After a record year of violence in B.C. jails last year, the BC Government Employees Union says conditions aren’t getting any better so far this year.

Dean Purdy with the BCGEU says issues in jails are growingly impacting correctional officers.

“That results in what we’ve seen as a spike in PTSD claims from our members. They seem to be going through the roof right now, and it’s no wonder because of what correctional officers are exposed to day in and day out. Some of this involves inmate assaults on fellow correctional officers, inmate-on-inmate assaults.”

“We have inmates that can’t be housed with anyone, we have inmates with mental health issues, we have gang-affiliated inmates, and it’s very difficult to manage that inmate population in the current format.”

Purdy says the officer-to-inmate ratio at the Kamloops jail is about one-to-40, and as high as one-to-72 in other jails in the province.

In 2018, there were a record 26 reported assaults specifically at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre.