Inmate injured during Brandon riot

One inmate suffered a minor injury during a four-hour riot at the Brandon Correctional Centre on Sunday afternoon.

Michelle Duncan, a spokeswoman for Manitoba Justice, said 27 inmates were involved in the incident, which started just before 12:30 p.m.

She said the inmates smashed walls and broke several things and even started a small fire that was put out by the Brandon Fire Service using a water canon.

The entire jail was locked down while its emergency response unit and negotiating team worked to bring things under control.

Members of the Brandon Police Service also responded.

"Two lower sub-units … started causing a fair bit of property damage and caused concern for staff, so the area was secured," Duncan said. "[The inmates] proceeded to damage interior walls and smash things up."

Duncan said the correctional centre's emergency response unit used pepper spray to subdue the inmates and brought the situation under control at about 5:15 p.m.

"What sometimes is used in these scenarios and was in this one was OC spray — pepper spray is, I guess, the more familiar terminology," she said.

"And that was not onto any particular person. That was into the sub-unit location."

No staff members were injured. An inmate required stitches for minor wounds but no hospitalization, Duncan said.

Damage was done to internal walls between the sub-units and an external wall to a fenced area. There were no escapes reported, Duncan said.

Inmates transferred to Winnipeg

The inmates involved in the riot have been transferred to the Winnipeg Remand Centre. The remaining 255 inmates are still in lockdown.

Operations will return to normal gradually as determined by institution staff, stated a news release from the province, which also noted that counseling support is being offered to affected corrections staff through the employee assistance program.

The Brandon Correctional Centre is a medium-security facility built to hold up to 157 prisoners. At the time of the riot there were 282 inmates in the jail.

Duncan said overcrowding has been an issue at the provincial facilities "for years."

Two investigations, one by provincial corrections officials and one by Brandon police, are underway.