A correctional officer has been stabbed while responding to a fight between a group of inmates at a B.C. prison.
Glacier Media has confirmed a fight occurred around 9 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 1 between five inmates at Kent Institution.
Kent Institution is a maximum security prison in B.C. and remains the only exclusive maximum security facility in the Pacific region.
John Randle, regional president for the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers Pacific Region, says the correctional officer was responding to four inmates fighting another inmate.
“This officer who got stabbed was tending to the victim and the inmates continued to try and attack,” says Randle. “This officer was providing medical attention to the victim.”
The officer was stabbed in his upper arm with an eight-inch piece of metal sharpened into a point. He was rushed to a nearby hospital.
“It’s scary, it’s extremely alarming,” Randle says. “We are seeing more violence now and, historically, we wouldn’t see this. The assaults are out of control.”
Randle says physical assaults on officers are increasing, including them being punched, kicked or spat on.
“Something has to be done to start increasing officer safety,” says Randle.
He’s calling for more body armour for officers and accountability from inmates.
“We've requested that this inmate be sent to the special handling unit in Quebec; it is a maximum security institution, but it just has extra safeguards to deal with inmates who are unmanageable,” he says. "There's not many consequences."
The officer has been released from the hospital and has a long road to recovery, Glacier Media was told.
“He’s going through the cocktail because of cross-contamination of blood, so we are supporting him through that,” he says. “I feel bad for the family of the officer.”
A ‘cocktail’ mixture is a medical treatment plan used on first responders if they've come into contact with items that could be contaminated. Randle says B.C. correctional officers are not provided with information about inmates and infectious diseases due to privacy.
Sgt. Andy Lot, detachment commander at Agassiz RCMP, confirms an investigation is underway.
Charges are being recommended to Crown counsel.
"Anytime a correctional officer is assaulted, in any way, we always put forward charges,” says Lot.
Video surveillance was captured of the incident.
Lot adds their detachment deals with several assault or assault with a weapon investigations on correctional officers on a yearly basis.
