Officials and dignitaries celebrated Matsqui Institution's 50th anniversary this weekend and named the access road to the site in honour of a fallen corrections officer who worked at the adjacent Regional Psychiatric Centre (now Pacific Institution).
A half-century ago, Matsqui Institution was opened as a drug treatment facility for male federal offenders. It employed 200 workers and its first warden was J. Maloney.
Construction of a new 96-bed living unit was opened in 2013. Today, Matsqui has four separate wings and capacity for 496 prisoners. The prison currently holds 416 men.
On Saturday, with the commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada in attendance, signs were unveiled naming one of two access roads on the site in honour of Roy Eddy.
Forty-one years ago, on June 6, 1975, Eddy died of a heart attack after struggling with an inmate at the Regional Psychiatric Centre. Eddy was 44 at the time.
(Historical photos courtesy The Reach Archives. For more click here. Photos in question are 11765 and 11762.)
Photos below: Jason Warner/Correctional Service of Canada
