Second riot at crowded jail
Amy Steele, The Times
[Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows, British Columbia]
Published: Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Carmine Marinelli/TIMES
Angry prisoners set fires, broke windows and smashed up their cells during a riot at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre on Saturday. It was the second riot that has occurred at the jail within the last six months. Inmates suffered minor injuries during the riot.
“It was a full-scale riot. There was a lot of damage,” said Dean Purdy, chair of the corrections and sheriffs branch of the B.C. Government Employees’ Union.
The incident was related to the transfer of three inmates to another jail, said Lisa Lapointe, spokesperson for B.C. Corrections.
“They weren’t happy about being transferred and became quite agitated. Then the rest of the inmates became agitated,” said Lapointe.
The riot involved 31 inmates who were in the remand unit, awaiting trial. The unit was originally designed for 20 people. The riot began around 10 a.m. on February 9 and police and corrections tactical teams regained control of the prison at around 2 p.m. The RCMP’s Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team, Ridge Meadows RCMP, the Maple Ridge Fire Department, BC Ambulance and B.C. Corrections tactical units arrived to quell the riot. B.C. Corrections and Ridge Meadows RCMP will be conducting a joint investigation into the incident.
“It’s unusual,” said Lapointe when asked to comment on the fact that there have been two riots in six months at FRCC. “We aren’t seeing a pattern. It’s one of those funny things. We’ve had a couple of disturbances at Fraser since August and hopefully we won’t see anything for another two or three years.”
Lapointe said at this point it doesn’t look like the two incidents had any similar triggers.
She said B.C. Corrections has implemented all the recommendations made after an investigation into last August’s riot.
“We look at the big picture and try to sort out why this happened. Is there anything we could’ve done differently to prevent the outcome, because it’s not something we like to see at our centres,” said Lapointe.
Ridge Meadows RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Ryan Schlecker said it’s too early to say whether charges will be laid in relation to the incident.
“We’re looking at video, talking to staff and interviewing prisoners to determine what happened,” he said. “It’s a question of just conducting an appropriate investigation.”
Some media outlets reported that hostages were taken during the riot. Lapointe said inmates threatened to do so during the incident but didn’t.
Councillor Ken Stewart, Maple Ridge council liaison to the prison, was at the scene Saturday. He said there was some fear that prisoners had steel bars they could use as weapons prior to police and corrections officers entering the prison. But he said as soon as the law enforcement team went into the prison there was no resistance from prisoners.
“I wouldn’t be concerned as a resident. At no time was there ever a concern of a perimeter breach,” said Stewart, adding there was also no threat to staff because they were outside the two units where the riot was taking place.
The B.C. Government Employees’ Union has raised concerns for months about overcrowding in prisons leading to unsafe conditions for inmates and staff.
“I don’t know how much effect the crowding had or didn’t have,” said Stewart. “There’s all kinds of issues in workplaces with staffing. I suspect B.C. Corrections isn’t immune to that. My understanding is there’s a challenge with over-time and that because they don’t have as many people being recruited as in the past.”
Stewart said the remand unit of the jail, where the riot occurred, contains prisoners who might end up in the federal prison system after they are sentenced.
“There could be people getting some really serious time,” he said.
Mayor Gord Robson said, “We’re all concerned that everything up there be run properly.”
“We think generally it is,” said Robson. “There was no danger to the public as far as I understand it… I think overcrowding probably has something to do with it. I think the expansion that will be going ahead will probably help that somewhat.”
The provincial government recently announced it would be adding 135 new cells to FRCC. It currently has 254 cells and, on average, about 470 inmates.
However, Robson is concerned that Maple Ridge police and firefighters have had to respond to two riots in six months and the municipality pays their salaries.
“If that were to continue I think we’d be looking for them to reimburse the taxpayers of Maple Ridge,” he said.
At a Monday council workshop meeting Councillor Craig Speirs questioned why a second riot has happened in such a short period.
“Once is fine, but a second time? I think now we have to pay a little more attention,” he said. “The community really needs answers about what is happening.”
Speirs said he wants council to see a copy of the investigation report after it’s completed.
Councillor Ken Stewart told council Monday that after the last riot he and RCMP Inspector Jim Wakely met with the FRCC warden who updated them on the investigation findings. He said that will likely occur again and he will tell council what he learns.
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B.C. prison remains in lockdown after riot
Sunday, February 10, 2008
CBC News
Calm has been restored at a maximum-security prison in B.C. following a riot by about 30 prisoners on Saturday.
A tactical team ended the disturbance at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge without serious injuries, a union spokesman for prison guards said Sunday.
“A riot inside a maximum security prison is very frightening and scary. It’s a very dangerous situation,” Dean Purdy, a spokesman for the B.C. Government Employees Union, told the CBC’s Leslie Pritchard.
The RCMP said it appeared some prisoners were upset they were being transferred to another facility.
While there have been complaints of overcrowding at the facility, it’s not known whether that played a part in the angry confrontation. Purdy said the prison has a capacity of 430 inmates but held 65 more than that Saturday.
At one point during the riot, prisoners could be seen breaking windows and throwing objects to other inmates in the yard below. Inmates took other inmates hostage and two small fires were started.
The uprising started about 10 a.m. local time and ended four hours later with prisoners either being put back in their cells or arrested by police.
Ambulance and fire crews were called to the prison as a precaution, but the police spokesman said neither service was necessary.
Both the RCMP and correctional centre officials will be investigating the cause of the disturbance.
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FRCC inmates injured during disturbance
Maple Ridge News [British Columbia]
February 09, 2008
Prisoners at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre make obsene jestures and wave white towels out the windows after a disturbance at the provincial facility in Maple Ridge on Saturday.
Colleen Flanagan/Black Press
Some inmates suffered minor injuries during a disturbance at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre on Saturday.
Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows RCMP were called to the provincial prison on 256th Street in Maple Ridge at around 10 a.m. after a report of violence involving 31 prisoners.
According to a report by News 1130 Radio, some inmates had taken others hostage. Wooden legs of beds were being used as weapons, and two fires were set.
The incident apparently started when one inmate refused to be transferred.
The RCMP Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team was also called. The Maple Ridge fire department and B.C. Ambulance Service also attended, as did Coquitlam and Mission RCMP, who helped respond to other calls for service during the day.
The RCMP Lower Mainland Tactical Squad was contacted, but was later determined not to be needed.
The prisoners were contained in two units after the RCMP Emergency Response Team entered the prison at 1:46 p.m.
“Police regained control of the prison and turned it back over to the correctional staff,” said Sgt. R.E. Lemon
“There were some minor injuries suffered by inmates, but those injuries were as a result of the disturbance, not the police actions,” he added
Fraser Regional Corrections and local RCMP are investigating the incident.
Fraser Regional will expand from 254 cells to 389 cells next year, requiring an addition to to the building. That will reduce the amount of double bunking in the prison, which is currently at 172 per cent of capacity.
Construction is due to start in February 2009 and be complete by December 2010.
In the meantime, temporary housing will be complete by May that will house 100 inmates. That will be in the form of a large tent, as used in some U.S. prisons. Once permanent expansion takes place, the tent could be used for programs.
Confrontation 
Sentence reduced in FRCC riot
By Monisha Martins – Maple Ridge News
Published: November 18, 2008
A man sentenced to five years for trying to break out of a Maple Ridge prison during a riot had the term reduced to 30 months on appeal.
In a judgement released Friday, Chief Justice Lance Finch found the sentence handed to Donald Nelson Addley was “excessive and unfit.”
The court reduced his five-year sentence to 30 months, to be served consecutively with a previous three-year sentence imposed on Oct. 3 last year.
Addley was one of six men charged in connection with a riot at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre on Aug. 9, 2007, when 31 inmates caused extensive damage to a living unit in the prison.
The 28-year-old and other inmates were upset that a fellow prisoner had been locked in his cell that day.
They refused to return to their cells and Addley began to confront prison staff.
The warden felt the situation had become unsafe and directed staff to lock down the unit.
A correctional officer used a video camera to record events over the next 30 minutes, while a riot, which caused up to $300,000 in damage, ensued.
The court was told the video shows Addley, identified by a tattoo on his arm, swinging a pipe at a window.
Sprinkler heads were broken and there was large-scale flooding.
Addley and another inmate then made their way out of a common living area by removing a vent cover that led to a pipe shaft. They gained access to an electrical room and an equipment area, where the other inmate took several handcuffs.
The pair then entered the elevator shaft and made their way to other floors including the basement and Level 4.
A surveillance camera on Level 4 shows Addley and the other inmate trying to pry open a metal door that lead to the unit.
At that point, almost four hours later, a tactical unit was deployed.
Prisoners were warned over the intercom to return to their cells and were told that anyone who didn’t comply would be considered a combatant.
On hearing the warning, Addley and the other man put their hands in the air and sat on the floor. Both were arrested without incident.
Addley pleaded guilty to one count of prison break and was sentenced to five years in prison in February this year.
At the time of this offence, Addley was 27 years old. He had a criminal record of 40 convictions, including 18 offences of non-compliance with the justice system, two for being unlawfully at large, two convictions for flight while pursued by police, and various convictions for obstructing a peace officer, failure to appear, failure to comply with a recognizance or disposition, and driving while disqualified. He had also been convicted of seven firearms or weapons offences, and two robberies.
Crown painted Addley as the lead agitator who directed and organized other inmates.
But the B.C. Court of Appeal disagreed. In his written ruling, Justice Finch said despite Crown’s assertions, there was an absence of proof.
“There is no doubt this was a dangerous conduct that put the lives and safety of others at risk,” wrote Finch. “It was also open to the judge to accept that in the commission of that offence the appellant made use of a weapon, the pipe, and caused some of the damage done to the premises.”
He said there was no evidence to support Crown’s claim that Addley led or instigated the riot.
Cash Vansanten, the prisoner who broke out of the unit with Addley, was also charged with forcible prison break.
Both men, including Matt Conley, Peter Pete, Kyle Vaughan, Johnny Nguyen, were charged with one count each of taking part in a riot.
Conley was sentenced to one more day in custody for pleading guilty in May to taking part in a riot and credited for six months he had already spent in jail. A second charge of uttering threats was stayed.
Pete got a seven-month sentence and was credited for eight months.
Vansanten, Vaughan and Nguyen are due back in court next month for preliminary inquiries. Trial dates for the trio have yet to be set.
Two more pleas in prison riot
Published: December 04, 2008
mapleridgenews.com
Two more men entered guilty pleas in Port Coquitlam Provincial Court for rioting at a Maple Ridge prison last year.
Cash Vansanten was sentenced to 16 more months in jail for admitting to one count of forcible prison break.
The 30-year-old was credited for eight months spent in custody, while charges of taking part in a riot and mischief were stayed.
Johnny Freedom Nguyen, 29, got one more day in prison for entering a guilty plea to one count of mischief to property over $5,000.
He was credited for 18 months spent in custody.
Vansanten and Nguyen are the latest men to enter plea in connection with the riot.
The pair were six men charged in connection with the mêlée at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre on Aug. 9, 2007 that caused $300,000 in damage to a living unit in the prison.
So far, five in total have pleaded guilty to the charges. They include Vansanten, Nguyen, Matt Conley, Peter Pete and Donald Addley.
Kyle Vaughan, 21, has indicated he wishes to enter a guilty plea to a charge of mischief next week.
14 charged in prison riot
Published: December 25, 2008
mapleridgenews.com
Fourteen men face charges in connection with a prison riot at Maple Ridge prison in February that destroyed a cell block.
The disturbance on Feb. 9 at Fraser Regional Correctional Centre saw 31 inmates rampage through the unit, breaking windows, starting fires and breaching doors.
The Ridge Meadows RCMP recommended charges against 31 inmates after investigating the riot.
Officers submitted a “large report to Crown counsel” in October after spending several months reviewing video footage from the damaged block and witness statements.
A report, obtained by a Freedom of Information request, from the B.C. Corrections branch found evidence that the riot in the provincial prison on 256th Street was planned.
An investigation notes “the disturbance was not spontaneous.”
The report said there were threats made 24 hours before the event happened and an inmate helped another breach his cell during the riot, as well.
The report recommended management at the provincial prison undertake additional “contraband control measures,” although B.C. Corrections has previously denied the riot was fueled by drugs.
An inmate in the cell block adjacent to the riot previously said the riot started over “dope,” or drugs.
He claimed an inmate who was going to be transferred had the drugs.
“They were all high on ecstasy and ’roids [steroids]. Nobody wanted him transferred out,” the man, who requested anonymity, said.
The report reveals the incident started at 9 a.m. on Feb. 9, when several inmates refused to be transferred out of the block.
The inmates had threatened a unit officer the previous day and management had decided it was best to relocate them to another detention centre.
The investigation into the incident notes inmates who were going to be transferred began to kick their cell door and loudly encouraged other inmates to join in the disturbance.
Several attempts to calm the inmates were made, to no avail, and corrections staff left the unit.
As the incident escalated, other inmates started small fires, broke windows, dislodged sinks, toilets and kicked through doors, breaching a second cell unit.
An hour later, a corrections officer monitoring the situation from a staff office, noticed an inmate loose on the upper tier of the block.
He was using an object to pound at the door of a cell, eventually opening it and freeing the cell’s two occupants.
“They immediately joined forces and assembled additional tools to assist in the release of the rest of the inmates,” said the report.
Eventually, all 31 inmates were freed and “engaged in mayhem throughout the unit.”
As the riot unfolded, the RCMP Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team was called to subdue the inmates.
The Maple Ridge fire department and B.C. Ambulance Service also attended, as did Coquitlam and Mission RCMP, who helped respond to other calls for service during the day.
The report said that the situation was further complicated when inmates advised they had taken hostages.
The inmates were contained after the emergency response team entered the prison at 1:46 p.m.
No hostages were found.
All the inmates involved were transferred to other detention centres in the Lower Mainland.
The report recommended the prison replace bunks in the cells and weld items in place, as well as check them on a daily basis.