Report sheds new light on broom-handle attack that killed Pickton

Warning: Disturbing details.

More than one year after murderer Robert Pickton died from injuries sustained in a prison attack, investigators have made several recommendations regarding prison security and information sharing in a recently released report.

Pickton was serving a life sentence for the murders of Georgina Faith Papin, Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe and Marnie Frey.

He’d initially been charged with murdering 26 women but, as Pickton was already set to serve Canada’s harshest criminal sentence, the Crown stayed 20 charges.

Pickton, 74, had been locked up at the Port-Cartier Institution since 2018 when an inmate attacked him while medication was being handed out on May 19, 2024.

The guard assigned to the control post asked for help from other correctional officers who: “quickly intervened and were able to convince the aggressor to stop the assault,” according to the National Board of Investigation report.

Two minutes after the assault started, “the aggressor then grabbed a broomstick, broke the handle, and thrust it” into Pickton’s face.

Officers again intervened and: “managed to gain his compliance and handcuffed the aggressor,” the report stated.

Pickton was taken to a health and social services centre and later air-lifted to a Quebec City hospital. He was pronounced dead on May 31, 2024.

No criminal charge has been laid in the case.

Recommendations

The summer after the attack, a board was convened to investigate the incident, eventually finding prisoners had access to wooden handles from mops and brooms.

The investigators also reviewed the previous six months of casework records for Pickton and the man who attacked him, finding the records: “were not in compliance with policy, despite their importance in the assessment of inmate progress.”

Investigators also “raised concerns about information collection and sharing practices” after the person initially contacted about Pickton’s death wasn’t the correct next of kin.

Investigators couldn’t determine if Pickton knew his next of kin had changed their contact information. Staff hadn’t been informed of a change.

“The reminder to update this information is found in the 45-day structured casework record, which as previously indicated, has been the subject of non-compliance,” the report noted.

The board recommended reducing accessibility to items that could be used to “jeopardize the security of the institution.”

There is a plan at the institution to: “better control access to cleaning supplies,” the report noted.

The board recommended correctional officers be provided with the tools they need to evaluate inmates’ progress, noting changes have been made to: “increase and improve the sharing of information on offenders.”

All recommendations have been accepted and work is underway to implement them, according to a release from Correctional Services Canada.

Investigators questioned 35 staff members, consulted a police officer, reviewed policy instruments, and analyzed audio and closed-circuit television recordings.

Correctional Services Canada is legally required to investigate incidents where a prisoner dies or suffers serious bodily injury.