Collin's Bay Institution

source:Correctional Service Canada. The reproduction is not represented as an official version of the materials reproduced, nor as having been made, in affiliation with or with the endorsement of the Correctional Service of Canada

Collin's Bay Penitentiary

Escapes

On June 13, 1998, two inmates, convicted killer John Leslie Chaif and a 26 year-old bank robber by the name of Melhuish, both considered "extremely dangerous" by authorities, escaped from Collin's Bay by hiding in a correctional staff member's van. The following day a state trooper discovered one of the inmates after pulling over a 1988 Ford Thunderbird that had its license plate stripped off and a sawed-off shotgun showing in the backseat. After ordering the man to exit the vehicle, the driver pulled a .32 caliber Derringer from his watch pocket, and may have fired a shot off had the officer not narrowly overpowered him. Along with the weapons in the car was a wig, female clothing, and female identification. Melhuish had received plastic surgery sometime during his life on the run, altering the shape of his nose and eyebrows to pass as a woman.

Melhuish had committed a string of crimes across the southeastern United States while fleeing from police, including a bank robbery in Memphis, Tennessee, a holdup of the Bank of Nova Scotia on Market Place in East York, numerous weapon crimes, resisting arrest, theft, and assault. Like his counterpart, Chaif also committed a series of bank robberies while on the run. Chaif was caught one year after he escaped and is serving time in Tennesse (The Toronto Star, July 20 1990).

Suicides and Deaths

Donzel (Chilly) Young, a Jamaican immigrant serving a double-murder sentence since 1989, was killed on March 6 1995 in Collin's Bay. Young contested that he was always innocent, and he made an application to re-open the case to the federal government the previous year. According to the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, there was evidence that the murder had been committed by another man, who had allegedly also confessed before killing himself. The inquiry into Young's innocence, however, was criticized as too slow, on account of "overworked" federal government lawyers that probably were not as suited to the case as an independent body would have been (Kitchener-Waterloo Record).

 Post your prison stories, news, or announcements for this prison here!
This is a new discussion board seeking contributions from correctional employees, past inmates,  and  anyone significantly connected to Collin's Bay Institution.
We welcome any new contribution, including personal thoughts, future directions, criticism, comments, responses, commentary, proposals, discussions, awareness campaigns, or anything else you think is significant to this prison.