Province to meet with Edmonton Remand Centre staff over safety concerns
In April 2013, the correctional officers went on an illegal wildcat strike due to the remand's physical design and a 30-to-1 inmate-to-staff ratio.
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Changes are in the works for the Edmonton Remand Centre after another assault on correctional officers earlier this week, which put the institution into lockdown.
Marlin Schmidt, acting justice minister and solicitor general, released an updated statement on Saturday, saying the ministry is glad operations have returned to normal and that the government looks forward to discussions with staff.
“When staff raise safety concerns we take them seriously. We also value the advice and input of our correctional officers as we work to find solutions to safety concerns in a workplace that, by its nature, can be difficult and at times volatile,” Schmidt said in the statement.
“Government, management at the Edmonton Remand Centre, and the union worked throughout the day to address the concerns that led to yesterday’s lockdown. We will continue these important discussions with all parties next week.”
This isn’t the first time guards have raised concerns around the safety of the building.
When the $380-million facility opened in March 2013, it was touted as one of Canada’s largest and most technologically-advanced correctional centres, but guards sounded the alarm before doors were even open.
In April 2013, the correctional officers went on an illegal wildcat strike due to the remand’s physical design and a 30-to-1 inmate-to-staff ratio.
During the strike, Todd Ross, chapter chair of the NERC correctional officers’ union, said there were areas accessible to inmates that had glass that could be broken with nothing more than a coffee mug, a lack of security cameras, no guarantee that panic buttons could be traced back to where they had been pressed and a failure to transfer medical histories of new inmates from the old facility in an acceptable time.
Workers from across the province and in Saskatchewan joined in solidarity in the strike.
A judge found the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees guilty of contempt of court for ignoring back-to-work orders, and fined the union $100,000 on April 29, eventually jumping to $350,000.
Then-deputy premier with the PC government, Thomas Lukaszuk said eight of the union’s 10 demands at the time had nothing to do with occupational health and safety. He said he had dozens of calls from workers wanting to go back to work.
At the time, PC Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis said many features of the site, including a huge increase in CCTV arraignment rooms and on-site medical services, will reduce prisoner transport to courts and hospitals making it an even safer and cheaper option.
The facility replaced the old downtown remand, where inmates were triple-bunked with more than 800 inmates in a facility designed to accomodate 340 inmates.
-With files from Hina Alam
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