Skip to content

Lockdown lifted at Bowden Institution

Operations at Bowden Institution are back to normal after staff found two stabbing weapons at an outside common area on Saturday.

Operations at Bowden Institution are back to normal after staff found two stabbing weapons at an outside common area on Saturday.

Rick Mollan, assistant warden of operations for the federal prison, said the general lockdown was lifted on Tuesday afternoon after being placed on all inmates on Saturday morning.

He said no criminal charges will be laid following the seizure of these contraband items.

“There were homemade stabbing weapons located in a common area,” said Mollan on Wednesday. “Nobody had it on their person.”

Mollan did not have a description of the weapons.

The two weapons were found outside within the compound of the federal penitentiary, which is located between Innisfail and Bowden. A total of 560 offenders live at the medium-security area, while another 76 live at the minimum-security annex.

“We do thorough searches on a regular basis and so these (kinds of contraband) do come up now and again, when you have a high population like that,” Mollan said.

During a lockdown, inmates are confined to their cells. The jail doesn’t allow the offenders to do any work placement programs or accept any visitors. The jail staff then conduct more searches.

“We’ll search anything within the fenced area,” Mollan said.

Mollan said lockdowns happen regularly, so inmates are accustomed to them as part of serving their sentence.

“They understand it’s for their benefit as well.”

ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com