Ministry issues statement on district jail incident

A night-long hostage situation at the Thunder Bay District Jail came to an end on Tuesday morning, with one guard being sent to hospital with undetermined injuries.

A number of inmates were also injured during the melee, which began on Monday night, and were also taken to hospital for treatment.
A Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services spokesman said the incident was resolved after several hours.

“As of this morning, the unit has been secured through the help of (the) corrections crisis negotiation intervention teams,” said Brent Ross in a release issued Tuesday morning.

“All non-compliant inmates have been secured in their cells and work is under way to complete a search of the entire facility. The jail remains on lockdown in order for a full search to take place. ICIT is providing the security for the searches.”

To accommodate, additional staff from the Algoma Remand/Treatment Centre and the Fort Frances and Kenora jails have been brought in to assist.

The fracas caused an undetermined amount of damage to the century-old MacDougall Street facility.

“All but one inmate have since returned to custody,” Ross said.

“There has been physical damage to an area of the jail, including to cameras, cell doors and lights. There are multiple investigations going on into the circumstances surrounding the incident. The police are conducting a criminal investigation and the ministry is conducting an internal investigation.”

Ross went on to call it a shocking incident and sad reminder of the risks correctional officers face on a daily basis.

He also reiterated the incident was contained to the jail itself, refuting initial reports from at least one media outlet and several social media sites.

“There were no inmate escapes and there was no threat to the safety of the outside community.”

A spokesperson representing corrections officers at the jail said the incident will be tough to get over.

“It kills you to see this kind of stuff happen. I don't know if we'll ever be able to recover as a staff,” said OPSEU Local 737 president Mike Lundy, speaking to media outside of the jail.