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IQALUIT
More prisoners mean more problems for fire safety at the Baffin Correctional Centre, said Ray Fast, the warden at the aged and notoriously over-crowded jail.

"The more people you have, the greater the chances of more contraband coming in. Because of the over-crowding we're not able to run some of the recreation for the inmates. What happens is it leads to boredom and idle hands lead to people looking for things to do as a means of escape like we had in November," said Fast.

On Nov. 12 two small fires started by inmates led to the evacuation of the jail and reignited questions of fire safety and protocol. The BCC, built more than 25 years ago, was only intended to house about 66 inmates. At present it has 85, although there have been as many as 100.

"All jurisdictions have over-crowding problems," said Jean-Pierre Deroy, Nunavut's director of corrections, who added Nunavut relies on Ontario and the NWT to help with overcrowding but they too face similar problems.

Fast called the November incident the "ultimate fire drill" because prisoners were moved to safety and in the end it helped corrections staff and RCMP work to modernize their contingency plan. Currently, in the event of a major fire, prisoners are brought to a fenced-in area adjacent the BCC called the "bull pen" or shuttled in schoolbuses under guard to places of secure custody such as the RCMP detachment.

"We have to consider the safety of the public especially in the case of an intentional fire. You're never sure if it's set to mastermind an escape or just as a diversion or just out of sheer boredom. We're not sure what the motivation is."

Last March a buildup of lint in the clothes dryer ignited an unintentional fire at BCC. Inmates routinely do their own laundry under supervision of staff and a report from the incident noted that the first two fire extinguishers staff tried didn't work.

In April, weeks after the dryer fire, Nunavut assistant fire marshal Frederick Morrison visited BCC, noting 42 ways the jail did not meet federal fire code. The "deficiencies" included 16 considerably minor housekeeping issues such as lights needing replacement, lint in the dryers and chairs in front of doorways, which according to Fast were "addressed immediately." Four other deficiencies involved more work such as cell refurbishment, and 22 larger matters must first go through the GN's Community and Government Services.

"There may be things where five minutes before the inspector walks in someone moves a garbage can in front of a door," said Fast, who began his position as warden last October.

The warden's office directly receives the fire marshal's report. Of the more troublesome improvements asked for in the report, which might require renovation to the building, the jail's high population and overcrowding makes it "virtually impossible to do now without some place to move the prisoners," said Fast.

With 48 spaces now available at the newly opened Rankin Inlet Healing Facility, Chris Stewart, manager of capital and special projects with the Corrections, expects to see it alleviate some over-crowding at BCC. However, inmates at the new facility must meet certain criteria based on institutional behaviour, sentence length and program availability.

"Not everyone at the Baffin Correctional Centre would meet the criteria for the Rankin Inlet facility," he said. "It's certainly going to alleviate some of the immediate pressure on the BCC but it is only part of the solution to relieving the over-crowding of the facility."

Stewart said an emergency over-crowding relief structure the same size as the Rankin facility could be built as early as April 2014 across from the current BCC and be able to house 48 inmates.

In May 2010, former fire marshal Tony Noakes also raised concerns over the BCC being in violation of safety codes. He pointed out that sprinkler heads were missing, broken and corroded, and that, with plywood used to construct the BCC instead of drywall, flames would spread faster than people trying to exit the building. He claims he was fired for speaking out.

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