The Ghosts of Oakalla and the Heroes of Kandahar

The Ghosts of Oakalla are alive and waiting to be caught on camera. When I began this project I understood its potential but I had no idea so much worthwhile material would emerge, or that I would have so many fascinating people step forward with great stories. There have been many consultations by phone, email or visit, and I have agreement with more than a dozen candidates for on camera interviews. All have agreed to wait until I have secured funding for producing the films. In the meantime I continue with the research and development of scripts. Almost everything that will appear on screen has never been seen by the general public. Where my initial film, OAKALLA, was largely historical in content, the feature will delve into issues which will make some uncomfortable. The content will often be hard hitting and it is clear that most of it will have to be vetted by a lawyer with a working knowledge of investigative journalism. Several ex-staff from Oakalla Prison have mentioned the "gag" provision of their employment contract.

OAKALLA : This is the DVD cover printed for distribution of a preview disc. Only a few copies are in circulation and a few were produced for legal deposit in B.C. and Ottawa. I have hope of a screening in November.

Many truly fascinating photographs and artifacts have turned up, and been offered for use in the production. I know they will amaze even those who worked inside Oakalla, because it's a graphic record which is simply not supposed to exist. But it does exist.

TF 3-09 KANDAHAR BOUND - One of the interests around the Jack household is following Canada's war in Afghanistan. Our daughter, Capt. Elizabeth Jack, left this week with the current rotation of troops which is designated TF 3-09. We are very proud of her and we fervently wish all of the brave men and women of the Task Force the best of luck and great success in their work.

To improvise or to modify? Student director Philip Jack has been spreading cash at TOYS R US, the HOME DEPOT and anywhere he can find bits and pieces needed to assemble props needed for his grad-film. (This one will get a longer barrel and target designator.) The script for his Science Fiction story IMMINENT CONTACT is tweaked, the film is cast, and his crew at Simon Fraser University shoot later this month.

A Film Festival for Burnaby - One of the realities of urban culture is that the cities which you and I call home and pay our taxes to, often take a back seat to some "big sister" - the big dot on the map which stands in for every municipality for miles around. Such is the case of Vancouver and the half-dozen cities which actually give it shape and purpose. The City of Burnaby enjoys the distinction of employing more people each working day than we count in our resident population. The many employers include several busy film studios and software design houses. What we have lacked are film festivals of our own, but a start-up festival is in the offing and I will have news to share with local filmmakers next week.

Oakalla mysteries - big stories buried in the heart of the city

It has only been a week since the BURNABY NOW published a list of minor mysteries which needed solving. For example, the Burnaby City Archives, the Museum nor the Library had a photo or knew of JUBILEE HALL, a landmark I needed to pin down for a location shot. Much to my delight, a Mr. John Komm nominated an old wooden building he believed is the hall. I had thought the building torn down because it was already described as being "ramshackle" by a Vancouver SUN reporter in 1953.

Though the property has passed through a half dozen owners and name changes, a few minutes in the old Directories confirmed that Jubilee Hall still exists in Burnaby Metrotown, near the Skytrain line. It seems an amazing example of survival in an area that has been very heavily redeveloped. This squat structure was the site of high drama in the 1950s, when Doukhobor men and women were moved from Oakalla by the busload, to be processed by a magistrate and then sent back to prison. (Photograph by John Komm)

A Freedomite Doukhobor male (left corner) and a woman attempt to disrupt the legal process by stripping in courtroom. The women also conspired to created chaos at Oakalla Prison by burning their mattresses and refusing to eat.

I enjoyed this productive week. Well over twenty people got in touch with stories to share or offering research leads to aid the project. I'm really getting the sense that the community wants this film to be made. There has actually been a stunning development which redirected much of my research time and ultimately will impact what I choose to shoot for The Ghosts of Oakalla and how the story is crafted. Unfortunately I cannot "give away" the discovery, as making key elements common knowledge would blow the dramatic impact I plan to build into the film.

Dylan Innes directing on the set of his film MANDROID, September 2009. His DOP is Felix Oltean. [Production photo - Elaine Gebert]
Yesterday I had some fun playing a minor character in a scene for a futuristic film called MANDROID, written and directed by Dylan Innes. The crew was a talented bunch from S.F.U. film school and the set was located inside the busy headquarters of the B.C. Lung Association on Oak Street in Vancouver. It was only my second opportunity to "act". The first experience was in August when student director Jonathan Pon invited me to play an unfriendly mall security guard in his comedy REBEL WITHOUT A CLUE. Jonathan's film is a parody of the film school experience and it actually reflects some of the "stuff" we went through at Broadway campus. It will be screened at Langara College on September 27 at 3pm.

Putting Together the Oakalla Prison story

I note that the Burnaby Now has also web published the story of our Oakalla documentary film project on their website. I guess it's fair to post a hot link , for the benefit of those who live outside of the newspaper's distribution area. (Aug 29 story) I've scraped my photo from Jennifer Moreau's story. She called it "Putting together the prison puzzle".

Ron Jack displays a couple of aerial photos of the Oakalla Prison complex in Burnaby, B.C. They were among the archival images and artifacts used in his recent ten minute documentary film - OAKALLA. (News photo by Larry Wright, BURNABY NOW)

Oakalla - some helpful media coverage

Filmmaking is labour intensive but a joyful creative process. This week I began delivering courtesy copies of OAKALLA to all those who sat to interview or who provided visuals in the form of archival images and artifacts. Some of my week was devoted to research for the longer feature THE GHOSTS OF OAKALLA which I hope to film during the rainy winter months, while every other camera is pointing at the 2010 Olympics.

The masthead on today's edition of the BURNABY NOW points readers to the story of the filming of the documentary short - OAKALLA.

On August 17 I was interviewed by reporter Jennifer Moreau of the BURNABY NOW, who expressed interested in the project. I told her of my need to reach men and women who were once inmates or correctional staff at the cluster of prisons which once occupied the Oakalla site. We spoke a few more times as she developed the story. It was published today on page 11 & 12, and in about a week's time I may reproduce it here in the project Blog. NOW photographer Larry Wright took me to the Oakalla site for a few shots, but there really isn't much there to see beyond the obvious beauty of Deer Lake Park. As I suspected they might, the newspaper settled for shots taken in my office with the film paused on a monitor. I'm grateful for the story and I think Ms. Morreau did a great job. She actually quoted from the interviews in the Doc and gave her readers the URL for this Blog. What more could a filmmaker ask!?

Yesterday I went out to Maple Ridge to meet with Don Waite, an accomplished photographer and researcher who has several books to his credit. Don is a retired RCMP officer, once posted to Burnaby Detachment, who had Oakalla stories to tell. He once did prisoner escort duty which nearly got him knifed, or worse. Two inmates charged with attempted murder of an Oakalla guard managed to grind and conceal steel shanks to affect an escape on the way to court. "Cop instinct" and training, saved his ass.

I am working to locate some of the oldest surviving inmates of Oakalla Prison, with the goal of doing some focused interviews. Yesterday I spoke with one of three B.C. born brothers, all of whom did time at Oakalla in the late 1950s and the 60s. He is well spoken and in retirement enjoys family genealogy and writing his memoirs. The brothers shared the experience of an unhappy childhood in foster care and poverty (he 42 placements) and a life on the street. My goal is to bring the bothers together for a joint interview on their Oakalla experiences. The difficulty is that two live in the interior of our province. Just one of many hurdles lined up in front of this project.

OAKALLA - telling a prison's story

An important milestone was reached this week in the pre-production phase of our film THE GHOSTS OF OAKALLA. - I have finished editing a ten minute short entitled simply OAKALLA, which draws from interviews I conducted with former prison staff and authorities on the old penitentiary. Copies of the preview DVD will go out next week to key resource people and supporters of our project as this film will need to continue drawing from their energy and goodwill as we progress into 2010.

The initial round of interviews went very well and I am pleased to include three expert voices in this first film. Viewers get a big taste of conditions which existed at Oakalla and which often made the institution boil over. There is also an examination of the contentious relationship of a the infamous prison complex and its "long suffering" host city - Burnaby. It was essential for me to research and achieve a thorough grounding in people and events before I develop a script of depth, which must explore some of the most divisive social and political issues in British Columbia history - to set the stage for old ghosts to appear and tell their stories.

Participants in this first OAKALLA video include:

Earl Andersen was a guard at Oakalla in the 1980s and now serves as an NCO on the Vancouver police force. He was on staff during the New Year 1988 mass escape and is the author of the most complete history of Oakalla, which is entitled A HARD PLACE TO DO TIME.

Derek Corrigan was a corrections officer who later became a lawyer, by way of UBC Law School. He was a Burnaby Alderman at the time of the 1988 breakout and was an aggressive Civic spokesman on the issue of shutting Oakalla down. He is currently Mayor of Burnaby and is still the loudest voice opposing any form of Provincial Remand facility in his city.

Tom Gooden is Assistant Curator at the Burnaby Village Museum, and is an authority on Oakalla property and its surviving artifacts. The village, which is frequently used as a period set by the movie industry, is a "living history" museum on the shore of Deer Lake, adjacent to the former Oakalla prison property.

THE GHOSTS OF OAKALLA is being shot in HD video but I recently spoke to a filmmaker who dimly recalls a student project being shot about twenty years ago... she thought in VHS format. If anyone could turn that dangle into hard information, I would certainly appreciate an email. I am eager to source footage from Oakalla's entire lifespan 1912-1991, be it silent celluloid or amateur VHS tape, especially anything taken "inside".

The Ghosts of Oakalla

Documentary film students from Langara College have just finished shooting individual graduate films in HD Video, with the added experience of working as crew on other projects. Now begins the truly daunting final leg of their journey of creative discovery - two long weeks of cutting and polishing their stories in the Mac Lab.

My own project is Oakalla, a ten minute rendering of a painful story which has diminished with the passage of time. Oakalla was an experiment in prison reform which degenerated into a hated warehouse of society's mistakes and failures. The entire complex fell to the wrecker's ball years ago, and now only exists as artifacts in museum storage and as bitter or ironic memories held by thousands of people in our province. Oakalla was notorious for what occured inside its decaying walls, but also for a decades-long drama performed by politicians determined to eject the crumbling facility from a beautiful and much coveted urban landscape. Many have a story to tell, and fortunately for me, they often speak well.

Following completion of the Doc Course I plan to begin production of a longer version of Ghosts, in which I will develop some of the themes which continue to fascinate me, as well as give voice unresolved issues from Oakalla's past which several marginalized groups are eager to have return to the public's consciousness. Oakalla history is very deep and incredibly complex. You can dive into it as deeply as your lungs and imagination will bear. As a busy crossroad for the risen and the fallen, Oakalla hosted a more representative sampling of our people than any other public instiution - the desperate poor, the career criminals, political activists, illegal migrants, the sexual transgressors, misguided youth, religious zealots, outlaw financiers, and so many more. The film seeks to uncover compelling stories which have contemporary currency, and which need to be valued.
Crew photo for Oakalla, filmed in Burnaby, B.C. from July 14-16. The crew, L. to R. was: Alejandro Zuluago (Camera B), Andres Salas (Sound & Prod. Stills), Ron Jack (Writer/Director), Greg Masuda (Camera A), Sameer Khan (Lighting & Grip).

Oakalla lands harbour many ghosts, and some refuse to remain buried. We witnessed the most recent example in the run-up to the recent B.C. Provincial election when there was was a spirited tussle over the issue of the government plan to site a remand centre in the now decommissioned Youth Detention facility across the street from the B.C.I.T. campus on Willingdon. One Vancouver Blog, CityCaucus.com ran a focus piece on February 10 entitled "Remember Oakalla?" which attempted to skewer Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan. The mayor's wife was on the ballot, offering to represent the newly drawn provincial riding which includes the massive condo complex built on the old Oakala Prison property. The NDP succeeded in turning out the vote in Deer Lake and Mrs. Corrigan crushed the sitting Liberal, who was never truly comfortable speaking to an ill defined Law and Order issue.

Derek Corrigan worked as a guard at Oakalla in the 1970s, and as an experienced lawyer and probation officer, he was positioned to become a guiding voice on City Council at the time of the New Year's Day mass escape at Oakalla (1988), which offered a golden opportunity for an effective campaign to have it closed down. In an interview conducted for the film the savvy political warrior offered insightful remarks and a few salty memories about Oakalla and its necessary fate. His voice and others will add authority to the principle themes of my film.

Over the years, thousands of weapons were improvised by the inmates in Oakalla Prison, and the Burnaby Village Museum has a representative sampling. Here L. to R. are four of the most common types: 1. a shank made by patiently wearing an edge onto a piece of scrap steel 2. a shiv made by melting a metal point into a plastic toothbrush handle 3. a fork stolen from the mess hall and modified 4. a crude variation on brass knuckles - using steel nails, wood scrap and twine.

Documenting memories of Oakalla prison 1912-1991

It is the common verdict that all prisons and jails are dangerous, frightening places and most of our communities simply will not consider hosting one. Yet there have been fewer than a half dozen prisons in all of Canadian history which truly deserve to be labeled "infamous". American penal history has its Alcatraz, its Leavenworth, Sing Sing, Folsom, San Quentin and many more. In Canada the most feared prison was the "super-maximum" called Millhaven, built outside of Kingston, Ontario. Here on the Pacific Coast no prison was more "infamous" than Oakalla, in Burnaby.

The statistics for Oakalla hint at the horror and decades of unrelenting pain. There were 44 official executions (hangings) ... 890 escapes between 1940-1990 and a score of full scale riots. There were also dozens of suicides and a few thousand suicide attempts, during the prison's last decades of operation.
A 1987 aerial photo of the main hall of the Oakalla prison complex in Burnaby, B.C., near Vancouver. Oakalla was completely demolished in 1992 at the insistence of the municipal government, and replaced by 531 "luxury" condo townhouses and rental apartments. It has been suggested that the ghosts of the men executed at Oakalla still haunt the hillside property. Research for THE GHOSTS OF OAKALLA has uncovered many extraordinary and compelling stories of its desperate inmates.

There have been just a handful of books published about Oakalla Prison and Earl Andersen's HARD PLACE TO DO TIME (1993) is probably the best of the bunch. Ironically, given the fact that Oakalla was always in the news, there have been no documentary films produced on its history or its incredible inmate population. Well we are now addressing that lack of foresight because time is running out. The survivors are dying off and living memory has become dull. Pre-production is underway and we will have an HD video short ready for viewing by mid-August. Any person or group with an interest in viewing THE GHOSTS OF OAKALLA should send me their contact information.

The isolation unit of the infamous Oakalla Prison in Burnaby, B.C. The institution had a fascinating and deeply troubled history. It housed a Who's Who of British Columbia criminals and political prisoners.