO walking the range. Should an incident occur during a range walk- the CO's in the bubble(more then 2 during open movement) will deploy gas.Although I would like someone to describe an incident on a range that OC would prevent or help prevent. 

Certain posts should and do have OC or access to OC. During yard time a CO(s) can be deployed with gas according to the supervisor on. Who is also a CO. 

During my time with CSC ive noticed the people complaining about not getting equipment are the most likely to abuse that equipment anyways. If Ive needed gas Ive had it. I cant say the same about during transfers, there is some beaurocrisy involved in that but its a completely different story, although its an urgent matter our union isnt pursuing. For reasons I can only guess at, and that isnt fact so ill leave it out. As for vests- eh. Theyre saying 18mos. I couldnt care less. Yes CO's get assaulted. Do they get stabbed? Not often, they get knocked around more then stabbed. Perhaps helmets are in order.  ::)  The vest system will be implemented poorly im sure, you should hear the suggestions for that system. 5 vests for a unit to swap with oncoming watches etc. But we shall see!

Screw.
 
Since the thread is now awakened...
Bruce, any headway on this?  Did you get your contract?  I would bloody hope so.  What about the spray, did that pan out?
Inquiring law enforcment minds want to know...
 
As of today we still do not have a Collective Agreement!
As for the issue of OC spray to COs,it is at the discretion of the Warden.A risk analysis is done each day based on the previous days incident reports.

At the institution I work at we have several posts that carry it each shift,this is signed off by the warden each morning and reported to Regional HQ and then to National .

At any time if a CO in a cellblock that has not been authorized to carry OC feels the need to carry it,he/she can but must justify it in writing to the Correctional Supervisor.

All COs at my institution carry handcuffs and at the Max level will be issued stabproof armour.

As for the total knife assaults against COs ,I don't know.How ever there are 31 Federal Correctional Officers names on the Peace Officer Memorial.Most of those died due to knife assaults
 
I'm provincial, we settle when OPSEU settles. Its our federal brothers/sisters who have been taking it dry from the Govt. Hopefully they get some huge back pay some day.....

I also agree with Screw, I don't want any personal weapons on me when I'm on a floor.
Just one more thing to use against me if I'm blind-sided, however I do want it accessable for those who are coming to my aid and for the most part in the Ontario provincial system, it is.

EDIT; marshall sl  posted while I was typing so some of this is redundant
 
marshall sl said:
As of today we still do not have a Collective Agreement!
As for the issue of OC spray to COs,it is at the discretion of the Warden.A risk analysis is done each day based on the previous days incident reports.

At the institution I work at we have several posts that carry it each shift,this is signed off by the warden each morning and reported to Regional HQ and then to National .

At any time if a CO in a cellblock that has not been authorized to carry OC feels the need to carry it,he/she can but must justify it in writing to the Correctional Supervisor.

All COs at my institution carry handcuffs and at the Max level will be issued stabproof armour.

As for the total knife assaults against COs ,I don't know.How ever there are 31 Federal Correctional Officers names on the Peace Officer Memorial.Most of those died due to knife assaults

:eek: :eek: :eek: You guy are around the three year mark with no contract?!?!?!?  Absolutely f_cking unacceptable!  How can that even happen?  Wouldn't a binding arbitration have been launched by now?  Sorry if this seems like a union-ish hijack, I've just never heard of such a thing. 
BTW, is your stuff pepper spray or foam?  Our cell guys have the foam.  Just curious. 
I saw a device once that looked like a black glove, but on the small knuckle and index knuckle there were metal anodes.  It had an internal activating switch, and was essentially a taser glove.  It was a while back, hell maybe it was science fiction.  Seemed like a good idea at the time.  If it doesn't' exist, maybe you guys should invent one.  Better get on it soon, though.  Someone thinks that they are coming:
http://www.stungloves.com/
Jump the idea, make a bundle, then build your own prison (yeah, right  ;D)
 
marshall sl said:
As of today we still do not have a Collective Agreement!
As for the issue of OC spray to COs,it is at the discretion of the Warden.A risk analysis is done each day based on the previous days incident reports.

At the institution I work at we have several posts that carry it each shift,this is signed off by the warden each morning and reported to Regional HQ and then to National .

At any time if a CO in a cellblock that has not been authorized to carry OC feels the need to carry it,he/she can but must justify it in writing to the Correctional Supervisor.

All COs at my institution carry handcuffs and at the Max level will be issued stabproof armour.

As for the total knife assaults against COs ,I don't know.How ever there are 31 Federal Correctional Officers names on the Peace Officer Memorial.Most of those died due to knife assaults

Those are all good points- and one hundred true. If the armor saves one life it'll be worth it. But it needs to implemented properly! And yup...no contract. And no end in sight.......despite the rumblings.

And thanks for the back up Bruce. The Ontario corrections program is an excellent one.

Zipperhead- we use spray, the foam was ditched because it was discovered that the inmates could pick it up and fling it back.
 
Screw said:
Zipperhead- we use spray, the foam was ditched because it was discovered that the inmates could pick it up and fling it back.

Bloody hell. 
Bet they couldn't do that with a blue arc of electricity coming off the end of a cattle prod. ^-^
 
zipperhead_cop said:
Bloody hell. 
Bet they couldn't do that with a blue arc of electricity coming off the end of a cattle prod. ^-^

Or a .38 hollowpoint  ;D
 
I didn't know that Co's were so under equipped. I find this odd that Co's aren't allowed to carry.

Here in BC the Provincial Sherifs carry a gun, pepper spray, handcuffs, club and some other misc. items. They are basically in charge of prisoners at the court house and prisoner transfers and stuff like that. So if they feel that these inmates are dangerous enough that the Sherifs need guns and everything else then why are they deemed not a significant threat to the Co's?
 
GENERALLY speaking where firearms are required they are provided. Some escorts slip by but thats the nature of the beast, those same sherriffs check all their gear in a locker the moment they hit our perimeter fence.

Although it has happened where armed provie guys have dropped an inmate off and we've had to immediately take them for a medical appointment and when he came to the institution he required guns,OC as options but when we take him back out the gate after about 5 mins we bring nothing.  :cdn:
 
Quote from Screw,
we bring nothing.

...and I said "PARDON"? You can't be serious......
 
Bruce Monkhouse said:
Quote from Screw,
we bring nothing.

...and I said "PARDON"? You can't be serious......

Uniforms and handcuffs.... obviously this isnt ALWAYS the case but it has happened, if there isnt enough time to do a "risk assessment" the options are rather limited(read- none).
 
Ontario,
Two Officers and a driver, pepper foam and ASP baton, escort vest.
Inmate handcuffed and leg ironed.
[Can be removed for medical appointments on my assesment of risk factor]

I give the our Management/ Union a lot of credit for hammering out our escort policy.
 
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