prison

Matsqui Institution, a medium-security federal men’s prison, is seen in Abbotsford on Oct. 26, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Over $20,000 in contraband seized at Matsqui Institution in Abbotsford

Items seized include USB sticks and drugs

 

Flags flown at half mast out front of Fraser Regional Correctional Centre for slain corrections officer Bikramdeep Randhawa. (Neil Corbett/ The News)

Public vigil and flying flags at half mast done to honour slain prison guard

Maple Ridge corrections officer Bikramdeep Randhawa, 29, is being remembered in a number of ways

 

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 10, 2009, file photo, former financier Bernie Madoff exits federal court in Manhattan, in New York. Madoff, the financier who pleaded guilty to orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme in history, has died in prison, a person familiar with the matter tells The Associated Press(AP Photo/David Karp, File)

Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff dies in prison: AP source

Madoff admitted swindling thousands of clients out of billions of dollars in investments over decades

 

Doug Fraser, a teacher at Ford Mountain Correction Centre in Chilliwack River Valley, spoke passionately about his program for inmates in January 2020. The Chilliwack Board of Education is now joining other school boards in requesting more reliable funding for programs in provincial institutions. (YouTube/Chilliwack School District)

Chilliwack school board unaminous in support for new prison education funding model

Ford Mountain Correctional Centre sees up to fifty per cent participation in high school program

Doug Fraser, a teacher at Ford Mountain Correction Centre in Chilliwack River Valley, spoke passionately about his program for inmates in January 2020. The Chilliwack Board of Education is now joining other school boards in requesting more reliable funding for programs in provincial institutions. (YouTube/Chilliwack School District)
Computer memory cards are shown on display in a retail store in Cranberry Township, Pa., on Thursday, May 9, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Keith Srakocic

Federal Court orders B.C. prison to return PlayStation game card to inmate

Fischer is currently serving a life term for the 1999 murder of 16-year-old Darci Drefko of Merritt, B.C.

Computer memory cards are shown on display in a retail store in Cranberry Township, Pa., on Thursday, May 9, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Keith Srakocic
Francesca Paceri, a registered pharmacist technician, carefully fills a needle with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine at a clinic in Toronto on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. A director at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association believes provinces should set targets for vaccinating inmates in provincial jails — something most jurisdictions have yet to do. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Some provinces yet to say when jail inmates to be vaccinated against COVID-19

Experts say that inmates are in a vulnerable situation when it comes to the pandemic

Francesca Paceri, a registered pharmacist technician, carefully fills a needle with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine at a clinic in Toronto on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. A director at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association believes provinces should set targets for vaccinating inmates in provincial jails — something most jurisdictions have yet to do. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Ottawa serial killer Camille Joseph Cleroux died of natural causes at Abbotsford’s Pacific Institution on Sunday.

Serial killer housed at Abbotsford’s Pacific Institution dies of natural causes

Camille Joseph Cleroux announced dead on Sunday, known as notorious Ottawa serial killer

Ottawa serial killer Camille Joseph Cleroux died of natural causes at Abbotsford’s Pacific Institution on Sunday.
A female prisoner sent Langford police officers a thank-you card after she spent days in their custody. (Twitter/West Shore RCMP)

Woman gives Victoria-area jail 4.5-star review in handwritten card to police after arrest

‘We don’t often get thank you cards from people who stay with us, but this was sure nice to see’: RCMP

A female prisoner sent Langford police officers a thank-you card after she spent days in their custody. (Twitter/West Shore RCMP)
The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal dismissed the complaint of a former Okanagan Correction Centre inmate Dec. 3, 2020 regarding his denial of kosher meals while incarcerated. (Dustin Godfrey/Western News file)

Human Rights Tribunal dismisses kosher meal complaint from Okanagan inmate

Tribunal determines the inmate failed to provide any evidence he should be served kosher meals

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal dismissed the complaint of a former Okanagan Correction Centre inmate Dec. 3, 2020 regarding his denial of kosher meals while incarcerated. (Dustin Godfrey/Western News file)
A bin of COVID-19 syringes for the first round of health-care workers to be vaccinated at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center is seen in Albuquerque, N.M., on Dec. 16, 2020. Advocates say inmates should have speedy access to the COVID-19 vaccine, given how susceptible prisons and jails have been to outbreaks and how prevalent chronic disease is in that population. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-HO, UNM Health

‘Grave risk:’ Advocates say inmates should get speedy access to COVID-19 vaccine

There have been several outbreaks in provincially run jails

A bin of COVID-19 syringes for the first round of health-care workers to be vaccinated at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center is seen in Albuquerque, N.M., on Dec. 16, 2020. Advocates say inmates should have speedy access to the COVID-19 vaccine, given how susceptible prisons and jails have been to outbreaks and how prevalent chronic disease is in that population. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-HO, UNM Health
File Photo

Medical evacuation at Kent Institution

Emergency workers dispatched Wedensday afternoon by air, ground

File Photo
The Edmonton Institution for Women in Edmonton is shown on Wednesday Nov. 11, 2020. The Correctional Service of Canada says five inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 in Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Advocate says second COVID-19 wave has inmates locked down in ‘atrocious’ conditions

Contact tracing is underway and testing is being offered at the three federal institutions affected

The Edmonton Institution for Women in Edmonton is shown on Wednesday Nov. 11, 2020. The Correctional Service of Canada says five inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 in Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Adam Laboucan, pictured being escorted outside court in B.C. on June 18, 1999, was 17 when he was handed an indeterminate prison sentence for sexually assaulting a three-month-old boy in Quesnel. Laboucan now identifies as female and has changed her name to Tara Desousa. (Ross Mitchell/Quesnel Cariboo Observer)

Canada’s youngest dangerous offender from B.C. denied parole; to be reviewed in 2021

Tara Desousa, then named Adam Laboucan, was 15 years old when she assaulted an infant in Quesnel

Adam Laboucan, pictured being escorted outside court in B.C. on June 18, 1999, was 17 when he was handed an indeterminate prison sentence for sexually assaulting a three-month-old boy in Quesnel. Laboucan now identifies as female and has changed her name to Tara Desousa. (Ross Mitchell/Quesnel Cariboo Observer)
Sen. Kim Pate is shown in Toronto in an October 15, 2013, file photo. The parliamentary budget office says a proposed law that would give judges discretion on whether to apply a lesser sentence for murder could save the federal government $8.3 million per year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel

Judicial discretion for mandatory minimum sentences for murder would save $8.3M: PBO

The result would be fewer people in long-term custody at federal correctional institutions, experts say

Sen. Kim Pate is shown in Toronto in an October 15, 2013, file photo. The parliamentary budget office says a proposed law that would give judges discretion on whether to apply a lesser sentence for murder could save the federal government $8.3 million per year. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Colin Perkel
Federal Correctional Investigator Ivan Zinger addresses a news conference discussing his latest report, Tuesday, February 18, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Corrections watchdog urges moratorium on doctor-assisted deaths in Canadian prisons

Federal correctional investigator Ivan Zinger says there are three known cases of doctor-assisted death in federal prisons

Federal Correctional Investigator Ivan Zinger addresses a news conference discussing his latest report, Tuesday, February 18, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Staff shortages plague Mission Institution following recovery from COVID-19 outbreak

Staff shortages plague Mission Institution following recovery from COVID-19 outbreak

Guards at 60% of workforce; inmates suffer daily with lockdown, mental health issues

Staff shortages plague Mission Institution following recovery from COVID-19 outbreak
Mission Institution. Kevin Mills / Mission City Record.

Two employees test positive for COVID-19 at Mission Institution

Not outbreak, infected staff had no direct contact with inmates, Correctional Service Canada says

Mission Institution. Kevin Mills / Mission City Record.
In a Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019 file photo, detainees walk with their hands clasped behind their backs along a line painted on a walkway inside the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, La. A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges authorities illegally strip searched federal prison inmates hundreds of thousands of times over almost three decades. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Gerald Herbert

Planned class-action lawsuit alleges illegal strip-searches of federal prisoners

The action proposes to cover all federal inmates imprisoned on or after June 18, 1992,

In a Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019 file photo, detainees walk with their hands clasped behind their backs along a line painted on a walkway inside the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, La. A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges authorities illegally strip searched federal prison inmates hundreds of thousands of times over almost three decades. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Gerald Herbert
Metchosin Mayor John Ranns (Black Press Media file photo)

Greater Victoria mayor wants changes to prison-transfer system after alleged murder by escapees

James Busch and Zachary Armitage have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Martin Payne

Metchosin Mayor John Ranns (Black Press Media file photo)
A few Metchosin residents are speaking out after the William Head prison escapees from July 2019 have been charged with the first-degree murder of Martin Payne, 60. (Martin Payne/Facebook)

One year after prison escape, Greater Victoria residents still don’t feel safe

‘I don’t want to constantly have to be on guard,’ residents react to murder charges

A few Metchosin residents are speaking out after the William Head prison escapees from July 2019 have been charged with the first-degree murder of Martin Payne, 60. (Martin Payne/Facebook)