Fort Frances jail staff held hostage

Jack Tynan

The Fort Frances jail has been closed and prisoners sent to facilities in Kenora and Thunder Bay following Friday’s stand-off between correctional officers and inmates.
“They have been transferred to other correctional facilities in the province,” said Julie Rosenberg, Ministry of Correctional Services spokesperson.
Although there were14 inmates in the jail only two inmates, in jail on murder charges, are being blamed for the standoff which began when they refused to obey orders from jail staff at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The remaining inmates were reportedly in their cells throughout the standoff.
“The two inmates surrendered to police and the rest of the inmates were locked in their cells,” confirmed Rosenberg.
Through the night and most of Friday the OPP, ministry employees and members of an Institutional Crisis Intervention Team negotiated with the inmates before they finally surrendered to police at around 4 p.m.
The inmates were brought into the fenced in yard behind the jail and done by one, under heavy escort, led into holding cells in the police station and later taken to the other facilities.
A Tactical Response Unit (TRU) of over 40 officers, flown in from London and Barrie, had arrived at the Fort Frances OPP station beside the jail but the situation was resolved before they were called into action.
Little information about the hostage-taking has been released and the jail is still surrounded by yellow tape as the investigation continues. The facility will be closed for at least a week.
There were no injuries reported and the ministry has not revealed whether any weapons were used by the inmates.
“There’s no work yet on whether criminal charges will be laid,” said Rosenberg.
Three corrections officers and the jail manager were in the building when the standoff began, but inmates had released two officers by Friday morning.