Barton jail to get dedicated security team
The Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre is getting a dedicated security team that will focus on searches and figuring out how drugs and weapons are getting inside the Barton Street jail.
The revelation came on the last day of testimony at an inquest into eight overdose deaths at the Barton Street jail, where for more than five weeks the inquest has heard about how easily inmates access drugs. Correctional officers have testified their “hands are tied” when they know drugs are on a unit, because of restrictions on using force and delayed access to search teams.
Monday, Michael DuCheneau, a staff sergeant at the jail who has testified throughout the inquest about security, said he was just told over the weekend that the jail is getting an Institutional Security Team (IST).
“At the conclusion of the inquest, it will be my first priority,” he said.
The four-person team will be focused on carrying out searches at the jail, but also working with police and correctional intelligence to figure out how contraband is getting into the jail.
The inquest heard this will include identifying and investigating “security threat groups” — organized crime, gangs and individuals working a “black market” inside the jail. DuCheneau said the Hells Angels are at the top of the security threat group list for allegedly being behind drug-trafficking inside the jail. The team will liaise with police, including working with the vice and drug and gang and weapons enforcement units, he said.
Hamilton police haven’t yet been approached about the IST, but are “more than willing to work with the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre on this initiative,” said spokesperson Jackie Penman.
“We believe any program dedicated to harm-reduction and reducing the number of contraband in our detention centres is a positive move,” she said, adding that Hamilton police look forward to working with community partners working to reduce drugs and weapons in jails.
The IST was first piloted at the now shuttered Toronto West Detention Centre in 2011 and was very successful. In recent years it has expanded to several other institutions.
“I know we’ve had success ... it’s another security tool we’ve been asking (to be expanded) for many years now,” said Monte Vieselmeyer, the Ontario corrections division chair of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
In Hamilton, DuCheneau will be responsible for setting up all the policies and procedures that will govern how the team operates. They are not getting funding for new staff, so he’ll also be looking for the most motivated internal candidates to work on the security team.
“It’s a rather large task set out before me,” he said.
There is no specific timeline, but he agreed it’s reasonable to assume the team will be fully functional in under six months.
The inquest, which began on April 9, is looking at the deaths of Louis Unelli, William Acheson, Trevor Burke, Marty Tykoliz, Stephen Neeson, David Gillan, Julien Walton and Peter McNelis, who died between 2012 and 2016.
The inquest resumes Wednesday where the parties will present a joint slate of suggested recommendations to the jury, followed by closing submissions.
By Wednesday afternoon the inquest will be in the hands of the five-person jury that must determine the cause and manner of each death, and can make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.