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| This is the seventh and final part of our series Okanagan Incorrectional, delving into the first 14 months of operations at B.C.’s newest jail. Find reporter Dustin Godfrey’s closing column on this series online and in Friday’s paper. Click on the image to go to our Okanagan Incorrectional Dashboard for a full index of the series (also available at the bottom of this article) and more information about the jail. |
Issues at the Okanagan Correctional Centre have largely not been unique to that jail. Typically, those issues have been escalated examples of the issues facing corrections at large.
Even when there have been issues more unique to the jail — allegations that the jail used administrative segregation as overflow for protective custody inmates, for instance — the issue appears to derive from the same root cause.
A number of people have said it during interviews for this series: “growing pains.”
Indeed, a legal advocate who deals directly with inmates at the jail said the complaints at the jail have mostly fallen in line with those of other jails in B.C.
But when it comes to a solution, a few of the people who spoke to the Western News said the issues are more deeply rooted in the corrections system, with particular emphasis on staffing practices within B.C. Corrections.
Dean Purdy, B.C. Government Employees Union vice-president of corrections and sheriffs, often points to issues of staff turnover rates, which he largely attributes to low pay of correctional officers compared to other law enforcement agencies.
“It’s very, very difficult to maintain not only consistency within staffing, but you wouldn’t run a business like that. You have to pay fair and competitive wages in order to survive,” Purdy said.
When it comes to the question of a raise, B.C.’s Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth would only say that the BCGEU contract will soon be up for renegotiation. But he did say B.C. Corrections is working on staffing, even mentioning staff-to-inmate ratios in living units, another one of Purdy’s major grievances.
Though B.C. Corrections has cast doubt on whether more staff would increase correctional officer safety, Purdy said it would catch violent acts as they happen as a default, rather than by fortune.
Dustin Godfrey/Western News“We’re the only province that has one correctional officer in their living units,” Purdy said, noting other provinces with the direct supervision model also often have fewer inmates per unit.
On top of that, a second CO in the unit can help staff build relationships with inmates, which is one of the most important aspects of security in jail, according to Alana Abramson, a Kwantlen Polytechnic University criminology professor who studies corrections.
And that appears to be corroborated by at least one inmate, who spoke for this series under the name C.C., and who spoke of mutual respect between staff and inmates. Staff who gave respect got it back and vice versa.
An inmate’s journey |
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| Click on the image for a link to our interactive map, including videos, detailing processes between the arrest of a suspect, through detention and court and into jail, as well as some of those processes after an inmate’s release. You can also find the map embedded at the bottom of the story |
Beyond mutual respect, Abramson said building connections through relationships is one of the key factors for an inmate to make positive strides in personal development on issues like mental health or addictions.
But one issue particular to OCC appears to have been the level of new hires at the jail.
“If (a new hire is) somebody coming fresh out of college or university with no practical experience, they are likely bringing in a lot of bias and fear about who is in our prisons,” Abramson said, noting that can hurt those relationships.
Officials initially estimated 60 per cent internal hires, but in reality, internal hires only constituted around a quarter of the jail’s staff by October.
“There’s a number of reasons why it can be a challenge to hire internally. A lot of people are happy where they are. It was indicated to me there are challenges around housing,” Farnworth said. “The one thing that I’m confident in is that we do have well-trained staff. Even if they’re new staff. And experience is something that builds over time.”
B.C. Corrections said in a statement that when the new hires were brought on they did go through extensive training, including spending time at other jails in B.C. before OCC opened up. But many of those initially hired only came a few months prior to opening, and Purdy said there is value in more substantial experience — the kind that forms a sort of muscle memory.
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Farnworth still holds out hope for the jail’s promise of stronger relationships between inmates and staff and robust programming at the jail. “It’s a new facility; it does take time to get things up and running. I think more and more programs are being added as time goes by,” Farnworth said in a February interview. Farnworth pointed to programs like wood shop and the greenhouse programs, as well as a therapeutic horse program announced at the jail in February, which is unique to OCC. Abramson said programming can be a positive thing in jail, as they can provide assistance with mental health or addictions, and even just keep otherwise bored or agitated inmates busy. But she added that programs are typically run by corrections staff without training in adult learning or psychology. “Even when we talk about programs that may exist in there, that is problematic,” Abramson said. “We’ve really set people up to fail when we’ve put people in these places, and then don’t provide them what they need.” signoff + storify Most Read |
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