OK, quiz time.
How many prisoners did the Vancouver Police Department house in its jail last year?
Was it?
a) 1,000
b) 2,000
c) 3,000
d) None of the above.
Hard to believe, but it was 14,439.
That’s roughly the seating capacity for the Pacific Coliseum.
And do you know out of all those good people (I’m guessing some were return guests), only two inmates complained in 2014 about the conditions in the jail.
Sheesh, that’s a better satisfaction rate than the last hotel I paid to stay in. But then again, I don’t think there’s such a tattletale site as Trip Advisor for inmates. Hey, wait a minute…a Trip Advisor site for inmates? Anybody got a pile of cash they want to invest in a sure-thing startup?
Anyway, some guy – whose name has been kept private by the VPD – was so irate with the conditions of the jail this year that he complained in writing to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner.
In January, he had a 14 hour and 20-minute stay in three different cells at the crowbar hotel on East Cordova Street. In his complaint, he said the cells were dirty, never cleaned and soiled with dried blood, feces and urine.
Well, like any good hotel manager, the VPD reviewed the complaint, including an examination of the prisoner observation log, where notes about the complainant’s status are kept. That would include writing down whether he was awake, asleep, ill or – in this case – lodged a complaint about dirty jail cells. Investigators also interviewed nurses, guards and the complainant -- who couldn’t definitively say which cells were filthy -- and viewed almost an hour’s worth of cell videos.
“The videos were reviewed in an attempt to corroborate the complainant’s allegation,” said a VPD report released this week. “Further, the observation log does not make any notation about a complaint from the complainant regarding unsanitary conditions of those two cells. The third cell [the one he was lodged in after the bail hearing prior to being transferred to the North Fraser Pre-Trial Centre] is a cell that is controlled by the B.C. Sheriffs and they control access to the videos of those cells. Unfortunately, those videos are only retained for a period of 60 days and could not be reviewed.”
Regardless, the VPD recommended the Vancouver Police Board dismiss the complaint (and it did at its Thursday meeting), saying “there is no information that corroborates the complaint; however, as a pro-active measure jail management has reminded all jail staff to inspect a cell before lodging a prisoner in it, and if the cell is not clean, then they are to use another cell.”
The report added that the VPD takes the health and safety of the prisoners “very seriously and will continue to be vigilant in ensuring the health of prisoners is not compromised by placing them in unsanitary cells.”
The department also noted the International Red Cross’ Detention Monitoring Unit visits the jail each year to view the conditions of the cells in which people detained for immigration purposes are kept. The unit visited the jail in May “and did not express any concerns regarding the cleanliness of the jail,” the report said.
Over to you prisoners.
Give me a call.
@Howellings
