At first glance, Lisa assumed the man in the grey track suit was another inmate. Walking on the medium-security grounds of Kitchener’s Grand Valley Institution for Women in early November, she noticed a commotion but chalked it up to a brawl between inmates, a common occurrence at the prison. Until she heard screams echoing across the compound. “Get the f— out of here,” a fellow inmate yelled, sprinting past Lisa. “Run!” Lisa locked eyes with the man in the track suit. By the time she realized he wasn’t an inmate, but, rather, an intruder, “he just started running towards us,” Lisa told the Star in a December interview. “I’ve never run so fast in my life.’ Lisa is one of 10 inmates who have launched separate negligence claims against the Correctional Services of Canada (CSC) in the wake of the Nov. 2 break-in, which saw at least two inmates assaulted and a 28-year-old man charged with two counts of assault, one count of break-and-enter and another count of mischief. Now after more than a month, officials have remained tightlipped surrounding the break-in. It is only through the filing of the 10 lawsuits, and an interview with one of the plaintiffs, that the Star can offer the first accounts of the breach. The women asked the Star to withhold their surnames citing safety concerns, as the accused has since been released from custody. The claims, which seek a combined $3.2 million, allege CSC failed to take reasonable steps to prevent, detect and intercept the intruder from gaining access and ensure the safety of the inmates. The allegations have not been tested in court. A statement of defence has not been filed. In a statement to the Star, CSC spokesperson Michael Shrider said the federal agency had launched a review of the incident “in order to gather all necessary information and to better position the sites in case of unexpected incidents like this in the future.” Shrider declined to further comment while the case is before the courts. The two inmates suffered minor injuries and were treated by on-site medical staff, the
‘You just broke into a federal prison’
It’s unclear when the intruder first accessed GVI’s minimum-security grounds, which operates under a reduced security model and does not include traditional fencing. The timeline of events alleged throughout the women’s claims begins around 6:30 p.m., with the intruder scaling the six-foot, barbed-wire fence that separates the minimum and medium-security areas, leaving four empty beer cans on the ground behind him. A prisoner named Alisha, also out for an evening walk with another inmate, was the first of the plaintiffs to notice the man climbing the fence, according to her claim. “You realize you just broke into a federal prison?” the inmate with Alisha asked the man, according to the filings. “(You) better get out of here or the police will come.” Alisha began to run toward one of the houses on the complex and alleges the man chased after her. Inmates inside the house, who’d been watching a movie when the commotion broke out, jumped up to help barricade the door. One of the women accidentally pressed an accessibility button amidst the chaos, however, preventing the door from closing. Thinking quickly, Alisha grabbed a baking pan to block the opening, her claim states.
The medium security complex of GVI can be seen above in an undated file photo.
Office of the Correctional Investigator
Alisha and another inmate were allegedly struck by the intruder several times during the attack. A few moments later, the inmates were able to secure the door, according to Alisha’s lawsuit, and the man disappeared from sight.
Back outside, Lisa said the intruder began running toward her.
“You know when you come in from the cold and your legs are burning?” she told the Star “It was just like that, but I wasn’t cold. I had just run faster than I had in my entire life, with this man on my heels the entire time.”
Lisa ran into one of the houses on the complex, just in time to slam the door. Behind her, she said the man began to grab at the door handle and pound on the window.
“I’ll never forget the look in his eyes, the bloodshot veins,” she said. “He didn’t say anything, he just kept banging on the glass.”
Women in both houses say they tried to call the control centre for help while the intruder attempted to force entry into their homes, but were allegedly hung up on. It was a few moments later, Lisa claims, that three guards appeared on the grounds.
“The guards, they kind of just walked out,” Lisa said, “and the man started walking towards them but they didn’t seem to realize.”
Lisa and her housemates unlocked their door and yelled out to the three guards, identifying the man as an intruder. That’s when the officers tackled the man to the ground, the inmates said, eventually managing to restrain him. By that time, dozens of inmates had emerged from their homes and gathered on the grounds to watch the takedown.
The man was later arrested by Waterloo police and has since been released. He is next scheduled to appear in court in January.
The aftermath
The prisoners were locked down from Nov. 4, the day after the break-in, to Nov. 7, the lawsuit alleges, “depriving them of liberties such as fresh air and outdoor time.” When reached on Nov. 7, CSC told the Star the institution was not under lockdown, but instead had implemented “temporary movement restrictions” in certain areas for what they called a “non-routine search” in response to the breach. Inmates still had access to essential services, the agency said. Since the breach, the lawsuit alleges CSC has stationed a vehicle on the compound where the intruder scaled the fence with at least one staff member inside at all times. “However, on or about Nov. 15, a staff member was observed sleeping (inside the vehicle),” it reads. In a statement provided to the Star the day of the break-in, CSC spokesperson Shrider said that, in addition to reviewing the incident, CSC “continues to take all necessary steps to maintain a safe environment while supporting women in our care.” “The safety and security of institutions, their staff, and the public remains the highest priority in the operations of the federal correctional system,” he said. When pressed for details on the breach, Shrider declined to elaborate how or when the individual first entered the minimum-security complex, stating only that the individual was able to “illegally (gain) access to the site.” “In this case, once the perimeter was breached, the perpetrator was quickly apprehended and detained by CSC until (officers) arrived and made the arrest,” he said. While the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers declined to comment directly on the incident, a spokesperson said members share ongoing concerns about working conditions — particularly around safety and inmate violence — and a lack of accountability from management. Those concerns are shared by a wife of one of the inmates who witnessed the break-in, which she says has shaken her trust in the system. “There needs to be some more questions,” the woman, who asked that her identity be withheld over fears of retribution, told the Star in an interview. On the night of the break-in, the woman said she got a brief and frantic call from her partner — but then heard nothing for three days, she assumed, due to lockdowns. ”(You) get that call and you’re wondering what’s happening and how bad is it?” the woman said. “As loved ones, we’re in a position where we have to trust CSC is taking care of (our family members) and after an incident like this, we don’t feel quite confident that’s happening.”Prisoners retraumatized, lawyer alleges
The lawsuits allege the incident has left the 10 plaintiffs, almost all of whom have been victims of gender-based or sexual violence in their lives, retraumatized, negating much of the personal progress they had achieved through supportive programming during their detention. For Lisa, who served two years at GVI before the incident, detention had been a saving grace. For years after being prescribed opioids by a doctor who later lost his license, she struggled with addiction. Once inside, she took full advantage of the programming offered by the prison, enrolling in a course on drug addiction and mental health, that she graduated from with honours, and eventually earned a place in CSC’s Indigenous Pathways Initiative, an elder-driven Indigenous healing program. “I started to gain hope again. I felt I was on a good path to recovery,” Lisa said. Less than 48 hours after the break-in, however, Lisa was released on a scheduled parole. The incident and sudden transition has negated much of that progress, she said, and left her struggling to find her footing in the community. “The notion that CSC allowed a man to break into GVI and terrorize female prisoners, (…) who are victims of gender-based violence, for any duration of time is simply astounding,” lawyer Jeffrey Hartman, representing the 10 plaintiffs, wrote in the claims. “I’m supposed to be getting new identification, filing my taxes, seeing a doctor, but (…) I haven’t ventured out because I’m scared.”Source link
