Stop detaining mentally ill people in Ottawa jail
Change needed in justice system, say Sarah Speight, Souheil Benslimane, Aaron Doyle and Justin Piché.
A coroner’s inquest recommended in 2004 that OCDC ‘should not be the overflow site for the Royal Ottawa Hospital.’ Yet here we are …
Cleve “Cas” Geddes died by suicide on Feb. 10, 2017 after being placed in a solitary confinement cell in the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre (OCDC) while awaiting a psychiatric bed. An inquest into his death resumes this week.
Earlier in the inquest, we learned from Sigrid Geddes that her brother, Cas, had long struggled with schizophrenia. We learned that when Cas came before a judge facing charges, he was ordered sent to the Royal Ottawa Hospital for a psychiatric assessment. We learned that when no beds were available there, Cas eventually ended up alone in segregation in our jail, almost completely cut off from the outside world, his family and human contact. We learned from a psychologist who assessed him at OCDC that their discussions took place through a cell-door slot. It’s clear that Cas should have never been behind bars.
This isn’t the first time someone living with mental health issues has lost their life at the Innes Road jail. For instance, 15 years ago, on Nov. 5, 2003, James O’Brien also died at OCDC. The 59-year-old Cornwall resident struggled with mental health issues and was admitted in the psychiatric wing of Cornwall Community Hospital, where he had an altercation with a fellow patient. James was arrested and brought before a justice of the peace, who determined that it was unlikely that beds were available at the Royal Ottawa Hospital for a psychiatric assessment. Like Cas, James was sent to our jail and later died. A coroner’s inquest into James’s death recommended in 2004 that OCDC “should not be the overflow site for the Royal Ottawa Hospital.” Yet here we are a decade and a half, and several deaths, later.
Our neighbours and loved ones living with mental health issues end up in jail too often. Former corrections minister Yasir Naqvi said in 2016 that at least one-quarter of the prisoners at OCDC were living with serious mental health issues. Now the province wants to replace OCDC with a bigger jail, when it should invest the money earmarked for it in community care.
It’s past time to stand up against this injustice. A rally is being held at the Canadian Tribute to Human Rights (corner of Elgin and Lisgar) on Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. to remember Cas Geddes and demand the expansion of care in the community.
We in the community must step up to hold Ontario jails and prisons to a higher standard to end suffering to the degree that’s possible at OCDC. Starting Monday, a new JAIL (Jail Accountability and Information Line) will be taking calls from prisoners and their loved ones at 613-567-JAIL (5245). This line will track human rights abuses experienced by people incarcerated at OCDC and advocate for their needs to be met, and connect prisoners to community supports for when they are released.
People incarcerated at OCDC will be able to call the JAIL hotline from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. every day to report mistreatment or to seek support. It’s our hope that this work will help prevent deaths in custody, improve conditions of confinement, help keep people out of jail, and result in more investments in community services to diminish our lethal reliance on imprisonment.