‘It is a warning’: Former Pickton warden urges other prisons to learn from murderer’s killing

Correctional Service Canada says an unnamed inmate has been injured in what it's calling a major assault at the Port-Cartier Institution located on Quebec's north shore. Patches are seen on the arm and shoulder of a corrections officer in the segregation unit at the Fraser Valley Institution for Women during a media tour, in Abbotsford, B.C., on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

A year after a fatal prison attack on a notorious B.C. serial killer, one of his past jailors is urging corrections officials to heed the findings of an investigation into the incident.

The Correctional Service of Canada quietly published the report on a Friday afternoon without distributing a press release, fully accepting the three recommendations stemming from Robert “Willie” Pickton’s death after he was stabbed in the face with a broken broom stick last year.

A former warden at the Kent Institution maximum security prison in the eastern Fraser Valley is concerned that the lessons of the past aren’t being learned – and that Pickton’s death is proof of that.

“This is not the first time somebody has broken a broomstick and used it as a weapon,” said Mark Kemball, who has now retired from decades working in the correctional service. “What was the policy at the time related to those types of materials, and did (the Corrections Service of Canada) follow them?”

He pointed out that unsecured janitorial supplies and equipment endanger prison staff as well as other inmates and urged other facilities to take this as a wake-up call.

“It is a warning to other facilities,” to make sure they have proper protocols around cleaning supplies, but also to ensure their paperwork is up to date, Kemball said.

The Board of Inquiry report found the “structured 45-day casework records for both inmates involved in the incident were not in compliance with policy, despite their importance in the assessment of inmate progress.”

Kemball said those reports can be vital in identifying changes in behaviour or conflicts between inmates before they escalate to violence.

The BOI made three recommendations, including ensuring next of kin contact information is up to date, since there had been issues reaching Pickton’s family after he as attacked in May of last year. The 74-year-old had been serving out his life sentence in the maximum security Port Cartier Institution in Quebec, and died in hospital from his injuries two weeks after the assault.

“All recommendations have been accepted and work is underway to implement them as we work towards making our institutions safer for all of our employees, inmates and visitors,” reads a statement from Corrections Canada.

While Pickton is one of the most reviled serial killers in Canadian history – convicted of murdering six women and suspected of killing dozens more –there were expressions of grim satisfaction after his death from his victims’ families.

No one has been charged in Pickton’s death, despite a police investigation by the Sûreté du Québec.