Frederick Lebeau warns of rising violence after five assaulted in Nova Scotia

Five correctional officers were assaulted last weekend at Springhill Institution in nova scotia, and the attack is under investigation. Union officials say the injured officers are recovering but remain shaken after the incident at the medium-security unit.

Frederick Lebeau, national president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, called it a violent assault. “They’re doing a little bit better. It was a violent assault,” he said in an interview about the injured officers.

Springhill Institution assault

Lebeau said the attack was unusual for that unit but not isolated in the wider system. He said, “Though the violence is rising across the country, we’re pretty worried about what’s going on in our institution nationally,” and added that members are dealing with high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder.

He also said morale at Springhill is very low after the attack. “It’s our friend. It’s our co-worker. We’re doing almost a life sentence with inmates also during our career, over 25, 30, 35 years of servicing people, Canadians,” he said.

Donnacona Institution example

Lebeau pointed to three inmate homicides in eight months at the maximum-security unit of Donnacona Institution in Quebec. “We had, under the last eight months, three murderers over there… So it’s, for us, very worrying,” he said.

He said officers are facing more drones, weapons and drugs in prisons. “We’re seeing an increase of drones, we’re seeing an increase of arms, of drugs, and at the end of the day, it’s our community that’s not safe,” he said.

Nova Scotia prison records

The Nova Scotia Department of Justice does not publish figures on assaults against staff in its Corrections Key Indicators report. The Nova Scotia Auditor General said the department records incident data, including offender on staff incidents that need in-patient hospitalization, but does not publish multi-year counts or rates by year.

The union is pressing for more drone detectors, better drone detectors, body scanners and more boots on the ground. Lebeau said, “the government needs to invest more money in our institution.”