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HMP Chapel Riot
The HMP Chapel Riot was a prison disturbance at Her Majesty's Penitentiary (HMP), in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador that occurred on February 9, 2014, in the prison's chapel. In the early afternoon of February 9, 2014, three clergy members of the Salvation Army visited HMP, St. John's, to deliver an interdenominational Church service to the inmate population. Approximately 40 inmates attended the service, including Kenneth Green, who was being housed at the prison on a second degree murder charge.

Moments after beginning the service, an inmate rushed to the front of the prison chapel tossing a wet paper towel at the prison's CCTV security camera, briefly covering the lens, before falling off, and allowing the camera to capture the riot in progress.

Video of the incident shows several inmates punching, kicking and shanking Kenneth Green, in front of the three clergy members, who observe the assault taking place while correctional officers rush in, and attempt to stop the beating. During the melee, another inmate is observed picking up a Church pew, and using it in a battering ram like fashion, striking Green in the head. After regaining control of the prison chapel, correctional officers provided first aid to Green, who was subsequently transported to hospital by ambulance for treatment of his injuries.

Despite the violent attack, Green suffered only minor injuries.

Immediate aftermath
On February 14, 2014, the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees (NAPE), the union representing NL's prison staff raised concerns regarding the incident, openly criticizing the Justice Department stating, "Why the Department of Justice want to downplay an event that happened, instead of acknowledging that this was an extreme situation that could have resulted in death, is beyond us." Sources at HMP told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, (CBC), that senior management at the prison were aware that a specific threat existed against Green. One source described that prison managers "put a lot of people's lives at risk that day" by not increasing security based on what they knew, and described what happened as "an attempted murder."

After rumors began to surface that prison authorities had knowledge of an impending attack on Green, NL correctional officers held a province wide protest on February 17, 2014, demanding safer working conditions and better safety equipment. NL's Justice Minister, Darren King, responded to the correctional officers demands by holding a media briefing on the same day of the protest; announcing that the province of Newfoundland and Labrador would be moving forward with plans to build a new prison. During the media briefing, which was also attended by the provincial superintendent of prison's, when asked by the media why extra guards weren't brought in to deal with the brawl, given that numerous sources both inside and outside the prison confirmed that staff knew a targeted attack against Green was going to happen, the superintendent responded by stating that will be part of an internal review.

Trials and court proceedings
On April 22, 2014, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (RNC) charged Paul Connolly a 32-year old inmate at HMP with damage to property, assault with a weapon, and assault causing bodily harm in relation to the assault on Green. Eight other men, all HMP inmates, would be prosecuted for various criminal charges as a result of their participation in the Chapel Riot.

The court heard testimony from HMP Captain Frank Lee, who testified at trial that he received information from an "unreliable source" that something could happen if Green was brought to the chapel. He was told by Assistant Superintendent Owen Brophy to inform Green of the threat. According to testimony entered in the statement of facts, the exchange between Lee, Green and other HMP staff happened two days before the incident.

Duane Skinner, a correctional officer at HMP, and the lone officer on duty in the Chapel when the riot took place, testified that he was surprised that inmates from those two units were allowed to be together, as many of the inmates have issues with each other. “We don’t allow these inmates to go to recreation together…yet they were all allowed to go to church,” he said.

Salvation Army Major Robert Froude, one of the three clergy members who witnessed the attack, said he felt trapped when the riot broke out, and didn't feel safe trying to leave the room because there was blood all over the floor. He added the accordion he was playing when the inmates were brought to the service was blood splattered by the time the riot was over. Froude said he hadn't been trained or instructed on any protocol if an incident like this happened, and added none of the inmates tried to hurt him.

Criminal Negligence allegations
On November 21, 2014, attorneys representing two of the inmates accused in the assault on Green submitted a Canadian Charter Application seeking a stay of proceedings in relation to their clients, claiming that four senior prison authorities were criminally negligent by allowing Green to attend the Chapel service knowing there had been a previous threat against his life. Attorney's Nick Westera and Nick Avis named the Assistant Superintendent of HMP, Owen Brophy, HMP Captain's Frank Lee, Diana Gibbons and Sargent Mike Stevenson in their Application.

In the statement of facts, the Application stated that management knew there was a real threat against Green, which led them to keeping Green's and the other inmate units separated. The Application stated that management were informed of the threat, knew it was real, and should never have allowed inmates from the two units to be in the chapel at the same time. The Application further stated that other guards said they were surprised Green and his attackers were allowed in the same room at all, when only two or three weeks before the riot Green had to be escorted around HMP because of threats against him.

The NL government retained former NL Justice Minister Jerome Kennedy to represent the four accused prison staff members, however, Judge Colin Flynn, who presided over the Application, ruled against Westera and Avis, stating, "In my view, there is no evidential or factual foundation to the allegations, as it just does not fit within the context of being behavior that would violate those fundamental principals of justice which underlie the community sense of fair play and decency."

Correctional officers make similar allegations
In July of 2015, a group of HMP correctional officers filed a complaint with Newfoundland and Labrador's Citizen's Representative, (Ombudsman), claiming that senior management at HMP intentionally allowed the riot to happen in an effort to relieve mounting pressure within the prison. After investigating the complaint, the Citizen's Representative, provided the complainant(s) with his findings in a confidential report that was not made public. However, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, obtained a copy of the report and reported that the Citizen's Representative could not determine that prison management acted intentionally in allowing the riot to happen, but did note that the riot was preventable.

On August 14, 2019, a Newfoundland and Labrador Access to Information request revealed that the NL Justice Department did not have any responsive records that indicate an internal review/investigation was conducted into the HMP Chapel Riot.