Inmates at federal prison in Agassiz want to form a union Mountain, happy, help

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Inmates at federal prison in Agassiz want to form a union
They are not happy with jail conditions
Tanya Fletcher/ Jesse Johnston Mar 04, 2011 15:20:10 PM
11    VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - What do teachers, steelworkers and prisoners have in common? They'll all be union members if a group of inmates at a federal prison in Agassiz gets their way.

The Mountain Institution inmates already have a name picked out: ConFederation.

Lawyer Natalie Dunbar is trying to help them organize. She says they've reached out to the Teamsters, BCGEU and the BC Federation of Labour so far.

Dunbar notes there aren't enough resources at prisons to deal with jail issues and a union would help fix that. "As things become increasingly more crowded and difficult in prison, and the process of getting any recourse for any complaints that prisoners do have comes to basically a complete halt."

The prison is on lockdown right now, so that's slowed down the process a little. But Dunbar says the institution's response has been reasonable.

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