Following a discussion at the Article 3.1 meeting, Component chair Dean Purdy and Mike Scott, Component Recording Secretary, met with Corrections Branch staff responsible for the gathering of statistics and information on violent incidents in provincial jails.

The meeting was held to discuss differences in the number of assaults that the Component had recorded, compared to official statistics kept by the Branch in their "Integrated Corrections Operation Network (ICON)" system.

"I'm glad the government has decided to take a look at the ICON system," said Purdy. "This is something we want to see work as well."

"We are pleased to have worked with the Branch to identify those shortcomings so that both the government and ourselves can have an accurate count of violence in our jails," said Purdy. "We will be providing information to the Branch so they can cross-reference and/or update their system."

A recent article in the Globe and Mail outlined a number of issues related to ICON. You can read the article by going to the Component's media page by clicking here.