PAGES THE TOWNSMAK, Thursday, June 30, 1977,

REGINA (CP) — “It was
t one of those things that
ppen in life,” said Conrad
Fischer, reflecting on the 12
hours he spent as a hostage
at the Regina Correctional
Centre. ‘You just take it as
things come.”

Fischer, 59, said luck was
the big factor in his eventual.
escape, unhurt, from the
four prisoners holding him
in a cell block.

Interviewed in hospital
Wednesday, he paid tribute.

at the centre.
“They're

Hsing shoaid t ta

for me.”

Metro

. REGINA NIGH TMA RE

Hostage lucky to be alive |

to other guards and officials

the
celebri es. ne au
worki

Fischer was sent to
hospital for. observation.

He is an employee of
litan investigation
ecurity Ltd., a firm
ach supplies security

real
stayed
and
‘re the ones
the credit.
There were a lot of people

officers to is upplement

regular guards at the jail

LIKE A BABYSITTER
eaurandiy

his job as ‘an
andi i

babysitter,” he

auf his duties include’

watching prisoners liable to
hurt themselves and
orming minor taks.s

Fischer said the incident
began when he hears.sounds
of a struggle from an
adjoining cell block.

tfirst he thought it was a
struggle between prisoners
‘but soon recognized the
voice of guard Conrad Wohl
calling for he ip.

Fischer could not help him
because he did not have a
key to the door linking the
two sections.

Using Wohl’s keys, three
prisoners tried to open the

door. Fischer tried holding
it shut but decided they
would eventually force it

He considered locking
in:a cell since the
ers did not have keys
‘the individual cells. But
he rejected the idea because
the prisoners, armed with
knives, one mounted on a
stick, could have jabbed at
him throug h the bars.
once th they got hold of me,
put a knife to my throat
and told me to do what I was
told. I figured it would be
betier if I did just that.”
Fischer was tied to a chair
and then tied with torn bed-
sheets to the bars of a cell
containing Terry
Southwind, a prisoner who
made a statement later to
the news media on solitary
confinement in federal

’ prisons

ABound around the chest,
neck, feet and hands,
Fischer said he fel “pretty
helpless.”

me—

jurisdiction of
authori
HADNHIM WORRIED —

“That really worried
seeing them
demanding thin; that the
local prison authorities had
no centro over,” Fischer
said.

Fischer said he.
repeatedly told the four
prisoners he was more
valuable to them alive than

He said the told him:
“You're our ticket out of
here, so take i it easy and you
won't get hi

Fischer’ g efforts
convinced his captors to let
him lie on a mattress in the
cell block corridor.” About
the same time, a prison
doctor’ gave the prisonerf
small quantities of a drug

they had
Gradually. th three of the

local

‘dead.

open and gave up the prisoners dr ped off to
attempt. The prisoners demanded sleep, including Terry
I was maybe changes to Section 231 of the Sou wind, whom Fischer
126 Air Conditioned Suite & Rooms With View better off if I didn’t fight it Federal Penitentiaries Act, credited with keeping the
Color TV, Telephone, Tub & Shower, Ele- Ԥ too much. an act outside the other three from hurting
vators, Coffee Shop, Dining Roam, Nightly .
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MGR.TEDPRYSTAY. .- All Teen Books 10 percent off ; Pretending to sleep
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Stanley and sighed hin that three
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“atOurDoor and Teke You Anywhere In i SOMETHING GOOD of the prisoners were asleep.
The City For The Price Of A Bus Ticket - 4617 Lazelle Ave. man Inching awa ae the
| | June 29 & 30 - July 2 sn eared aie far
{ an 2 Fischer rose and crept to
; — . _ the door, which’ was
FR ; immediately opened by the
. NDAY Would dhe go back to work
- . at the centre?
? 3 &6 4 ; 9 “}'d prefer not to. To have
__ . ‘ one experience like: this is
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