On Friday, a major police operation over several hours took place at the Montreal Detention Establishment, commonly known as Bordeaux Prison, in which one inmate held another in a cell against his will. There were no injuries.
Updated yesterday at 8:45 p.m.
According to our information, it was a hostage situation involving prisoner Isaac Moffat-Swasson. The 33-year-old man has a serious criminal past. In particular, he is on trial for the looting of part of the New Carlisle prison in Gaspésie in 2019. According to an article in the daily newspaper Le Soleil, he has since been moved to Montreal for security reasons.
Isaac Moffat-Swasson, a native of Listuguj in Gaspésie, is also being tried for other crimes: threats to kill, kidnapping, grievous bodily harm, armed assault and robbery. In the New Carlisle prison case, he is charged with intimidation, jailbreaking and criminal mischief over $5,000. He was scheduled to appear in court again on October 13 for those two cases.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY RCMP
Isaac Moffat-Swasson, in 2017
This time, Moffat-Swasson forcibly held another prisoner in a cell at the Montreal detention center on Friday. At around 3 p.m., agents from the Sûreté du Québec were called to respond. Almost four hours later, at around 6:50 p.m., Isaac Moffat-Swasson finally surrendered.
No one was injured, says Stéphane Tremblay, spokesman for the Sûreté du Québec.
The inmate will appear at the weekend and may be charged again with involuntary commitment and threats, Mr. Tremblay added.
Not a premiere
In 2019, the alleged attack of Isaac Moffat-Swasson caused a huge stir in New Carlisle. Furniture was damaged, as were electronic devices. Water damage due to broken pipe parts caused significant damage to the prison, Le Soleil reported. Sixteen cells had been damaged and closed.
Pepper spray was used to subdue the prisoner. Because the prison facility’s ventilation system was connected to that of the New Carlisle Courthouse and the Sûreté du Québec station, the entire building had to be evacuated. Inmates at New Carlisle had been temporarily transferred to other facilities.
In 2017, Isaac Moffat-Swasson was the subject of a Canada-wide arrest warrant from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). He was “illegally at large” because he failed to return to the federal prison in Renous, New Brunswick, after a furlough. He was eventually arrested near Campbellton, New Brunswick.
Gang leader
In 2013, at the age of 23, Moffat-Swasson was sentenced to four and a half years in a federal prison for being the instigator and main participant in the attack on Marcel Lanteigne, in a sensational story.
“During the argument we struck [à Marcel Lanteigne] about ten blows to the head with a hammer, cut his knuckles with a knife, cut several parts of his body with a broken beer bottle, smashed his head into a window and gave him several blows with his fist and foot,” one Acadie says New report.
At the time, Isaac Moffat-Swasson was considered the leader of the Res Nation Crips street gang in the Mi’kmaq community of Listuguj, according to Acadie Nouvelle.
In collaboration with Daniel Renaud, La Presse