njuries sustained or pharmaceuticals taken from the hospital. 10 days prior to the hostage-taking inmates had staged a strike, in which they presented a list of complaints to the warden that included cold food, overcrowded visiting room, guard harassment, and overcrowding. (15 March 1985 Associated Press)
One year after the riot, in 1986, Robert Edward Brown was knifed
to death by a fellow inmate who had been serving a life sentence
for first-degree murder since 1983.
3 years later, in August of 1988, two inmates in the Regional Treatment Centre located within the psychiatric-section of the penitentiary took one nurse hostage in order to secure enough drugs to commit a prison suicide. Inmates barricaded the doors with furniture, belts, and clothing tied into knots.
The prison was locked down, as a tactical team stationed itself outside the cell and negotiated with the prisoners throughout the day, even though Correctional Services of Canada does not make "deals" with hostage-taking inmates. The Treatment Centre, which houses sex offenders, and disturbed and unmanageable inmates serving two years or more, is located on the third floor.
Dr. George D. Scott has written briefly of his experiences with suicidal and self-injurious inmates at Kingston Penitentiary, and several of these experiences are listed below.
One inmate, who committed suicide in 1964, collected over the course of his 2 years as an office cleaner minuscule amounts of carbon tetrachloride from each office in the institution. When he eventually collected enough to destroy his kidneys (approximately 6 ounces) he killed himself.
The Coroner's Report revealed the death of another inmate in 1974 that had overdosed on methyl hydrate, known as rubbing-alcohol, from an inmate who distributed cleaning supplies throughout the penitentiary.
In another act of self-injury, one female inmate broke her water glass in her cell, wrapped it with damp toilet paper, and swallowed it. She died six days later from bowel perforations. Some have tried swallowing razor blades and bits of wire, but most of the time this was unsuccessful, assuming suicide was even their objective.
One inmate at Kingston Penitentiary decided to hatch an escape plan that would have almost certainly resulted in him being shot by a prison guard when he would attempt to scale the perimeter wall. However, that plan failed, and the inmate requested a transfer to British Columbia. Shortly after, he provoked a number of inmates until one of them stabbed him multiple times in the chest, arms, and abdomen. He was again unsuccessful.
Prison inmates, however, are not the only members of Kingston Penitentiary to commit suicide. By March of 2001, three Kingston-area prison guards had already committed suicide, shortly after an RCMP investigation into a staff-supported drug-smuggling ring began. The police probe began looking into the smuggling of cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, and alcohol, but no charges were immediately laid. Only a month after the investigation, 50 year-old prison guard Geoffrey McConnell feared he would be implicated in the smuggling plot, and killed himself in the parking lot of Bath Institution. He had driven to the prison, asked a fellow guard there to lend him his pistol, then walked to his car and fired a fatal shot into his brain. Later, in 2000, prison guards Gail Perkins and David Perkins took their own lives, as well. (The Globe and Mail, 22 March 2001)
On April 12, 1990, Richard Veinotte killed himself on April 12. With a rope he had fashioned from a canvas-bag obtained in the prison's canvas shop, he hanged himself over the frame of the top-bed bunk in his cell.
Another inmate, serving a life-sentence for second-degree murder, died in October of 1993, along with a string of other suicides at Millhaven and Warkworth, all within a week of each other. Following the victim's suicide, there were recommendations that Kingston Penitentiary set up an emergency phone line, much like a 911 line or a distress-centre hotline for inmates-at-risk.
When native female prisoners at Kingston Penitentiary