6 Burnside inmates charged with attacking guards in alleged swarming
Six inmates at the provincial jail in Burnside — including a man accused of two shooting deaths — face charges following an attack on two guards this spring.
On May 31, one correctional officer was allegedly punched in the face after opening a cell door at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Centre and another was swarmed by several inmates when he tried to help. An inmate was also injured in a subsequent attack.
Tyrell Dechamp, 28, is charged with two counts of assault on a peace officer. He also faces two first-degree murder charges in relation to the April 2016 deaths of Tyler Richards and Naricho Clayton. The men were gunned down within two days of one another.
Dechamp was arraigned on the two new charges in Dartmouth provincial court on July 17 and is due back on Aug. 14.
He has been in provincial custody on remand since finishing a federal sentence last December following a conviction for a stabbing and an aggravated assault. He was arrested upon his release from the Atlantic Institution, a maximum security prison in northern New Brunswick.
Five other inmates are charged with assault on a peace officer in relation to the jail attack. Three of them also face charges of breaching court orders.
The Department of Justice said there were eight assaults on staff and 13 assaults on inmates at the jail in Burnside between April and June.
Since then, Halifax Regional Police said they also responded to an assault on a correctional officer on July 10. They are still investigating what happened and no charges have been laid.
