B.C. prison lockdown lifted, weapons seized following assault

The Mission Correctional Institution in Mission, B.C. is pictured Tuesday, April 14, 2020. Jennifer Larue just wants her husband to be able to hold their baby. But COVID-19 outbreaks at federal prisons and the subsequent lockdown to prevent the virus spread means Larue's husband, Norman, hasn't been able to see his wife or children in person for weeks. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

A 10-day lockdown at a federal prison in British Columbia ended Friday after officials seized contraband and other unauthorized items following an inmate assault.

The Correctional Service of Canada said the lockdown at the medium-security unit of Mission Institution was lifted after an “exceptional search” of the facility was completed.

The unit was placed under lockdown protocols, confining inmates to their cells for extended periods and barring visitors from the facility, on Aug. 18.

A notice from the correctional service announcing the lockdown said it was ordered so that staff could search the unit after an inmate was assaulted.

It said the lockdown would be lifted “as soon as it is considered safe to do so.”

The correctional service said Friday that homemade weapons and drug paraphernalia were found and seized during the search.

“The institution has resumed its normal operations and visits have resumed,” it said.

Corrections officials regularly work with local police to investigate and arrest those who attempt to bring contraband into prisons, the statement said.

Mission Institution, located approximately 65 kilometres east of Vancouver, opened in 1977 and was later merged with the former Ferndale Institution, which housed minimum-security inmates.

The correctional service says the prison can accommodate roughly 325 medium-security inmates, plus about 215 minimum-security inmates in a residential-design model.