Corrections Canada, Edwin James Masterton

Corrections Canada, Edwin James Masterton, 49

Edwin James Masterton, a guard at the Maritime Penitentiary was stabbed to death in the prison’s exercise yard. Warden Hazen Smith said the incident appeared to be an isolated case with no related commotion or melee and there was no attempt to escape.

Masterton, a Second World War veteran, had been with the federal maximum-security prison since 1959. He died in the penitentiary hospital shortly after the incident. Coroner Dr. J.A. Delany said Masterton was stabbed in the left side of the chest, near the heart.

Warden Smith, a 25-year veteran of the penitentiary service, described the incident as shocking. It is the first time in the history of the prison that an officer had been killed in the line of duty.

Masterton is survived by his wife and two sons, Gerald Robert and Frederick.