In the News
February 5, 2020
The union is asking Albertans to contact government representatives about the issue. "Officers need to be supported," said Bloomfield. "We keep everybody else safe, we're asking for the community to help keep us safe now.
February 4, 2020
What this “Program” does is allow for every Offender at Warkworth (near 570) to apply for a hypodermic needle to be stored in his cell to use illegal drugs like heroin, various opioids like fentanyl and carfentanil, prescription medications, and other substances such as industrial cleaners.
February 4, 2020
Bloomfield, though, pointed to an alternative program in place at the Drumheller Institution, which he argued is safer and more effective in limiting overdoses. Like supervised consumption sites, such as the one at Calgary’s Sheldon M. Chumir Centre, the Drumheller program allows inmates to inject drugs under the supervision of trained nurses in a designated location within the prison’s health-care unit.
February 3, 2020
So once people have been called out for their crimes, and put behind bars to signal society’s objection to their behaviour, and to send a message to others, the agency’s answer is to ensure inmates can safely continue with their worrisome drug use. It doesn’t make sense.
February 3, 2020
“The overall risk to the inmate is [also] dramatically increased in comparison to the harm reduction methods being employed in overdose prevention sites (OPS), an alternative that CSC has gone with before,” says James Bloomfield, Prairies regional president. “The risk to all staff and inmates is only increased when needles intended for injecting illegal drugs are in the cells.”
January 31, 2020
“It’s a much more controlled program and safer for everybody involved,” Bloomfield said of the program, which has been around more than six months. “It’s been well-accepted by the inmate populations and it keeps the danger of having that needle and that inmate curling up in a corner out of the cells.” Bloomfield said he “can’t understand why” the federal government isn’t on board with the alternative model.
January 26, 2020
We’re losing touch with what the Correctional Service is. It’s about corrections, it means correcting behaviour. But then you also have to look at victims rights as well. These guys have committed crimes to end up in here. It’s very clear the pendulum is swinging to far the other way.
January 26, 2020
Le syndicat national demande maintenant des investissements de la part de Service correctionnel Canada (SCC) pour que des mesures soient prises afin d'empêcher l’utilisation de drones près des établissements carcéraux.
January 23, 2020
"It is becoming a more challenging and dangerous work environment for correctional officers as there appears to be a correlation between an increase in perceived unrealistic correctional officer accountability and responsibility and a decrease in offender accountability and responsibility," Essex stated
January 23, 2020
Rob Finucan, the Ontario president for UCCO based in Kingston, said the attacks by inmates on officers are due to the offenders feeling they won’t be punished as severely as before. “Our concerns are inmate accountability,” Finucan said in an interview. “I’m seeing across the country there’s no accountability for their actions.
January 21, 2020
Finucan said the officer suffered facial injuries, and has been off work since the attack while he receives medical attention.
January 21, 2020
“It is becoming a more challenging and dangerous work environment for Correctional Officers as there appears to be a correlation between an increase in perceived unrealistic Correctional Officer Accountability and Responsibility and a decrease in Offender Accountability and Responsibility.”
January 15, 2020
«C’est pas tant que les installations sont désuètes, c’est que les normes de construction ne sont pas adaptées, a affirmé le président du syndicat. La solution: il faut améliorer ces normes et faire des rénovations.»
October 19, 2019
They say if the prison service wants to continue distributing needles, then the injection site, known as an overdose prevention service, should be the model
September 23, 2019
The union representing Canada’s correctional officers is calling for better communication between prison management and staff at Kent Institution after a mental health survey found it to be a “highly dysfunctional and unhealthy” workplace.
June 10, 2019
While the pilot program is being praised by medical and drug policy experts as a positive measure to curb rising overdoses behind bars, correctional officers are wary of being forced to acknowledge — and even accept — that illicit drugs are being consumed on their watch.
June 9, 2019
The message is clear: needles need to be removed from prison cells and the exisiting program must come to an end, said Wilkins.
June 9, 2019
Le pénitencier de Drumheller, dans le sud de l'Alberta, s’apprête à ouvrir un centre d’injection supervisé à l’intérieur même de ses murs, selon le syndicat des agents correctionnels du Canada.
June 9, 2019
Harm reduction facility in Drumheller, Alta. penitentiary could open as soon as end of this month
June 9, 2019
The union that represents workers inside federal penitentiaries has been sounding the alarm about drones and illegal drugs entering prisons for years.
June 8, 2019
“The correctional officers are dead set against the prison needle-exchange and the current way it’s being rolled out,” Wilkins told the Post in a Thursday interview, saying officers are concerned about their safety.
June 7, 2019
En place depuis l’an dernier, le Programme d'échange de seringues en prison fait toujours l’objet de contestations de la part des agentes et agents correctionnels du Canada. Ils transporteront une seringue géante dans les rues d’Ottawa, leur façon de réitérer une demande de longue date faite au gouvernement, celle de trouver une solution qui ne mette pas à risque leur sécurité.
June 7, 2019
To help addicts in prison, the Trudeau government is supplying them with clean syringes — but the federal prison guards' union says that's a serious risk to its members.
June 1, 2019
But it’s not only advocates and inmates that are apprehensive of the proposed changes — it’s also the prison guards. Jason Godin is the national president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, which represents over 7,300 members working in federal institutions across the country. “Administrative segregation for us is always a last resort,” Godin says. “I’ve been in the service long enough to know, I’ve worked in segregation units, that’s the last thing we want to do.”
May 24, 2019
Des gardiennes de prison et des détenues mentionnent avoir peur depuis que les prisonnières qui veulent se droguer peuvent demander une seringue propre pour s’injecter dans leur cellule puis la conserver.
May 21, 2019
Internal workplace reports at Springhill Institution, Nova Institution for Women describe staff concerns
May 16, 2019
Jason Godin, the now former national president and founding member of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers representing more than 7,300 federal correctional officers across Canada, has passed the baton to a new leader.
May 14, 2019
Les délégués du Syndicat des agents correctionnels du Canada affilié à la CSN ont voté en faveur de l'entente de principe survenue avec le Conseil du Trésor visant à dédommager les travailleurs de la fonction publique, dont les agents correctionnels, à cause des problèmes causés par le système de paie Phénix.
May 10, 2019
An allegation that guards at Warkworth Institution recently encouraged inmates to take enough fentanyl to drop and earn "toe tag parole" was a "slap in the face," says the president of the union for correctional officers there.
May 9, 2019
The prairie regional president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers who works at Stony Mountain, James Bloomfield, told CBC News inmates and their contacts are using drones to bring things like drugs, cell phones and weapons into prisons.
May 7, 2019
«On dit que la drogue est illégale, mais on donne l'outil pour s'injecter, c'est un non-sens, on ne comprend pas où va le gouvernement», dénonce Frédérick Lebeau du Syndicat des agents correctionnels du Canada.
May 7, 2019
Le Syndicat des agents correctionnels du Canada tient mordicus à ce que les seringues ne se retrouvent pas dans les cellules des détenus.
May 6, 2019
Le Service correctionnel du Canada (SCC) veut faire l’acquisition de systèmes de détection des intrusions aériennes et terrestres (AGIDS, pour Air and Ground integrated Intrusion Detection Systems) pour six de ses établissements, dont les pénitenciers de Donnacona et de Cowansville.
May 4, 2019
Des centaines de criminels québécois se déclarent autochtones dès leur admission au pénitencier, ce qui leur permet de bénéficier de certains avantages, comme des visites contacts plus fréquentes avec leur conjointe et une réévaluation plus rapide de leur cote de sécurité.
May 1, 2019
Union of Canadian Correctional Officers pushes for supervised consumption sites in prisons
April 29, 2019
The union representing correctional officers is raising concerns about the number of staff suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
April 24, 2019
A union representing prison officers is raising concerns about changes to segregation in Canadian prisons after five inmate homicides at Stony Mountain Institution in 16 months.
April 15, 2019
Correctional Officers marched outside Bill Casey's office in Truro
April 8, 2019
A former representative for prisoners at Stony Mountain Institution has been sentenced to 10.5 years for selling one of the most toxic opioids within prison walls.
April 7, 2019
Près de 40 surdoses sont survenues en trois mois au pénitencier de Donnacona. Face à cette problématique, les agents correctionnels demandent plus de ressources pour lutter contre la crise des opioïdes.
April 6, 2019
Les agents correctionnels du pénitencier de Donnacona doivent gérer une situation préoccupante: en seulement trois mois, entre septembre et décembre 2018, ils ont été témoins de 37 surdoses chez les détenus.
April 6, 2019
Correctional officers at the Donnacona Institution, a federal penitentiary 30 kilometres west of Quebec City, are raising the alarm after witnessing a wave of fentanyl and carfentanyl overdoses.
April 6, 2019
Les agents correctionnels du pénitencier de Donnacona ont eu à gérer une série de surdoses sans précédent l'automne dernier. Ils réclament davantage d'outils pour faire face à la crise des opioïdes et aux livraisons par drones.
April 6, 2019
A judge determined there’s not enough evidence to send two prison guards to trial in Hines's death
April 5, 2019
The family of a Cape Breton man who died while an inmate in a federal prison in New Brunswick is asking that the province’s Attorney General direct that two corrections officers be sent to trial.
April 5, 2019
Près de quatre ans après la mort du détenu néo-écossais Matthew Hines au pénitencier de Dorchester, au Nouveau-Brunswick, toutes les accusations portées contre deux agents correctionnels sont abandonnées.
April 5, 2019
A judge has dismissed charges against two correctional officers in the death of an inmate who was pepper-sprayed inside New Brunswick's Dorchester Penitentiary.
April 5, 2019
After hearing four days of evidence in the fall, Judge Ronald LeBlanc discharged Ross and Bourgoin on Friday, concluding the force they used was reasonable and necessary and did not rise to the level of a crime.
March 28, 2019
Canada’s prisoner service is considering opening overdose prevention sites as it expands a needle-exchange program that is now offered at a fifth institution for offenders who inject smuggled drugs.
March 23, 2019
John Lambiris knows how much important STARS air ambulance is
February 8, 2019
An increase in reported inmate-on-staff violence in Ontario’s correctional institutions has led to the release of a report by the province’s independent corrections adviser in December 2018, offering 42 recommendations aimed at making jails safer. But correctional violence is not unique to Ontario...
January 25, 2019
Aucune date n’a encore été arrêtée pour le déploiement du controversé programme d’échange de seringues dans les pénitenciers québécois...
January 18, 2019
A 29-year veteran of Correctional Service Canada (CSC), Reynolds has been a vocal advocate for better mental health support for officiers and staff for years...
January 7, 2019
La miniaturisation des téléphones cellulaires empêche le gouvernement fédéral de lutter efficacement contre le crime organisé dans les établissements carcéraux...
December 29, 2018
Le pénitencier fédéral de Donnacona a été ciblé par au moins deux livraisons par drone...
December 20, 2018
Two Dorchester Penitentiary guards will have to wait until April 5 to find out whether they'll go to trial on criminal charges related to the death of inmate Matthew Hines...
December 6, 2018
The union that represents corrections officers at Stony Mountain Institution says its members are at risk due to the latest trick inmates are using to get contraband into the prison...
December 5, 2018
Inmates at Stony Mountain Institution are taking to the air in their efforts to smuggle drugs and other contraband into the federal penitentiary, prison officials say...
December 4, 2018
After meeting with Ralph Goodale, the federal minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and hearing comments made by the minister at a Public Safety committee meeting last week...
December 3, 2018
On Friday afternoon, visitors to the Newcastle Farmer’s market had the opportunity to talk to Correctional Officers from the Atlantic institution in Renous...
November 28, 2018
New legislation put forward in Ottawa would pave the way for body scanners to be used in federal penitentiaries, something the local union president says is “an absolute need” to keep the flow of drugs out...
November 28, 2018
An inmate’s death early Saturday in the medium-security unit at Collins Bay Institution was caused by an apparent drug overdose...
November 27, 2018
Prison needle-exchange programs that guards say will endanger their health and safety could get another look with an eye to changes, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale signalled Tuesday...
November 27, 2018
An unexpected delay has pushed back closing arguments in a preliminary inquiry for two Dorchester Penitentiary guards charged in the death of Matthew Hines...
November 26, 2018
Près de 300 agents correctionnels ont manifesté, le 22 novembre, devant les bureaux du Service correctionnel du Canada...
November 20, 2018
A Correctional Service Canada inmate is facing nine charges from Kingston Police, and the Kingston General Hospital emergency department...
November 17, 2019
L’importante saisie d’héroïne réalisée au pénitencier de Cowansville mardi est jugée « inquiétante » par le Syndicat des agents correctionnels du Canada...
November 5, 2018
Being told they will have to give inmates who use drugs clean needles beginning next year isn't the only thing that's bothering correctional officers these days...
November 2, 2018
Correctional workers from across Saskatchewan were in Regina Friday protesting a needle exchange program...
November 2, 2018
Le Syndicat des agents correctionnels du Canada a manifesté à Regina et à Moncton contre le programme d'échange de seringues en prison...
November 2, 2018