Last July, a staff member at Her Majesty's Penitentiary made an urgent plea: inmates were so hot inside the notorious prison that they were at the point of rioting.
"HMP staff are having to manage volatile inmates who are at the point of rioting/becoming violent due to the unfit living conditions at HMP," wrote a staff member.
"There was a near-miss last week when inmates refused to lock into their cells, this was directly related to the heat in the cells. The emergency response team confined the range successfully last week but the unit is still at risk to riot again as no changes have been made."
The complaint was lodged in an internal hazard reporting system that keeps track of everything from ergonomically unfriendly workstations to poorly fitted vests to broken cell doors.
CBC News obtained the spreadsheet, which contains incidents generated between January 2022 and June 2023, through an access-to-information request.
In the decades-long conversation about conditions at Her Majesty's Penitentiary, correctional officers are rarely heard. They do not speak publicly over concerns for their employment and instead are represented in public by the union president.
But the reports offer rare insight into the situations staff at the St. John's prison face when they go to work and the frustration they feel over a lack of action for both themselves and the inmates alongside them. The names of the guards are redacted in the records provided to CBC News.
There were reports of black mould, poor ventilation, a consistent burning smell and extreme heat. Chief among the complaints, however, were rodents.
The rodent infestation has been so extreme over the last year and a half that one correctional officer noted, "It's to the point you're almost tripping over them.
"I know the building is old and there is only so much that can be done but until we get a new building I think we can at least curb the issue to an extent," they said, referencing a list of areas that need immediate patch work in the floors, walls and ceilings.
"Major problem [redacted] is infested beyond belief. The cabinets are a living area for them (specifically under the sink inside the cabinet). Mice coming in from under the cabinets and in the cabinets due to direct access to the wall."
Employees and inmates are afraid to work in some areas of the prison, one staff member said, because of a persistent infestation that cannot be quelled by sticky traps alone.
A Department of Justice and Public Safety spokesperson said an a statement last month that pest control providers regularly make visits to the prison.
Inmate kicks through corroded cell door
The same month that correctional officers were able to thwart a potential riot, an inmate was able to get out of his cell by just kicking the door.
"After the inmate was secure in another cell, I inspected the cell door, I observed a significant amount of damage and the entire locking mechanism of the door appeared to have severe corrosion," one correctional officer wrote.
Despite complaints during the summer of 2022 about poor ventilation and a lack of air conditioning, the problems persisted. This summer, one employee stated that heat testing in one area registered 27 C, not including humidity.
"While wearing full uniform it is incredibly uncomfortable and makes for dreadful work conditions," they said.
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