Friday, August 29, 2008

The Keystone Cops

Five dangerous prisoners escaped this week from the Regina Correctional Centre in Saskatchewan. Perhaps it was their way of protesting stupid management.

The Regina Leader-Post reports today that management had just lifted extra security restrictions that had been in place on the “secure remand unit” due to earlier security concerns.
And that's in spite of the fact that management had recently been warned of an imminent escape attempt.

Corrections staff are now saying they weren’t even informed about the possible jailbreak. According to the newspaper’s source, such information is normally passed on to staff, even when there aren't any more details. "It's time to err on the side of safety and security," he said.

Police continue to search for the five inmates, some of whom face a range of serious charges, including murder.

Even the messaging of the jailbreak has been a mess. The PR experts at Toronto-based Veritas Communications note that the first official announcement of the escape came a full 15 hours after it happened: “More than enough time for information to leak and rumours to begin.” Public Safety Minister Darryl Hickie didn’t even learn of the escape until he turned on his PDA the next morning.

Authorities then hastily convened a press conference which caused more problems. The RCC and the Mounties didn’t get their stories straight, so they offered differing takes on the situation. According to Veritas, “The lack of proper preparation led to poor communications and diminished the public’s confidence that the situation was being handled effectively.”

Dangerous crooks on the loose and the Keystone Cops in control.
New Management Welcome.