Inmates at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s have negotiated for gaming consoles to be provided after staffing shortages halted their recreational activities.
According to a CBC report, the inmates asked for the gaming consoles to be provided to replace the activities which could no longer be held.
The request was reportedly successful, with the inmates getting televisions, PlayStations, headsets, controllers and several new games from the provincial Justice Department.
The province of Newfoundland and Labrador has been losing correctional officers for a while, with the existing workers having to work mandatory overtime just to keep up.
“We continue to lose correctional officers. I’m being told by front-line officers before they have a sick leave call, before they have a family emergency call or bereavement call, they are routinely down 14 to 15 [people],” Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees president Jerry Earle said back in December.
“That has to be filled. And guess how that’s filled? Mandatory overtime, most often.”
