Guard John Henry Joynson
Correctional Service of Canada
Federal
End of Watch: Saturday, October 5, 1912

Biographical Info
Age: 34
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: Not available

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Saturday, October 5, 1912
Incident Location: British Columbia
Weapon Used: Gun; Unknown type
Suspect Info: Not available

Guard Joynson was employed at British Columbia Penitentiary at the time of his death.

Guard Joynson was shot while attempting to frustrate an desperate attempt of two prisoners to escape. The prisoners were in a stone breaking yard when they overpowered a guard with a hammer and obtained his pistol.

The two prisoners were successful in making a wall guard throw down the keys to the yard and his rifle using another guard as a shield. Guard Joynson intervened and was shot with the rifle. During the commotion the escape was prevented by other guards. One prisoner died 24 days later from blood poisoning due to a bullet wound to his lung and septic pneumonia. The other prisoner was tried and found guilty of murder on November 14th, 1912. He was sentenced to solitary confinement until his death by hanging on January 31st, 1913. He didn’t die easily, it took 13 minutes before his heart stopped beating. His was the first and last execution carried out during the more than one-century history of the
BC Penitentiary.