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Archive for April, 2008

Native protesters won’t budge

Posted By Jeremy Ashley
Belleville Intelligencer [Ontario]
Tuesday, April 22, 2008


Native protesters erected a banner declaring the town of Deseronto was closed at a blockade of Old Highway 2 south of a disputed quarry.
Jeremy Ashley

Native protesters who seized a major portion of this small Hastings County town pledged Monday to maintain the disruption for a week to send a message to any would-be developers of disputed native lands.

“Not another shovel in the ground,” said protest spokesman Dan Doreen, standing outside a roadway blockade of Old Highway 2 on the eastern fringe of town.

“That mandate was set in 2006 and it still stands – we’re here to protect our land and that’s it,” promised Doreen, who was clad in camouflage with a red bandana tied around his left arm.

The move to set up the demonstration – which closed traffic on Deseronto Road and about a 200-metre stretch of Old Highway 2 on the eastern side of the town – began late Sunday afternoon in response to “threats” made by Yarker-area construction firm Nibourg Developments to begin clearing land for construction along a disputed tract of native land.

Ontario Provincial Police officers set up roadblocks at all ends of the demonstration, diverting both vehicle and pedestrian traffic away from the scene throughout the day.

In the early morning hours, there were a few skirmishes between protesters and town residents – incidents that prompted a heavy police presence on the western side of the demonstration to move within a few metres of protesters for a brief period of time.

However, after speaking with Doreen and other organizers, police moved back to their original positions, which was a few hundred metres away from a banner erected by protesters proclaiming “Deseronto has been closed!”

While the developer and his crew decided to stay away Monday, native protesters – many of whom had been occupying the nearby quarry on Deseronto road – said they plan to continue with the blockade for at least a week.

“We’ve been stuck in the quarry for a year, so what’s a week?” Doreen explained, noting the protester’s frustrations with antagonistic behaviour displayed by Emile Nibourg on behalf of his company.

“He called us on to be here and he’s not here,” Doreen said, “He’s too coward to show his face. Many of our people have taken time away from their jobs to be here, and he just doesn’t show. He’s a coward.”

Nibourg’s firm issued a statement Monday, saying the company’s construction crews would not be attending “in the name of public safety.”

The statement called upon federal and provincial governments to resolve the dispute and its inaction “is leading to unrest between the natives and non-natives, putting all people at great risk.

“Today’s large protest and occupation of our land proves that this explosive situation will only intensify without government action.” Nibourg’s move to challenge protesters publicly caught the ire of Tyendinaga Mohawk Chief R. Donald Maracle.

In a sharply-worded statement, Maracle said the band council didn’t condone the actions of protesters but he believed Nibourg’s actions were a publicity event to incite the demonstration.

“We are informed that the developer has no building permits in place and the municipalities and the county have no bylaws in place to permit development on the land,” Maracle stated. “Therefore, the announcement seems to have been staged more as a media event to draw attention to the interests of individuals.

“The Culbertson Tract Claim should not be about protests, blockades or civil disputes between our people and our neighbours,” the chief added.

“People need to remain calm and allow for peaceful negotiations to continue in a climate not hampered by protests and blockades. Directing our energy and focus to negotiations with the Crown is more productive and responsible than sensationalized confrontation.” For Doreen and his crew, however, the purpose behind the blockade was simple.

“We are the defender of the land and that’s where it is,” he said, acknowledging none in his party were at the negotiating table with the federal government.

“In no way is he (Nibourg) going to build – it is our land,” he said.

While speaking with members of the media, Doreen was clear on any threat of altercations involving police, protesters or the public.

“We’re not in a fight with the OPP – we have to be peaceful,” he said, adding his group would not “provoke physical violence at all,” during the course of the demonstration.

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Police cars burned, stores looted in Montreal hockey riot

Last Updated: Tuesday, April 22, 2008
CBC News

Police say 16 people have been arrested after riotous celebrations swept through downtown Montreal late Monday night, leaving a trail of burned police cars and vandalized shops.


A burned police cruiser sits in downtown Montreal. At least five police cars were torched and others were vandalized, long after most of a massive crowd had dispersed after celebrating the Canadiens’ playoff victory. A burned police cruiser sits in downtown Montreal. At least five police cars were torched and others were vandalized, long after most of a massive crowd had dispersed after celebrating the Canadiens’ playoff victory.
(Peter McCabe/Canadian Press)

Thousands rushed to the streets for initially peaceful celebrations following the Montreal Canadiens’ seventh-game win over the Boston Bruins, which advances Montreal to the next round of the NHL playoffs.

The jubilation degenerated into mayhem around midnight, however, as some hockey fans turned violent.

“It started pretty well,” police spokesman Const. Laurent Gingras told CBC News Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, at a certain point some people gathered on Ste. Catherine Street. A couple fights broke out and police cars were also attacked at that point.”

A few hundred people, some intoxicated, marched down the downtown avenue, throwing rocks and bottles at police and torching vehicles, the CBC’s Steve Rukavina reported from Montreal.
16 police cars damaged

Despite increased police presence deployed to the streets before Monday night’s game, rioters burnt or smashed 16 police cars as well as other vehicles, according to a preliminary police investigation.

Damage to police cars is estimated at $500,000.

Ten businesses were either vandalized or broken into, although Gingras said the damage was limited.

“One minute we were all hanging out and celebrating and then all hell broke out,” said Jean-François Hotte, who watched as a Foot Locker store was ransacked by looters. A liquor store was also hit.

“It didn’t take five minutes before everyone was up on Ste. Catherine Street. It went really fast.”

City police, backed up by riot squad officers, used pepper spray and batons to quell the crowd, which dispersed around 2 a.m. There were no reports of serious injuries.

Gingras said it was not immediately clear if the rioters were just rowdy fans or others who “used the occasion to do their mischief.”

At least 16 people were detained and charged, including three minors, police said. Possible charges include break-and-enter, mischief against a police vehicle, assault against a police officer and numerous municipal bylaw violations.

More charges are expected to be laid as police continue their probe, Chief Yvan Delorme told a news conference Tuesday.

“The investigation will show us … that yes indeed there will be arrests in the future,” he said.

Suspects already in custody will appear in court Tuesday afternoon to face formal charges.

A similar riot after a Stanley Cup victory in 1993 caused major damage.

Gingras said that while the investigation is continuing, large numbers of police will be present before, during and after upcoming hockey matches at the Canadiens’ home arena, the Bell Centre.

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Violent inmates blamed for riot; Joyceville bosses warned months ago, union official says

Posted By Rob Tripp
Kingston Whig-Standard Police Reporter
April 4, 2008

[Kingston, Ontario]

Senior prison bosses in Kingston were warned months ago that Joyceville penitentiary, where a riot erupted Monday, was a simmering trouble spot.

Internal prison reports show that there has been a spate of violent incidents since the beginning of this year.

“We’re getting an influx of inmates coming into institutions like Joyceville that really shouldn’t be there and this seems to be the trend at all our mediums,” said Jason Godin, a senior official in the union that represents prison guards.

Godin said the prison service is improperly reclassifying maximum-security prisoners as medium-security because of overcrowding in maximum-security prisons.

“They’ve got nowhere to put them,” he said.

It means Joyceville is bursting with “extremely violent inmates” who can’t be properly managed, Godin charged.

Corrections Canada spokeswoman Janine Chown said prison service policies permit overrides of security classifications.

“It does allow overrides, but not for overcrowding,” she said.

At 9:30 p.m. Monday, Joyceville inmates began smashing furniture, flooding cells, setting fires and attempting to smash through walls and barred barriers.

Prison bosses handed out shotguns to staff and called in a prison riot squad. Heavily armed and protected emergency response team members fired gas to bring the riot under control.

It took roughly five hours to quell the uprising and get inmates back into cells. Corrections could not provide an estimate of how many of the prison’s 486 inmates were involved in the disturbance.

Seven prisoners were identified as key participants and they were transferred to maximum-security prisons.

Corrections estimates damage at $25,000.

The incident came just days after a riot at a medium-security penitentiary in British Columbia in which 60 rampaging inmates armed with baseball bats and fire hoses seized control. Two inmates died, including a child molester who was beaten to death. The other inmate died of a drug overdose.

In the incident at Mountain Institution, 22 prison staff fled to the roof of the open-concept prison.

Godin said that at a meeting Feb. 7 with top Ontario prison managers, he noted the concern of the union about increasing violence in area prisons, particularly Joyceville.

“There’s been warning signs conveyed to the [guards] that there’s more to come and it’s going to be a long, hot summer,” Godin said.

Internal reports show that several times in January an inmate told staff that “a major incident will happen.”

Internal prison incident reports document violence, including:

The death of an inmate Jan. 23 and hospitalization of three others who drank from a batch of toxic home-made alcohol.

Three stabbings of inmates including one on Jan. 27 that sent a prisoner to hospital with wounds to the head and hands.

An attack on a female guard Feb. 28 by two inmates who were attempting to get to a locked cabinet of tobacco.

“More violent inmates are currently residing there,” Godin said.

He said the union has repeatedly warned managers that it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage violent inmates who seem unconcerned about internal discipline or rules.

Godin noted that a .22-calibre bullet was found recently at medium-security Fenbrook institution in Gravenhurst. Godin described it as an open-concept prison, like Mountain Institution, with fewer barriers and other security measures.

Newly renovated, open-style living units will open soon at Collins Bay Institution in Kingston.

The union opposes the open-concept design and has suggested it may have been a factor that allowed the weekend riot at Mountain Institution to quickly spiral out of control.

“We’re seeing in these mediumsecurity institutions an inmate that really is unmanageable based on the structure of these facilities,” Godin said.

Godin said the government has continued to build the open-concept prisons despite warnings from the union.

Joyceville is not an open concept prison, but it is an aging facility.

Visits to Joyceville are scheduled to resume today, but the prison’s full routine will not be restored until Monday.

Guards are conducting a prison-wide search for weapons and other contraband.

No inmates or staff were injured in Monday’s incident, but an inmate was taken to hospital more than four hours before the uprising began. Corrections has said it does not know if the two events are linked.

Rioters were based on three cellblocks that adjoin the cellblock where the injured inmate was found.

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Extremist Activity Associated with the 2010 Olympics, the G8, and the SPP

11.04.2008

By Tom Quiggin – natsecintel@hotmail.com
International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT)
P.O.Box 167 Herzliya 46150, Israel

In 2010, Canada will host at least three major events with a significant international profile, including the Winter Olympics, the G8 meetings and the Security and Prosperity Partnership meetings. Numerous groups have already begun violent activities and further organization that may occur against the background of a troubled global picture that will have further radicalizing effects in Canada.

[…]

A convergence among a number of groups has occurred which are looking at a variety of actions related to the 2010 Olympics, the SPP, the 2010 G8, and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives.

[…]

The convergence includes anarchists, aboriginal “warrior” groups, poverty activists, housing activists, anti-capitalists, anti-globalization activists, student activists, and others who are just interested in anti-social behavior.

[Read the full article at Friends of Grassy Narrows]

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Ottawa Solidarity

[Posted by Anarchsits Against Authority to ottawa.indymedia.org, 11.04.2008]

The actions of those in the anti-CANSEC march were completed with the smashing of the windows of the Army Recruitment Centre on Slater St.

While others showed their solidarity with “Alex”, arrested arbitrarily by the police, by making a presence at the police station, we chose to show ours in the night by attacking the system itself. In an act of opposition to this heavyhandedness of the state, the windows of the Army Recruitment Centre on Slater St. and the Scotiabank on Elgin St. were smashed on the night of Thursday April 10th.

During our march against the war profiteers who were having their conference at the Ottawa Congress Centre, the police showed their ruthlessness and their commitment to the capitalists and the state with their completely unjustified arrest of our comrade. We acted in a clear rejection of capitalism and the war and repression that accompany it.

Fire to the prisons and the state!

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Ottawa, Canada: Attack on police station and fire set…

[Contributed by Anonymous to infoshop.org/inews, April 11, 2008]

The morning of Thursday April 10th, a black bloc was called together to “shut down” CANSEC (secrity and weapons fair) and attack the system it expands. From the beginning of the demonstration an overwhelming police presence was mobilized to intimidate our small bloc.

This repression characterizes the continuing crackdown on subversion taking place across “Canada.” Allies everywhere are facing exaggerated sentences for blockades (at Tyendinaga), land reclamations (at Six Nations), or even for the fabrications alleged by our exploiters (in the case against John “boy” Graham).

Here in “Ottawa” it was no different, they kidnapped one comrade after our bloc smashed up a military recruiting centre.

Odds against us, greatly outnumbered and repressed, our determined bloc moved on.

Because of this obscene repression and because of the courage of our comrades we chose to act.

Let them never get away with this!!

While many moved to the jail holding our fellow companion in a show of solidarity, tonight we take up arms to express ours!

The community police station, on Somerset west of Bank, was attacked with rocks and paint bombs, and we set fire to a newspaper distribution box in front to draw attention to our attack and to highlight our rage towards the pigs.

The police implement surveillance and weapons technology (that which is paraded and whorshipped at CANSEC) for profiling people, locking them behind walls of borders and jails, for militarizing the cities and mowing down any resistance to this ever expanding system. The implementation of this technology and the demand for it only grows as the influence of the institutions that wield it expands over the planet with the help of projects like the SPP, for spectacles like the Olympic games, and to defend capitalism and the G8 that manipulate it. It is clear to all that CANSEC, its technology, their police, etc are all of one class: the one we grovel to as we get up for work, as we check our bank accounts, pay the rent and bills, the ones we cringe before when crossing their path…

Vancouver Integrated Security Unit (VISU), for example, are spending their million dollar budget on gadgets sold at CANSEC to repress the mounting revolt against the colonization of our lives and lands. Colonization continues (through Progress) to impose a sterile territory, social relations, and hostile existence on us all.

In “Ottawa” this colonization of life means streets endlessly shaded by skyscrapers, homeless forecefully excluded from the remnants of social life drifting through downtown streets. It means being watched by cameras wherever we set foot, the mechinization of relationships, to be alienated from the means to our survival. It means unforgettable repression and
unforgivable abuse!

No words can express our contempt for this system, its defenders, and those who profit from it (off our backs)!

Tonight was ours, tomorrow we can only ACT to insure this. NOW COMRADES!
Until we are all free!

– Hooligans who Hate Hierarchy

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CANSEC Arms Fair Opening Night Shut Down

[Contributed by Anonymous to infoshop.org/inews, April 08, 2008]

Tuxedoed corporate war profiteers and their government backers were forced to flee the Ottawa Congress Centre tonight as alarms sounded, fire trucks were called, and police searched in vain for the nefarious anarchists that shut down the opening night of CANSEC 2008, Canada’s largest arms fair.

Even the multi-million dollar surveillance and security technology on display, the presence of uniformed police, and the assertion by security forces that they had been gathering extensive ‘intelligence’ on CANSEC resistance could [not] prevent a group of Ottawa anarchists from infiltrating the event and simply pulling a fire alarm.

CANSEC 2008 is the nation’s largest arms fair, and brings together war profiteers, government repsentatives, and private buyers to drool over the latest in military, surveillance, and security technology. CANSEC represents the reality of Canada’s foreign and domestic polices – we are world leaders in death, mutliation, war and occuption.

This action was taken in response to PGA Bloc Ottawa’s call for autonomous actions to disrupt the arms fair, and in support of the PGA Hallmarks. Plus, we really, really liked their CANSEC video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Udxk9QExKY

We hope tonight’s shut down will merely mark the start of two days of active resistance to CANSEC 2008.

FROM KANDAHAR TO PALESTINE, OCCUPATION IS A CRIME!
SHUT DOWN THE CANSEC ARMS FAIR!
SHUT DOWN THE WAR MACHINE!

For info on CANSEC 2008 resistance, visit pga.roadnetwork.org

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Vandals deface national Peacekeeping Monument

Friday, April 4, 2008
CBC News

An Ottawa monument dedicated to Canadian peacekeepers has been defaced with graffiti apparently targeting the mission in Afghanistan.

On Friday, an anarchist symbol and the words “dead Afghan civilians” and “no more” were spray-painted in black on the pale stone wall that makes up the lower part of the peacekeeping monument on Sussex Drive, at St. Patrick Street, near the National Gallery.

A spokesperson for the Ottawa police service was unable to determine Friday afternoon whether police had received any complaints or whether they were investigating.

The Peacekeeping Monument was erected in 1992 as a project sponsored by the Department of National Defence and the National Capital Commission.

Sculptures of three peacekeepers stand on top of the wall.

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Calgary prisoner makes Hollywood-style escape

Friday, April 4, 2008
CBC News

Calgary [Alberta] police continued their search Friday for a prisoner who escaped from custody by jumping into the back of a moving truck.

Police said Robert Plant, 44, escaped Thursday afternoon while he was being transported as part of an ongoing investigation.

Plant was standing with officers outside a police car in the Mission area when a white truck sped by.

Plant jumped into the truck as it was still moving, Duty Insp. Dave Wood told CBC News, and the vehicle took off before police could jot down the licence plate number.

“Every escape is unusual, but this one, I don’t think it was by chance that that truck turned up at that specific location,” he said. “We’re investigating to try to discover the driver of the truck and also rearrest Mr. Plant.”

Plant was arrested on March 8 in connection with several break-ins.

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Prisoner escape a mystery: corrections official

Manhunt for Jermaine Carvery enters second day

Friday, April 4, 2008
CBC News

Nova Scotia’s head of corrections says he’s stumped as to how a prisoner managed to get out of locked leg restraints and run away.

Fred Honsberger, executive director of Nova Scotia Corrections Services, faced a second day of questions Friday as police continue to hunt for Jermaine Carvery.

Carvery, 30, jumped out of a transport van Thursday afternoon on his way from jail in Dartmouth to a medical appointment at the Centennial Building in Halifax.

Honsberger said Carvery was still wearing handcuffs when he bolted past a guard, but somehow got out of the restraints around his ankles.

The leg restraints use a “universal key,” he said, and were later found locked.

Honsberger called it a mystery and said an investigation is underway.

As for the timeline, he said the guard chasing Carvery called the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility from a cellphone around 1:30 p.m.

However, no one from the jail called Halifax Regional Police until 1:39 p.m.

Police said they immediately sent a dozen offices to the scene. Several blocks around the van were cordoned off as police with dogs scoured the area.

Police continued to search for Carvery throughout the night.

“We’ve checked with all of his known associates,” said Const. Jeff Carr. “We acted on information that we received in the very early morning hours that he may have been at a Creighton Street apartment. That turned up negative.”

Carr said police don’t know whether Carvery left the province, but they are in contact with police across the country.

Carvery faces a number of charges, including attempted murder and hostage-taking. He’s accused of being the ringleader of an armed robbery a Costco store in Halifax in 2004, in which 42 employees were bound and gagged.

This is the fourth time since December that a prisoner in the province has escaped or been accidentally released from custody.

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Rioting prisoners were armed with gym’s aluminum bats

Globe and Mail
ROBERT MATAS
April 2, 2008

Two lone, unarmed correctional officers in charge of as many as 40 prisoners fled for their lives when inmates armed with aluminum baseball bats from their B.C. prison’s sports equipment room went on a rampage on the weekend that left two men dead, one of them beaten to death.

The riot at Mountain Institution in Agassiz erupted so suddenly in the gym and spread so quickly to the living areas and health-care unit that several more officers, concerned about their own safety, fled to the roof without ensuring that security cameras – which would have caught the inmates’ activities – were turned on.

The inmates remained in control of the institution for several hours, until officers from a nearby high-security prison and an emergency-response team arrived with shotguns, according to interviews yesterday with those familiar with the events.

[…]

Those familiar with events said the riot turned violent after rampaging inmates broke into a locked room in the gym containing baseball bats, volleyballs, and floor hockey and other sports equipment. After the two officers fled the gym, a core of 10 to 20 rioting inmates led others into the health-care centre and living units.

At the health-care centre, the prisoners broke through two heavy metal doors and grabbed medicine stored on the shelf, including as many as 80 bottles of methadone from the drug-addiction treatment program.

In their living areas, the roving inmates smashed computers and the panel that controlled cell locks. They roamed through cells, bashing toilets and sinks, damaging at least 20 cells.

Michael Gibbon, a borderline mentally retarded man convicted of assaulting young girls and making and distributing child pornography, was assaulted in his cell and was pronounced dead shortly after the riot ended.

Trevor O’Brien, serving a three-year, nine-month sentence for robbery and property offences, died of a drug overdose. He was one of 12 inmates taken to the hospital after the riot for suspected overdoses.

More than 20 officers abandoned their posts. “Of course, when the inmates came in with baseball bats, and staff had nothing to defend themselves with, the staff [left],” Mr. Robertson said.

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Second B.C. inmate dies after weekend riot

UNNATI GANDHI
From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail
April 1, 2008

VANCOUVER — A second inmate from Mountain Institution, a federal penitentiary east of Vancouver, has died after a weekend riot in which about 60 prisoners armed with baseball bats, clubs and fire hoses from the gym forced their way into several of the institution’s buildings.The situation quickly spiralled out of control, a union official said, when the 22 prison staff on duty were forced to flee to the roof of the building around 9:45 p.m. Saturday. Michael Andrew Gibbon, a borderline mentally retarded man who was serving an indefinite sentence for sexually assaulting young girls, was attacked and killed during that time. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is probing his death.

Meanwhile, several prisoners also broke into the on-site health centre and got hold of several drugs, said Gord Robertson, Pacific regional president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.

A total of 12 inmates were taken to hospital for overdosing, he said, while one was transported with non-life-threatening injuries after being assaulted.

One of those inmates, whose identity had not been released as of last night, died in hospital Sunday evening from a drug overdose, Correctional Service Canada spokesman Dave Lefebvre confirmed in an interview yesterday.

Mr. Lefebvre would not say whether the health centre was one of the buildings to which inmates were able to gain access, or that drugs were stolen, but stated that Corrections Canada is conducting an investigation to “determine every aspect of this disturbance.”

Mr. Robertson said UCCO has made it clear to Corrections Canada on several occasions that open-concept, medium security facilities like Mountain Institution, where inmates are allowed to move freely within the walls, make it easy for them to gain control.

Mountain has been forced into extended lockdown-mode three times in recent months because of assaults and rioting.

Although it is still unclear what triggered Saturday’s incident, it is by far the most extreme to date, he said.

“They went into different buildings, different units, breaking into cells. They smashed computers, they smashed appliances, there was flooding because they pulled the fire hoses out, smashing the control posts,” Mr. Robertson said. “The staff had to flee because the inmates were armed and the staff aren’t.”

Mr. Robertson said barriers need to be installed so that staff have the chance to lock down certain parts of the prison if there is a security breach. Movement restrictions, like one enforced last week that forced inmates to be confined to their cells after every meal, aren’t enough, he said.

Glen Flett, a former Mountain Institution prisoner who runs an outreach program called Long-term Inmates Now in the Community, said it is these tighter restrictions, like the lockdowns after meals and the new smoking ban that will go into effect at the end of the month, that are agitating inmates.

“The pressure’s mounting.” he said.

Further, he said, the death of Mr. Gibbon, whom he’s known since 1998, resulted from more than Saturday night’s chaos. He believes Mr. Gibbon, who he said had the mental capacity of a 12-year-old, was targeted because he was a convicted child sex-offender. He said he had been threatened before.

“I remember for one thing, it’s double bunk at Mountain, and the bottom line is very few people wanted to live with him because of his status. And people who lived with him were often threatened or encouraged to beat him up or to treat him badly.”

Mr. Flett said Mr. Gibbon was killed in his unit, about 200 metres away from the gym where the riot began.

Mr. Lefebvre would not confirm where Mr. Gibbon’s body was found, but did say that Mountain is a mixed-population institution.

“We have sex offenders living in the same living unit as people who have committed murder living in the same unit as people who have committed property offences.”

Mr. Gibbon’s lawyer, Martin Peters, said in an interview that his client, with whom he had been in frequent contact, should have been segregated from the general population.

“It’s hard for me to say he wouldn’t have had more protection if he was segregated because that’s the very purpose of that exercise,” Mr. Peters said.

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