By Lyle Stewart
Editor, the Gauntlet,
As the communications advisor for the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, I read your opinion piece, [“Death in the penitentiary,” Kathryn Aedy, Nov.13, Gauntlet] with interest. Kathryn Aedy raised many issues that plague Canada’s correctional service and are a daily preoccupation for the men and women who work on the frontlines as correctional officers.
I find it necessary to correct a small but important error in the article, however. Ms. Aedy writes that, “The CBC reported that Pierre Mallette, president of the union representing Canadian prison guards, accused the guards of being ‘more concerned about public relations than what was happening inside our institutions for women.’”
In fact, Pierre Mallette accused CSC’s senior management of being overly concerned with public relations– not the correctional officers who tried to save Ms. Smith’s life on a daily basis in extremely trying circumstances.