Mountain Institution
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Mountain Institution is a medium security federal penitentiary operated by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). It is located in the town of Agassiz, British Columbia, approximately 115 kilometres east of Vancouver.
[edit] History
Throughout much of the early to mid-twentieth century a break-away group of Doukhobors known as the Sons of Freedom protested against perceived government interference or injustice through acts of nudity and arson. Mountain Institution was opened in 1962 as a special provincial prison for these Sons of Freedom. Its construction, to discourage traditional burning of buildings that characterized their method of protest, consisted of all metal living units. In 1969 it became a federal prison for offenders and inmates requiring protective custody.
In 1999 the CSC undertook an extensive rebuilding of the site. It was enlarged and the old living units, which were basically of partitioned dormitory style, were torn down and replaced with three modern 60-unit buildings. Also replaced were the dining hall/kitchen, school, health-care and other institutional facilities.
The Mountain Institution has a rated capacity of 480 inmates and, as of 2008, had an inmate count of 442.
The Mountain Institution offers several rehabilitation programs for offenders:
- 4-month sex-offender program
- anger-management counselling
- addictions and relapse prevention
[edit] March 30, 2008 Riot
On the night of March 30, 2008, a riot broke out that caused the deaths of two inmates and left eleven inmates hospitalised. Convicted child pornographer, Michael Andrew Gibbon (39) was beaten to death in the prison's gym, as well as a second inmate, Trevor Wayne O'Brien (25) who died of a drug overdose later in a hospital. This is not the first time an inmate convicted of sexual offenses involving children has died in this prison facility. The last death involved James Patrick Jones, (55), a man convicted of sex offences involving children was found dead in his cell by prison guards on March 17, 2007.[1] [2] [3]
