Prison guards to gather at Queen’s Park to protest planned jail closures
Posted May 31, 2011 8:07 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Prison guards plan to gather at Queen’s Park Tuesday to protest the closure of two jails.
Buses carrying more than 75 correctional officers from Walkerton and Owen Sound left for Toronto Tuesday morning.
Owen Sound Mayor Deb Haswell and Brockton Councillor Chris Peabody will join the workers in Toronto in what’s being dubbed as a last-ditch effort to keep the jails open.
The provincial government announced in its March budget that it intends to close the jails in Owen Sound and Walkerton and transfer the prisoners to Penetanguishene. A provincial jail in Sarnia is also slated to close in 2013.
Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch is slated to hold a news conference at noon.
The union representing the workers, OPSEU, has collected more than 12,000 signatures on a petition. Local 224 President Paul Johnstone is demanding a face-to-face meeting with Premier Dalton McGuinty and Correctional Services Minister Jim Bradley.
