Jail guards’ union calls on province to hire more staff amid cuts

LONDON, Ont. — Even as it commits to more training for correctional officers, the province has suspended sessions for the summer and cut i n half the expected amount of class time on mental health issues, the officers’ union says.

The province has also bought dozens of restraint chairs for the most disruptive inmates but isn’t letting anyone use them, the Ontario Public Services Employees Union (OPSEU) charges.

“We feel like we are the poor cousins of law enforcement where we get the castoff equipment and attention to our issues,” OPSEU’s correctional chair, Dan Sidsworth, said Thursday. “We are still rushing, with no equipment, to inmates stabbing each other. It’s just a matter of time before someone is seriously injured, to the point where we are going to lose somebody.”

Reached late Thursday, a spokesperson for the ministry was unable to supply responses to OPSEU’s claims.

OPSEU held a news conference in Toronto Thursday to officially respond to Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin’s report, The Code, about exces- sive use of force on inmates in provincial correctional facilities.

The union, which represents about 3,500 correctional officers, responded to each of the ombudsman’s recommendations, Sidsworth said.

But with fewer than 1% of inmates subjected to what the ombudsman determined was excessive force, the issue is hardly a systemic one, he added.

There are numerous systemic issues that must be addressed, says OPSEU, calling on the province to:

Create a short-term and long-term plan to deal with overcrowding, including recon- sideration of closing Sarnia Jail. Increase staff levels. Supply proper protective gear to correctional officers dealing with increasingly violent inmates and those with mental illnesses

The province

has

bought some equipment, such as specialized restraint chairs, but seems unwilling to commit to the training and intensive monitoring the chairs require, Sidsworth said.

“It’s easier to keep a disruptive inmate in a cell than it is to put them in a straight chair monitor them that way.”

In response to the ombudsman’s report, the province has agreed to improve training for correctional officers in a number of areas.

The union has been lobbying for the two-day course federal guards get for dealing with inmates with mental health issues, who make up at least 20% of inmates admitted each year in Ontario.

The province finally agreed a few days ago, but insists on making it a one-day course, Sidsworth said.

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