#medium security

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.

The rioting by about 350 prisoners at Ontario's Joyceville Institution on Tuesday night defied the truism that prison riots happen among desperate convicts with nothing to lose.

The medium-security institution is instead filled with convicts who have earned entry to the prison by proving themselves relatively peaceful, or are approaching their release dates.

"I'd expect it from Millhaven, or Kingston Penitentiary, or even Collins Bay - but not Joyceville," said one social worker who regularly visits those Kingston-area prisons.

The eruption also had none of the usual features of a prison riot: no hostages, no demands, no request for a press conference to complain about conditions.

Nonetheless, hundreds of convicts jeopardized their release dates to embark on a spontaneous revolt against their captors. Broken glass, smashed furniture and burned-out walls marked several sections of the prison. There were also a handful of minor injuries.

As the cleanup and investigation began yesterday into the only serious riot in recent years in the area, correctional observers were at a loss to explain the emotional chain reaction.

In the end, their best explanation was that hundreds of caged men on a humid day simply ignited. The prison is not as overcrowded as many other institutions - 62 of the 550 inmates are doublebunked. Their sentences range up to life, but most are due for release within a year or two.

"There is always a certain amount of tension when one side has the keys, but it has been a pretty quiet institution," said Graham Stewart of the John Howard Society of Ontario.

It was the worst riot in Joyceville's 28-year history. Although there have been no riots recently in the area, Mr. Stewart added, there have been rashes of suicides and murders in the past few years. "I guess all it really tells us is that tension and violence comes in cycles."

At its height, about 269 inmates were rioting in the exercise yard while about 100 more were destroying sections of two cell-blocks, said Dennis Curtis, a spokesman for Correctional Service Canada. Fires were set in both locales and guards used tear gas and shotgun pellets to regain control.

Federal Solicitor-General James Kelleher told reporters in Ottawa yesterday that the incident was sparked when "living-unit officers" tried to break up an illicit drinking party involving four inmates.

Mr. Curtis said the riot came as "a total surprise to everybody. An altercation between a few inmates and staff got out of hand. The staff beat it out of there. Then, the other inmates said something like: 'OK, let's go,' and it became a mob thing. Once it starts, it's hard to stop."

It started about 7:15 p.m. and stopped around 11:45 p.m. Just 15 living-unit officers (staff members who circulate freely among the prisoners) and 15 guards were on duty as the trouble began, but they quickly locked doors between the exercise yard and the two rioting cell- blocks. They also locked off the other two cell-blocks.

Two fires were set in the cellblocks. Tear gas and warning shots were fired, injuring three inmates slightly.

As the mob milled in the yard, a firetruck manned by volunteer firemen from a nearby town was directed into the prison yard to put out blazes.

There was some disagreement over the atmosphere in the prison prior to the riot. The social worker said yesterday that in recent visits to Joyceville, she had noticed "a lot more tension. The guys have been short- tempered. The games they play are rougher. I felt something was going on."

But Mr. Stewart said he has found the entire prison system quieter than usual lately. "At the best of times it is a tense and uncomfortable environment," he said. "When one looks at it, one really wonders why there is so little violence."

The two men, who talked to The Star on condition they not be identified, said the riot began when a unit officer threatened to send an inmate to "the hole" - a punishment cell - because he and another convict were drinking.

The former prisoner said convicts who are found drinking are usually left alone until after the regular evening lockup of all cells. A security officer confirmed this procedure is followed in order to avoid confrontation.

The riot was the worst since the prison was opened 28 years ago. Six inmates and four prison officials were injured in the disturbance, which caused $400,000 damage.

'Went berserk' A confidential Telex sent to prison officials the day after the incident also indicates the riot started after the drinking bout.

In a copy obtained by The Star, Karl Nieman, Joyceville's preventive security officer, said one prisoner "went berserk and assaulted two (prison officials)" when they moved to lock him in his cell. The other prisoner "started to fight" with officers after he had been taken to the control room for counselling.

The guard who spoke to The Star acknowledged that prison officers mishandled the situation, but blamed management for assigning unqualified staff to jobs that require contact with prisoners.

"I think the biggest problem is they've got so many people in the (prison) service that have no experience that are dealing directly with the inmates," he said. "We've got people in there that have no more business dealing with inmates than you have."

Clerical positions Joyceville is operated on a living-unit basis, with unarmed, non-uniformed staff who function as social workers and are the only staff members who have direct daily contact with the inmates. Some of them have been promoted from clerical positions and have little training in security measures, a senior guard said.

The report of an internal investigation done after the riot recommended several ways in which the drinking incident "could have been handled a little differently," a senior prison official said. "There was no fault as far as any individual was concerned."

The report is being closely guarded, he said, and some prison supervisors are upset because they have been denied access to it.

Joyceville warden Tom Epp refused to discuss the internal investigation into the riot and would not discuss the confidential Telex.

John Nunziata, Liberal MP and solicitor-general critic, says the document proves correctional officials downplayed the incident.

The Telex mentions "rioting inmates," but Epp refused to term the incident a riot, calling it a "disturbance."

The document details the firing of eight rounds of tear gas, three shots from automatic rifles and at least half a dozen shotgun blasts to quell the inmate uprising.

It also describes two incidents in which staff had to be removed for fear they would be taken hostage.

Refused to work "The keeper (senior guard) ordered officers on C-D side to withdraw through the emergency exit to prevent the taking of hostages," it says, and "staff (were) evacuated from the rec office through an escape hatch in the basement."

The August riot marked the start of three months of unrest at Joyceville. Inmates refused to work during the last week of October to protest the transfer of their inmate committee chairman, Jimmy Demaria, to maximum-security Millhaven penitentiary.

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