Overcrowding source of detention centre problems

The Ontario government’s decision to designate a team of specially trained officers to gather information from inmates is a good step in controlling the flow of drugs into Niagara Detention Centre in Thorold.

Coupled with the mechanical body scanners installed three years ago, it should help control the problem. But far bigger problems remain, and it will take more than special training for existing staff — as was announced this week — to solve them.

Chief among them is overcrowding, which might be the source of infection that is agitating a whole host of other issues.

Niagara Detention Centre was built in 1973 with the intention of housing about 124 inmates. At some point, bunk beds were added, raising the population not only in each small individual cell but in the entire jail, too.

Capacity is now considered to be about 260, but since then there have been times when more than 300 prisoners were crammed in.

Solving that conundrum — either by constructing new facilities elsewhere, expanding the existing jail grounds or, for all we know, building up — will be extremely costly. But short of jailing fewer people, it appears to be the only option. Planning for it needs to start now, not later.

Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents about 70 full- and 80 part-time officers there, says employees at the jail are under increasing job-related stress.

More of them are being assaulted by prisoners — 54 in 2017 as opposed to 31 the year before. In March this year, a day before three Niagara NDP MPPs toured the facility, two guards were attacked.

The union local president, Marko Mrmak, said earlier this year an assault of an officer occurred every few months, and those tended to be minor in nature.

“Now these inmates are throwing everything they have at us and trying to do as much damage as they can,” he said back in April.

“They have no fear of any repercussion. They know that we’re limited now on what we can do in here, which isn’t much.”

Understaffing and overcrowding exacerbate the problem.

It’s easy to scoff and say sure, what union doesn’t demand more hiring. But when assaults are involved and becoming more frequent, it’s a serious problem that demands action.

No one should go to work fearing they are going to get beaten up there. For detention officers in Thorold, that’s a legitimate concern.

Overcrowding causes stress among inmates, who take out that tension on each other and on their guards.

Staffing levels need to grow with the inmate population, otherwise it will be harder to control violence, the inflow of drugs and prisoners getting their hands on weapons.

And while full-time staff takes time off to deal with job-related stress or illness, filling the shifts adequately with part-timers can be a hit-and-miss proposition that puts more stress on the permanent staff.

Designating this new security team to crack down on drugs in the jail, as Ontario Solicitor General Sylvia Jones announced in Thorold this week, is a good step but a small one.

It’s expected no new officers will be added as a result, and that probably four existing employees will get special training to do the job.

The hard, expensive truth is Niagara Detention Centre is too small to do the job being asked of it.

Overcrowding is a problem that won’t heal itself. The province can let it fester, or it can do what needs to be done and start planning for a bigger facility.