”Six prisoners hurt in riot at Joyceville,” Ottawa Citizen. August 19, 1987. Page 01. --- By Charles Rusnell and John Kessel for The Ottawa Citizen --- JOYCEVILLE - Guards used shotguns and tear gas Tuesday to quell a riot at Joyceville medium-security prison that took about five hours to bring under control.
Six prisoners were injured in the disturbances which began at 7 p.m. and didn't end until 3:35 a.m. today when all prisoners were back in their cells.
Three of the injured prisoners suffered minor wounds from shotgun pellets fired over their heads.
The riot started in two cell blocks after three prisoners assaulted four officers in prisoners' living quarters, said Correctional Services spokesman Dennis Curtis.
Two of the four guards who fled from the assault suffered minor injuries and the remaining two stayed on duty, he said.
Prisoners in cell blocks started smashing furniture, doors and windows. Outside, some of 150 prisoners who were involved in a baseball game in the exercise yard also joined in the rioting.
Fires were started inside and outside the building and a storage hut was burned to the ground, Curtis said.
He said he had no idea what sparked the original confrontation. An investigation was ordered today by Solicitor General James Kelleher.
Curtis didn't know how many inmates took part in the riot but said it could have been as many as half of the prison's population of 550. No estimate of damage to the prison, about 15 kilometres north of Kingston, was available.
Two inmates were taken to hospital in Kingston but the extent of their injuries is not known.
In a brief news release, Warden Yvonne Latta said all eight cell blocks had been secured by prison staff by 11:35 p.m.
However, about 150 inmates remained in the prison's exercise yard where they started two small fires.
One fire, which destroyed a small wooden shed that housed sports and gardening equipment, was extinguished by firefighters from the Pittsburgh Township fire department. The other fire was set in a pile of wooden pallets and was put out by prison staff.
Beginning at about 12:45 a.m., the prisoners were lined up in rows of six, counted and then taken into the prison in pairs without incident. All prisoners were inside and accounted for by 3:35 a.m. There were about 30 staff on duty Tuesday night and another 30 were called in.
Forty-seven Ontario Provincial Police officers from area detachments were also called in but did not enter the prison.
The officers circled the penitentiary fence in case a break was attempted, said Cpl. Wayne Baker, an OPP spokesman from Belleville.
Baker said there was "no threat of a break-out" during the riot.
At least three firetrucks and three ambulances also stood by outside the prison.
Curtis said there was no indication before the incident broke out that there was any tension building up inside the medium-security institution.
"Certainly there was nothing unusual that happened during the day.
" The only time anyone suspected anything was when the incident erupted at 7 p.m., " said Curtis.
Asked about overcrowding at the prison, Curtis said only 31 cells contain two inmates.
