Qualifications dropped for jail guards

It's so difficult to recruit new guards for the understaffed Burnside jail that authorities have reduced the qualifications needed to apply.

That revelation is contained in the decision of a Halifax judge who dismissed the case of a prisoner who complained he was being kept in his cell last month for more than 23 hours a day.

“Deputy Superintendent (Brad Ross) noted that it is difficult to recruit new persons. In fact, the qualifications prerequisites have been dropped in some respects to allow for a quicker turnaround and a greater breadth of persons who might be eligible to become correctional officers,” Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Peter Rosinski said in a written decision released Tuesday.

Kevin Edward Clarke-McNeil is one of several inmates facing charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder for an attack on another prisoner at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth.

Clarke-McNeil, 35, filed his application in late August complaining about conditions at the Burnside jail.

“Basically, he put in it that he is held in cell for more than 23 hours a day; not getting to go out ... to the yard for weeks at a time; can't get to the phones to make important calls related to his court cases and preparation for court appearances,” said the judge.

“In his remedies, he would wish, access to the phones during business hours during the weekdays, and a letter from the Justice System acknowledging mistreatment and saying his rights are not being given to him on an ongoing basis (by way of explanation) because of staff issues with the facilities.”

Instead, Rosinski dismissed Clarke-McNeil's application, saying the prisoner's situation was the result of “a perfect storm of bad circumstances.”

The prisoner's complaint focused on his treatment during the last third of August, said the judge.

Ross, one of the correctional facility's deputy superintendents, testified about construction work that had to be done at Burnside jail starting in mid-August.

“It was clearly absolutely essential to have this done so that the security systems in the Burnside jail did not fail unexpectedly all at once potentially,” Rosinski said.

“And so, the management was left to find ways to allow this construction to go forward, while at the same time facing staff shortages which were gone into in great detail by Deputy Superintendent Ross.”

While finding candidates is tough, jail guards then need to be trained, said the judge.

“However, the training, which is really key here, also has to be put in place before they can function as correctional officers and that again, like so many of the things in these circumstances, was impacted by COVID: (they) couldn't train all those people they had available all at once, there were limits placed by Public Health that slowed the process down; the construction involved; people being in the building – civilians who needed escorts because the nature of a correctional facility.”

That left the jail's administration with "very little decision-making room,” Rosinski said.

For the days when ClarkeMcNeil told the court he'd had less than two hours outside his cell, Ross checked the surveillance video and testified the prisoner did get adequate time on those days.

“I am satisfied more likely than not that Mr. ClarkeMcNeil was out of his cell for more than two hours per day as required based on Deputy Superintendent Ross' evidence,” said the judge.

Ross testified using the phone was “a particularly tricky situation with the construction and the staff shortages … that impacted the access to the telephones too.”

Rosinski said he understands that Clarke-McNeil may have missed some prearranged phone calls last month.

The judge blamed that on the construction and staffing shortages "which really are extraordinary circumstances, I would say in the life of the Institution generally.”

MANAGERS WORKING AS GUARDS

On getting more time outside of his cell in the yard, the judge said: “It was just not possible in the circumstances. Mr. Clarke-McNeil says that they should have had better arrangements made for this and so on. As I say, I find that the Institution on the evidence before me, was as diligent as possibly could be. It went so far as to have managers, who usually do not do correctional officer work to do those jobs to try to keep the place functioning as smoothly as possible.”

Ross told the court the jail's managers want “the inmates to get as much free time” outside their cells as possible.

“We don't want to restrain them because we know that makes it more difficult for the interactions between the inmates and our staff, and that reflects as well back to the managers.”

The judge was convinced the jail's managers acted in good faith.

“The decisions taken were lawful, justified and reasonable in all the circumstances.”

Depriving Clarke-McNeil of his “residual liberty” was “justifiable, lawful" and appropriate given the “somewhat extraordinary and supervening circumstances during this time period,” Rosinsky said.

Nova Scotia's Explore Careers website indicates people applying to become jail guards must have completed high school. They also need to meet agility, strength and fitness requirements.

“College education in correctional services, police studies or criminology may be required,” according to the site, which notes "recruits are usually required to complete a basic training course,” get their first aid certification, and training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The province's Justice Department and the Nova Scotia Government Employees Union did not respond Tuesday to queries about reducing qualifications for jail guard applicants.