Stay informed
Prison guards hospitalized after a B.C. inmate sends fentanyl flying into air during cell search for drugs
Five prison guards were taken to hospital after they were exposed to fentanyl by an inmate during a search of a cell inside a British Columbia prison, according to the prison staff’s union.
The incident happened on June 11 during a targeted search by officers at the Pacific Institution when an inmate allegedly tried to destroy evidence by dispersing a toxic substance that exposed the officers.
Three of the officers were taken to hospital by ambulance. One officer required chest compressions while in the ambulance; at least three officer required naloxone, an emergency medication used to reduce the effects of opioids, typically used to restore breathing after an opioid overdose, according to the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO). Two others, who arrived to help, were treated just in case.
“They were conducting some searching, which is routine for us, and while searching, they found an inmate in possession of narcotics. The inmate became combative as soon as the officers tried to deal with the situation and basically, it turned into a fight,” said John Randle, the UCCO Pacific region’s president.
“And in that fight the drugs went everywhere, basically went airborne, it’s almost like throwing flour in the air and it’s just floating in the air. It covered the officers physically and then they also inhaled it.”
The dark blue anti-stab vests officers wear were coated by white powder, he said.
One officer was near to passing out while all three involved in the search showed symptoms of overdosing, Randle said.
The inmate had recently arrived at the Pacific Institution and was still in the reception unit at the time, where inmates stay while being assessed for their security classification and prison placement, a process that can take weeks.
It is unknown what the inmate had been convicted of prior to arriving or how long he had been there.
“This is near the top end, or on the higher end, of worst-case scenarios,” Randle said of prison staff. “The abundance of dangerous drugs inside our institutions is putting officers’ lives at risk. Our members were simply doing their jobs when they were exposed to one of the most lethal drugs on the streets. This should never happen,” said Randle.
The substance was later identified as fentanyl, a powerful opioid that can be fatal even in small doses. The drug has been linked to an alarming rise in overdose drug deaths in B.C.
The union said the incident is not an isolated event and heralds an illicit drug crisis in Canada’s prisons and government cutbacks will make it worse.
“At the very moment that illicit drugs are becoming more prevalent and violence is increasing, CSC is moving in the opposite direction,” said Frédérick Lebeau, the union’s national president.
Lebeau said that the prison staff’s intervention for drugs has been weakened by a Correctional Service Canada (CSC) directive that weakens disciplinary measures against inmates for institutional drug use in pursuit of a harm reduction model.
A request for comment from CSC about the fentanyl incident and the wider issue of drugs and violence in the prison system was pending at the time of publishing.
Randle said the officers were all now medically well but are psychologically shaken by the incident, as are their families, particularly the officer that required chest compression treatment.
In April B.C.’s chief health officer declared drug overdoses a public health emergency, a declaration typically reserved for a contagious disease outbreak, after more than 200 overdose deaths in during the first three months of 2016 in the province.
Pacific Institution is a complex of multiple security levels in Abbotsford, B.C., about 80 kilometres east of Vancouver. It consists of living units organized around a central courtyard with a yard post in the centre with a rated capacity of 509 inmates.
It includes CSC’s Regional Treatment Centre and became the first prison institution in North America to gain full accreditation as a hospital, according to CSC.
• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | X: AD_Humphreys
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.
Unpublished Newswire
Comments
Be the first to comment