Thirty-six staff members at the facility have tested positive for the virus; inmates' families say the spread has brought on new restrictions for their loved ones
Author of the article :Michael Rodriguez
Publishing date:Dec 26, 2021
The entrance to Drumheller Institution PHOTO BY TED JACOB /Calgary Herald
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Thirty-six staff members of a federal prison in Drumheller have tested positive for COVID-19 after some attended a staff gathering earlier this month, the Correctional Service of Canada has confirmed.
The Drumheller Institution, located about 130 kilometres east of Calgary, is a federal prison that can hold up to 582 medium-security inmates and 122 minimum-security inmates. No inmates have contracted the virus during the current outbreak and all infected staff members have been sent home to isolate, according to the Correctional Service.
“My husband is there and he said that one of the guards told him directly that they had a big potluck,” said Nicole Friesen, a northern Alberta woman who had to cancel a New Year’s visit with her inmate husband.
“I think it was pretty irresponsible considering the things that have been going around in the province with lots of places shutting down, and then (the staff) thought it was OK to just have a random party. Especially when people want to see their families around the holidays.”
The Correctional Service confirmed some staff members who tested positive attended the event but did not state the date or nature of the gathering, nor whether it violated public health orders.
To mitigate the virus’s spread, the prison has temporarily suspended visitation — a fact Edmonton resident Allison learned via a phone call from her husband on Dec. 22, just days before her planned trip to visit him at the facility on Christmas. Postmedia has agreed not to publish Allison’s last name due to fears of repercussions for her husband.
“(The guards) ended up having a Christmas party and a bunch of them were sent home, testing positive,” she said.
Both Friesen’s and Allison’s husbands are in the prison’s minimum-security unit, where inmates live in houses and are generally given more liberties than in a typical prison setting, with regular access to phone calls and more freedom of movement. But now with several guards and other staff getting COVID, they said phone use is being regulated and inmates are restricted to their rooms.
“They’re basically on lockdown, like in quarantine again,” said Friesen. “They are basically confined to their houses except for a couple of breaks during the day.”
Other sources within the prison community at Drumheller Institution, who spoke to Postmedia on the condition of anonymity due to fears of repercussions for their family members, corroborated the concerns highlighted by the two women. One woman, whose son is a medium-security inmate at the prison, said a pre-Christmas video call with her son was cancelled and moved to next week.
“They just told me it was due to COVID. They didn’t say anything about a Christmas party or that it was guards or who had COVID, but that was the reason given,” she said.
The Correctional Service refuted the claims regarding new restrictions in the prison, saying the institution is not locked down and inmates are not confined to their cells. The only change is the suspension of in-person visitation; inmates are still allowed out on their units throughout the day with access to video and phone calls to contact family and community supports, along with daily outdoor exercise time, the service said in a statement.
“CSC continues to closely monitor the situation, test broadly, and diligently apply infection prevention and control measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within the institution,” the federal agency said in an emailed statement Sunday.
“In addition to the use of masks, medical isolation and physical distancing, we have also established cohorts and modified routines as a measure to help prevent the spread of the virus.”
Earlier this year, Drumheller Institution had one of the most severe COVID-19 outbreaks in any Alberta federal facility, with 181 positive cases in inmates. No inmate deaths were directly tied to that outbreak. The prison was locked down for more than two months, with inmate movement heavily restricted, sparking mental-health concerns at the prison.
The Alberta government’s COVID-19 data website does not currently list the prison as having an active outbreak. AHS said the responsibility of declaring an outbreak in a federal institution lies with the Correctional Service.
As of Dec. 20, 84.6 per cent of inmates at Drumheller Institution have been fully vaccinated, according to the Correctional Service. Staff members at the prison are subject to the vaccine mandate for federal employees.
Article content
Thirty-six staff members of a federal prison in Drumheller have tested positive for COVID-19 after some attended a staff gathering earlier this month, the Correctional Service of Canada has confirmed.
The Drumheller Institution, located about 130 kilometres east of Calgary, is a federal prison that can hold up to 582 medium-security inmates and 122 minimum-security inmates. No inmates have contracted the virus during the current outbreak and all infected staff members have been sent home to isolate, according to the Correctional Service.
“My husband is there and he said that one of the guards told him directly that they had a big potluck,” said Nicole Friesen, a northern Alberta woman who had to cancel a New Year’s visit with her inmate husband.
“I think it was pretty irresponsible considering the things that have been going around in the province with lots of places shutting down, and then (the staff) thought it was OK to just have a random party. Especially when people want to see their families around the holidays.”
The Correctional Service confirmed some staff members who tested positive attended the event but did not state the date or nature of the gathering, nor whether it violated public health orders.
To mitigate the virus’s spread, the prison has temporarily suspended visitation — a fact Edmonton resident Allison learned via a phone call from her husband on Dec. 22, just days before her planned trip to visit him at the facility on Christmas. Postmedia has agreed not to publish Allison’s last name due to fears of repercussions for her husband.
“(The guards) ended up having a Christmas party and a bunch of them were sent home, testing positive,” she said.
Both Friesen’s and Allison’s husbands are in the prison’s minimum-security unit, where inmates live in houses and are generally given more liberties than in a typical prison setting, with regular access to phone calls and more freedom of movement. But now with several guards and other staff getting COVID, they said phone use is being regulated and inmates are restricted to their rooms.
“They’re basically on lockdown, like in quarantine again,” said Friesen. “They are basically confined to their houses except for a couple of breaks during the day.”
Other sources within the prison community at Drumheller Institution, who spoke to Postmedia on the condition of anonymity due to fears of repercussions for their family members, corroborated the concerns highlighted by the two women. One woman, whose son is a medium-security inmate at the prison, said a pre-Christmas video call with her son was cancelled and moved to next week.
“They just told me it was due to COVID. They didn’t say anything about a Christmas party or that it was guards or who had COVID, but that was the reason given,” she said.
The Correctional Service refuted the claims regarding new restrictions in the prison, saying the institution is not locked down and inmates are not confined to their cells. The only change is the suspension of in-person visitation; inmates are still allowed out on their units throughout the day with access to video and phone calls to contact family and community supports, along with daily outdoor exercise time, the service said in a statement.
“CSC continues to closely monitor the situation, test broadly, and diligently apply infection prevention and control measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within the institution,” the federal agency said in an emailed statement Sunday.
“In addition to the use of masks, medical isolation and physical distancing, we have also established cohorts and modified routines as a measure to help prevent the spread of the virus.”
Earlier this year, Drumheller Institution had one of the most severe COVID-19 outbreaks in any Alberta federal facility, with 181 positive cases in inmates. No inmate deaths were directly tied to that outbreak. The prison was locked down for more than two months, with inmate movement heavily restricted, sparking mental-health concerns at the prison.
The Alberta government’s COVID-19 data website does not currently list the prison as having an active outbreak. AHS said the responsibility of declaring an outbreak in a federal institution lies with the Correctional Service.
As of Dec. 20, 84.6 per cent of inmates at Drumheller Institution have been fully vaccinated, according to the Correctional Service. Staff members at the prison are subject to the vaccine mandate for federal employees.
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