Greater Sudbury Fire Services responded to no less than three fires at the Sudbury Jail on Saturday.
Platoon Chief André Groulx said they were all small fires set by inmates, and had been extinguished by prison guards by the time firefighters arrived at the scene.
Groulx said three calls in one day is high, but it's not unusual for firefighters to respond to small fires at the jail.
But Nathan Aubin, president of OPSEU Local 617, which represents local correction officers, said he would not call the fires small.
“They were significant,” he said.
Aubin said some offenders at the jail had a “temper tantrum” due to a disagreement with the rules at the institution, and set the fires.
They burned Styrofoam, which created toxic smoke.
“Offenders have crafty ways of smuggling in what is referred to as contraband,” Aubin said. “Most of the contraband that comes into the institution is concealed within the body of the offender.”
He said intermittent offenders, sometimes called “weekenders”, who are only in the jail for a short time, are the biggest culprits for smuggling in contraband, including lighters and matches.
Aubin said the jail does not have sufficient staff to properly screen inmates for contraband. He added sometimes searches aren't conducted at all.
In early January, Ontario's 6,000 correctional services workers threatened to go on strike after being without a contract for a year.
Aubin said at the time that Sudbury Jail, which was built in 1928 to accommodate 56 inmates, was crowded with 186 beds.
Later in January, the province reached a tentative agreement with its correctional service workers.
“We will continue to work with our corrections staff as we move forward with our mandate to transform the correctional system to develop effective and lasting improvements to enhance rehabilitation and reintegration supports as we work to break the cycle of re-offending and improve the safety and security of correctional staff, inmates and the public,” said Deb Matthews, deputy premier and president of the Treasury Board.
As for fires at Sudbury Jail, Aubin said several correctional officers are also volunteer firefighters, and have been invaluable when inmates have started fires.
But he added the jail only has a limited amount of equipment – including self-contained breather apparatuses – to fight fires.
“You can never have enough of that stuff,” he said. “We're always asking for more equipment and better equipment.”
