B.C. Penitentiary (1975)

[Jersay]

June 9 Three prisoners at the BC Penitentiary who were about to be returned to solitary confinement took 15 hostages. The standoff with prison officials would last 41 hours and end June 11 with an emergency response team storming the hostage takers. During the raid one of the guards accidentally shot and killed one of the hostages, classification officer Mary Steinhauser, 32. Ironically she had been working at implementing courses for prisoners in solitary. Christian Bruyére wrote a 1978 play, Walls, based on the incident. It was made into a movie in 1984.

Now June 9th, 1975 holds significance with my family because my father, was also a peace officer/classifications officer at the prison in 1975 and was actually Steinhauser's 'partner' if you could say, they worked together on many incidents.

About a month before the incident took place, a prisoner warned my father to transfer out of the prison because something was planned. He warned the warden and others but they did not listen so he did transfer out a few weeks before the incident. If he had stayed, he believes because he is a 'tough cookie' as he says, that he would have been killed or wounded in place of Mary Steinhauser if he had remained in the prison.

So that is why the day is important to us.

 

[Jersay]

I think this is an interesting story.

Does anyone have connections to B.C. Penitentiary like living near it, or having worked in it, or even residing within its bars?

 

[Paranoid Dot Calm]

Hi! Jersay

I've done volunteer service in most all Federal institutions in Canada. I quite well remember the riot. I remember the tent city which was constructed to house inmates following the riot. I remember just how vindictive the prison staff were after the riot.

Calm

 

[Jersay]

I remember just how vindictive the prison staff were after the riot.

Well a peace officer had been killed. But that still does not excuse the fact of what the prison officials did. At least my father had transfered to another prison after no one listened to him. Now, I think personally, if it hadn't been for that prisoner who had warned my father, he wouldn't be here today and I wouldn't be here today.

 

[muffin girl]

RE: B.C. Penitentiary (19

That was a terrible thing

 

[Jersay]

That was a terrible thing

Yeah, my dad doesn't like to talk about it too much, but after prying it out of him he is okay with talking about it know.

I just wonder what would have happened if my dad had stayed.

Going to hopefully find the movie.

 

[Kreskin]

I lived about half a mile from the BC Pen as a kid. I was a teenager then. I also remember a few escapes that got everyone's attention.

June 9th is also significant for me - that's my daughter's birthday.

 

[icedbad]

i remeber the hostage taking well i was 13 at the time and mary steinhauser was a good friend of the familys in fact my mother was a paulbearer at her funeral and on the other side of the fence i grew up with andy bruces siblings he was of course one of the hostage takers it was a very sad time in my house for sure and i remember there was rumours surrounding the whole thing. #1 that mary and andy were having a lil thing and #2 that her death may or may not have been an accident ..as i have said they were rumours and it was a long time ago..

 

[renegade98]

Re: Mary Steinhauser

Mary Steinhauser was a very close friend of ours and thought of my parents as her own. It was a very difficult time especially so for my mother and father when she was killed. I was talking with a friend tonight in Campbell River and we were looking for information on the BC Penitiary as well Oakalla and one of my searches led me to this forum. I am interested in any information that I can get relating to this period of time.

Thanks,
Wayne

Now June 9th, 1975 holds significance with my family because my father, was also a peace officer/classifications officer at the prison in 1975 and was actually Steinhauser's 'partner' if you could say, they worked together on many incidents.

About a month before the incident took place, a prisoner warned my father to transfer out of the prison because something was planned. He warned the warden and others but they did not listen so he did transfer out a few weeks before the incident. If he had stayed, he believes because he is a 'tough cookie' as he says, that he would have been killed or wounded in place of Mary Steinhauser if he had remained in the prison.

So that is why the day is important to us.

 

[scheisner]

my step-father was involved in this riot, and my mother was a hostage. i am unsure how long she was held, but it was in the visitors area, and my mother was pregnant with my older brother. she told me that my father broke into the store are of the common area during the riot and stole my mother a purse that she had admired. she couldntave with two purses, so they had a fire in the visitors area after they shut off all the water and electricity and burned her original purse. i still own that purse today, and wear it.

i have heard conflicting stories as to what transpired during this period, but i have been told that my father was aware of the events that were going to transpire, and that is why my mother was there to visit him on that day. i know that his parents were also there. i know that they traded hostages for heroine, and that the reason for the riot had to do with treatment of the prisoners. i have heard stories of cruel and unusual punishment, and torture of prisoners. as on now i live within a few blocks of the bc pen, but have not yet visited their cafe, bc pen cafe.

i welcome replies to this post......

 

[hannah_13]

Prison Project

Hi

Me and my friend are doing a project for our History class. We have chosen the BC Penitentiary. If you guys have any sites or or books that you have read, that you can refer to me that would be a great help!!

Thanks!!:smile:

 

[VanIsle]

Now June 9th, 1975 holds significance with my family because my father, was also a peace officer/classifications officer at the prison in 1975 and was actually Steinhauser's 'partner' if you could say, they worked together on many incidents.

About a month before the incident took place, a prisoner warned my father to transfer out of the prison because something was planned. He warned the warden and others but they did not listen so he did transfer out a few weeks before the incident. If he had stayed, he believes because he is a 'tough cookie' as he says, that he would have been killed or wounded in place of Mary Steinhauser if he had remained in the prison.

So that is why the day is important to us.

The timing is right but I don't know if my husband had any involment in that particular event or not. I know that he went there either to help out the guards or some incident like that but he was with the police, not corrections. I remember him having to go there and I know that is the month and the year we moved to Burnaby but the incident may not have been the same. I will have to ask him when he gets up.

 

[talloola]

I was living in Surrey at the time, and remember it too, but forget the CKNW
reporter who was called (by prisoners) to do negotiating.

 

[JLM]

I remember the incident well, Andy Bruce was one of the main perpetrators. Anybody know what his status is these days? He was a particularly sad case as his mother raised 13 other children to be upright law abiding citizens. Just wondering if Andy ever got his act together.

 

[talloola]

Oh, now I remember the reporter, Gary Bannerman. He was called to the riot
and did negotiations with the prisoners, he was with CKNW

 

[Boobear]

I was a guard there at that time. Spent the entire time as they would not let us leave the prision during the hostage incedent.

Very sad outcome

 

[L Gilbert]

Perhaps some info at these sites, or at least some references at them:

Other BC Penitentiary Links

Boot Hill: Stories from the British Columbia Penitentiary Cemetery

|| Justice behind the Walls || Publications ||

Books | Non-Fiction | Sentences and Paroles | New Star Books Publisher, Vancouver British Columbia Canada, Newstarbooks, catalogue

 

[BooBoo]

My dad was an inmate at the Pen and was the head of the inmate committee and was released 4 days before that riot. took place. He appeared on a radio show and said he had warned the warden that the place was a pile of kindling and was gonna go! I still have that tape somewhere. He said the guards were pulling the wires out of each other's cars in the parking lot. Apparently there was some dissent among the ranks!

 

[VanIsle]

I was living in Surrey at the time, and remember it too, but forget the CKNW
reporter who was called (by prisoners) to do negotiating.

I just noticed that you said you were living in Surrey at the time Talloola. My husband was posted in Burnaby but we lived in Surrey then too. Seems we are destined to live near each other. We actually lived in Whally.

 

[joeblow]

I remember visiting BC Pen in 1981, after it was closed down and they briefly opened it for tours (My class at Burquitlam elementary came for a tour). Several things stuck out from that day; one in particular I think was related to this horrible riot.

They showed us one cell block that apparently had been left untouched after the riot. Everything was trashed and I remember seeing some giant metal bar mechanism that had been pulled away from the wall and bent; we were told that prisoners had done it by hand. Does any of this ring a bell to anyone? Was there a trashed cell block that was not repaired after the riot?

I also remember them showing us a collection of whips that were used for discipline on the prisoners. They said that Raymond Burr, the actor--his father was the man who administered the whippings in the 40s and 50s. I also remember the the lunch hall, there were a few bathroom stalls that faced out into the lunchroom, with no doors on them. that completely creeped my 12 year old mind out...
Visiting that scary 100 year old prison was definitely one of the most memorable events of my childhood, even if my memory is faulty!