1 inmate dies, 7 others injured after fight breaks out at Stony Mountain Institution

A 33-year-old man was killed when a large fight broke out at Stony Mountain Institution on Monday evening, leaving seven inmates injured, RCMP say.

Police were called to the federal multi-security prison north of Winnipeg on Monday evening at about 6:35 p.m. after a large fight broke out, RCMP said in a news release on Tuesday.

Officers were told that some of the inmates involved were armed with what RCMP say are edged weapons.

Inmate Colton Patchinose, a33-year-old man from Winnipeg,was pronounced dead at the scene, Correctional Service Canada (CSC) said in a news release on Tuesday.

Patchinose had been incarcerated since 2011for a number of violent charges, including three convictions for first-degree murder.

CSC says his next of kin have been notified.

Seven others were hurt in the fight and brought to hospital.

RCMP major crime services are investigating with forensic identification services.

CSC is also mandated to investigate the death of an inmate in its custody.

James Bloomfield, the Prairies regional president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, referred to the fight as a "deadly riot" in an email to CBC News.

He said itbroke out in the exercise yard between two rival gangs.

"In order to get things under control, there were several [warning] shots fired. There was lots of pepper spray deployed and fortunately, we did get things under control," Bloomfield said in an interview on Wednesday morning.

"However, one of the inmates did lose their lives in the yard."

There were just over 100 inmates in the yard at the time of the incident, with 30-40 directly involved, he said.

As many officers aspossible were shifted to the situation and the emergency response team was called in, Bloomfield said. Everything was under control when RCMParrived, he said.

No correctional officers were physically injured but "as you can imagine, there's definitely mental health injuries that occur over the next day or two for witnessing a murder or for the stabbings that occurred," Bloomfield said.

"That's a very difficult situation to respond to, to deal with, to see. So over the next few days we'll be monitoring the staff and looking for symptoms and signs of stress injuries and mental health injuries."

The incident wasanother example of a violent and unpredictable work environment for staff at the prison, which is being fuelled by gang activity and drugs,Bloomfield said.

"There has been a lot of violent activity at Stony Mountain for a very long time. We have a huge amount of drugs within that institution," he said.

"It is one of the highest throw-over institutions in the country, which means people throwing drugs over the fences into the institution."

Bloomfield also suggested there are few to no repercussions for inmates who are involved in violent behaviour, which allows it to escalate.

"The service has refused to address any behavioural concerns for a very long time. It's almost encouragement," he said.

Correctional Service Canada didn't respond to a request for comment on the union's allegations.

"We're asking for the service and for the government to step up. We need them to have accountability for these inmates, and we need them to help make our environment safer," Bloomfield said.

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