What the prison service conceals from public view

There's a lot going on inside Canada's federal prisons every day – suicide attempts, smuggling, hunger strikes, assaults and sometimes, murder. But you'd have almost no idea how violent and bizarre penitentiary life is, if you simply followed the news releases of the Correctional Service of Canada, the national agency that runs the country's penitentiaries. At this site, where releases are issued covering 13 federal pens in Ontario, there were less than 60 news releases issued by the end of November. Internal prison records obtained by Cancrime show that in the first half of 2008 there were 3,301 incidents in those prisons, including 151 incidents of violence. The document reveals incidents ranging from convicts caught with contraband to attacks on staff.

Legend:
KP: Kingston Penitentiary
MAU: Millhaven Assessment Unit, where new inmates in Ontario are assessed
MI: Millhaven Institution
RTC: Regional Treatment Centre, a psychiatric treatment and assessment centre inside KP
BI: Bath Creek Institution
CBI: Collins Bay Institution
FMI: Fenbrook Institution
GVI: Grand Valley Institution (for women)
JI: Joyceville Institution
WI: Warkworth Institution
PI: Pittsburgh Institution
FI: Frontenac Institution
BCI: Beaver Creek Institution

Read it all