Cell at Oakalla (date: unknown)

Corrections Branch Archives

Urgent phone calls to the (federal)
Penitentiary brought one of their staff with
tear gas equipment. With the aid of this
and a large number of staff the barricades
were forced and entry gained...

Order was restored and it was decided that
those who had been seen to take part
should be punished forthwith, Justice was
meted out with the paddle, All afternoon I
stood by the flogging table... I was required
to examine each victim before he was
flogged and watch over forty being
paddled... I know that both Mr. Stevens,
the Director of Correction, and Hugh
Christie did not approve of corporal
punishment... But it appeared to them at
the time to be an expedient and necessary
measure to cut short more prolonged
unrest and suffering,

Observation cell, Oakalla (date: unknown)

Corrections Branch Archives

The riot fuelled the incentive to overhaul
British Columbia’s penal system. The urgency
of hiting more staff and adding facilities was
stressed in Hugh Christie’s report to the
inspector of gaols explaining the riot. Shortly
thereafter, 50 new staff were recruited and
construction of a temporary facility began to
house 400 inmates.

This facility, which became known as Westgate,
opened at Oakalla in early 1953 to house the
overflow. It was also designed to become
industrial shops and warehouses. This plan
would take effect when the proposed new
facility for reformable offenders—Haney
Correctional Institution—was completed.

Probation was again expanded in 1953 through
an amendment to the Prison and Reformatories
Act. This act provided for indeterminate
sentencing with the option to parole inmates
sentenced to the Young Offenders Unit and

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Corrections in British Columbia