Inmates get mattresses on the floor in Ottawa jail
Prisoners serving on weekends held in segregation area: union
Ottawa’s jail has been so full some weekends that inmates have had to sleep on the floor in the day room of a segregation area typically reserved for those with mental illness.
The president of the union representing correctional officers at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre said as many as 10 inmates serving weekend sentences have regularly been provided mattresses on the floor in the room, in an area of the jail known as one wing, to ease the overflow.
That segregation area currently largely houses inmates with mental health issues.
Correctional officer and OPSEU local president Denis Collin said inmates serving their sentences on weekends have also been held in holding cells in the admitting and discharge area when the jail is too crowded.
Mattresses have also been used on the floor of some segregation cells, allowing the jail to double up inmates who need to be removed from the general population for disciplinary or other reasons, Collin said.
Reports of inmates on the floor comes as Ontario’s Corrections Minister Marie-France Lalonde said on Friday that Ottawa’s jail could receive a major renovation or reconstruction after the province set aside money in its budget for improvements to Ontario’s jails.
Collin said the jail is “at the seams” despite statements by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services that it is addressing recommendations by a task force appointed to help ease overcrowding at the jail.
That task force was appointed after the Citizen reported that inmates were forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor of segregation shower cells because of overcrowding.
“Inmates sleeping on the floor in regards to intermittents on the weekend is really nothing new to OCDC,” said Collin. Putting them on the floor is as common as using the shower cells once was, he added.
“Inmates sleeping on the floor is a means to reduce an overflow at the institution.”
The ministry confirmed the practice, saying in a statement: “Due to recent capacity pressures created by the renovations, some inmates have been provided a mattress to sleep in common areas. Once the renovations are complete, we expect that the OCDC will return to being consistently below capacity.”
The ministry said no inmates were sleeping on the floor on the weekend of April 22 and 23, which was after the Citizen inquired about the practice.
Collin said he was concerned enough about the situation to invite members of the jail’s independent community advisory board (CAB) to tour the common areas where inmates were being held.
“I think as a CAB we have concerns with inmates being placed in places that weren’t designed for overnight accommodations, or the number of individuals currently being housed in those spaces,” said board chair Rebecca Jesseman, who toured during the week when no weekend inmates were being housed in the area.
“We’ve definitely noted concerns about the conditions of confinement in the institution in our annual reports,” she said. “That includes inadequate housing for the number of inmates in the institution.”
Jesseman said CAB’s annual reports have raised concerns about the cleanliness of the institution, and “if you have a context where cleanliness is an issue, and then you are having people on the floor, that’s certainly a concern.”
Collin said the day room where weekend inmates sleep is near the interim “step-down” units that are meant to help inmates with mental health needs or who require higher degrees of supervision transition from segregation back to general living units. But Collin said the step-down units the ministry touted in updates on their progress meeting the task force’s recommendations were actually put in a repurposed hallway.
“Things are being reported as they are being fixed. It’s not. They’re all Band-Aid solutions up to now,” said Collin. “It’s what used to be part of hallways that they added doors to and a couple of tables between the doors and chairs, and now they call them a step-down unit.”
Jesseman confirmed that the jail’s step-down units were in a repurposed space that “could be described as a hallway.”
“They repurposed an existing space. It is a narrow space. It’s not ideal and we hope that the ministry continues to look for better long term solutions,” she said.
Jesseman said there has been progress at the jail, and that the number of inmates regularly housed in the institution has fallen since the task force report.
The ministry provided numbers for the four weeks between March 13 and April 11. The jail never exceeded 100 per cent capacity during that time frame, although on at least five days it was at more than 95 per cent of capacity. The ministry acknowledged that anything over about 90 per cent meant the jail was more or less at capacity.
Among the worst days were from Saturday, March 25, to Monday, March 27, when capacity was at 94.1 per cent, 96.5 per cent and 96.1 per cent over the three days. The previous weekend saw capacity at 95.5 per cent on the Saturday, 95.9 per cent on the Sunday and at 96.9 per cent on Monday, when weekend inmates are allowed to leave the jail. The jail’s capacity was at its lowest on April 7, when it was at 82.1 per cent.
An entire wing of two dozen cells, which would normally hold two inmates each in the maximum security area is not in service while cell doors are being replaced, said Collin.
A number of technology updates are being installed, he added.
Collin said inmates from the maximum security wing had been transferred to other institutions. (The ministry’s capacity statistics reflected that reduction, the province said.)
There had been times in the past, including last October when reporters toured the detention centre, when the jail’s capacity was at 102 per cent.
In February and March 2016, it was at 106 per cent capacity. The jail has 560 official beds.
“We’ve definitely seen a reduction in the numbers at OCDC, and I think it’s important to recognize that and they are making improvements in response to long-term plans and also in response to the task force report in terms of the infrastructure,” said Jesseman.
“At the end of the day, you are still dealing with a very aged facility that wasn’t built to suit today’s needs, especially looking at considerations like intermittent sentencing and meeting the needs of individuals with mental health needs in particular.”
Jesseman said the CAB has noted improvements in access to showers, visits and yard with the overall reduction in the numbers of inmates. The ministry has recently hired 29 new staff, including eight recreational officers to help improve access to programming, Collin said.
But Collin, who himself was a member of the task force that made recommendations to fix the jail, said he has been disappointed with the ministry’s progress on many of the recommendations.
He commended the ministry for hiring new staff but complained the institution still isn’t big enough to accommodate everyone.
Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi has announced bail reforms he hopes will reduce the number of accused being held in detention centres, but Collin said the jail is still crammed.
“Even though he’s been wellintentioned in providing muchneeded relief and having less inmates show up at the institution, until recently people were sleeping on the floor,” he said.
“His heart might be in right place, but reality check: we’re still OCDC a year later.”
Inmates sleeping on the floor is a means to reduce an overflow at the institution.