Conditions at a detention center south of Toronto are “deplorable,” says a judge

A growing number of judges presiding over criminal cases in Ontario have joined inmates in calling out the “deplorable” conditions at Toronto's South Detention Centre.

Reviewing the bail order last week, Judge Brock Jones wrote that the constant lockdowns and detentions at the facility, which holds inmates awaiting trial or serving sentences of less than two years, were contributing to the “deteriorating state of affairs.”

That's the sentiment expressed by people living in Etobicoke, Ont. object. In an interview Tuesday, inmate Daylo Robinson described the lockdown at the detention center as “terrifying.”

“A lot of people don't take into account the situations we're locked in every day, every night,” Robinson said. “I've seen it slowly take away every form of humanity.”

According to data obtained by CTV News Toronto, the vast majority — more than 80 percent — of inmates in provincial jails like TSDC are awaiting trial and are presumed innocent. Many of these facilities were operating at overcapacity in 2023 – the provincial detention center held an average of 8,889 people as of September, well above the 7,848-person capacity.

“It reached a crisis level a long time ago. Something has to change. It has to start changing now,” Jones wrote.

Jones' comments add to the growing number of convictions in which a defendant's time is reduced because of inhumane conditions at TSDC. Last year, records show at least 24 inmates in Etobicoke, Ont., had their prison terms cut short because of repeated lockdowns, pest attacks and other harsh treatment. object.

When reached for comment, the Solicitor General Ministry did not respond by publication deadline. Earlier, it was said that 500 million dollars were allocated for the modernization of the institution and the recruitment of additional employees.

The South Detention Center in Toronto is shown on Thursday, October 3, 2013. The facility is slated to open this fall. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

In a March ruling, Superior Court Judge Ann Malloy wrote that lockdown typically accounts for at least 50 percent of TSDC inmates' days in custody.

During this lockdown, prisoners are kept in windowless cells for hours “sometimes days”. They are limited to rehabilitation programs, religious services, showering, cleaning products, laundry, visits and phone calls with loved ones, fresh air, and appointments and phone calls with an attorney until the lockdown is lifted, he wrote.

In his ruling, Molloy called the conditions “inhumane,” citing a recent Ontario Human Rights Commission report on conditions at TSDC. A 2020 report after two visits to the facility found inmate confinement, infrequent bed and clothing changes, outbreaks of diseases such as scabies, and excessive stress caused by repeated lockdowns.

According to Molloy, four years later, many of these issues are still normal.

“The Canadian public would be outraged if they heard that one of our citizens was being held in a foreign prison under similar conditions, especially if they believed they were innocent of the charges,” Molloy said.

“I accept the various descriptions my colleagues (Justice Andras Schreck) have used to describe the situation: it is, in their words, unacceptable, shocking, deplorable, harsh, oppressive, humiliating, disappointing, appalling, Dickensian, regressive and inexcusable,” he continued. .

In this case, the sentence of a person convicted of drug trafficking and possession under TSDC was reduced by one year.

In an interview with CTV News, Ontario New Democratic Party justice critic Christine Wong-Tam said the situation at TSDC has been “horrendous and appalling” for some time.

“It's important to recognize that this facility was opened several years ago,” Wong-Tam said. “The same conditions — overcrowding, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, lack of scaffolding — should have been addressed by the new (facility).”

Wong-Tam pointed to staffing issues as the main reason, saying that lockouts are common due to a lack of corrections officers needed to run the facility properly.

The provincial government has not released information on TSDC staffing levels, but earlier this year TSDC said it had seen more than 430 new corrections officers since the summer.

Another factor, critics say, is the “excessive” use of pretrial detention across Canada.

“Even in cases of pre-trial detention, the decision to imprison someone until a hearing has taken place and the Crown has made its case should be exercised sparingly,” the judge wrote. “Given the absolutely inhumane conditions at TSDC, it should be done even more rarely until those conditions improve.”

Ontario judges can't change those conditions, Jones wrote in his ruling, but “must take them into account when making decisions that affect (their) lives.”

“They deserve to have their basic human rights respected,” he wrote.

With John Woodward and Canadian Press files.