The Brockville jail closed Tuesday due to a COVID-19 outbreak, and all inmates were transferred to another jail in Lindsay, Ontario, according to a memo from the jail superintendent sent Monday afternoon.
The closure of the small jail, which has a capacity for around 44 inmates, comes as cases increase in Ontario prisons, including the Niagara Detention Center, the Maplehurst Correctional Center and the Southwest Detention Center. At least six outbreaks have been declared since November after a hiatus during the summer, following a similar pattern to last year’s second wave and reflecting the growing case count in surrounding communities.
It is unclear how many cases of inmates and staff have been identified in Brockville. According to the latest data released publicly by the Ministry of the Attorney General, there were two cases as of Sunday. All inmates were transferred to the Central East Correctional Center, and new admissions will be redirected to the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Center, according to the memo seen by the Star.
“We should be very concerned. As if not only could there be court closings and more delays, but these are real people in horrible Dickens conditions, “said Ottawa defense attorney Michael Spratt. “We should not only be concerned about the consequences for the justice system, but about treating people in a humane way.
COVID protocols since the start of the pandemic have meant that inmates face frequent lockdowns in which they are unable to leave their cells and cannot shower or make phone calls for days, and conditions become even harsher during the sprouts.
The prison population has also returned to near-pandemic levels after an initial push at the start of the pandemic to reduce the number of people in custody.
Spratt says the sense of urgency has long faded in the court system.
“In fact, we are increasing the prison population instead of decreasing it. It’s a perfect storm right now that could get even worse, ”he said.
Inmates at some jails, including Maplehurst and the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Center, have triple bunks, where three people are confined in a cell designed for two, with one person sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Meanwhile, the new jail admissions are put together in a quarantine range, which inmates have said puts them at risk of contracting the virus.
“This is a disaster that is about to happen,” said Justin Piche, a professor at the University of Ottawa and an advocate for prisoners who has been calling on the province to reduce the prison population during the pandemic. “The province, along with its municipal and federal counterparts, should treat this as the emergency that it is and increase community resources for criminalized individuals, such as housing, income and employment support, health and mental health care, and others. needs to improve public health and community safety at this critical time. “
As of Friday, there were 31 inmate cases at the Niagara Detention Center. Niagara Public Health said the cases had tested negative for the Omicron variant and are presumed to be the Delta variant.
Positive inmates from the jail are being transferred to Toronto’s South Detention Center, where they will be isolated from other inmates at the jail, according to the ministry.
According to the latest data from the ministry, there were 21 positive cases of inmates at the Southwest Detention Center in Windsor. According to the Windsor-Essex Public Health Unit, there are 23 cases and no worrisome variant has been detected in the outbreak that was first declared in late November.
Cases appear to be declining at the Maplehurst Correctional Center in Milton, where Halton Public Health issued a Section 22 order on November 30 prohibiting unvaccinated staff from entering jail for the duration of the outbreak, a move that has sparked a pushback from the local union after the ministry announced that unvaccinated staff will not be paid while the order is in effect. Under current Ontario Public Service rules, jail staff must be periodically vaccinated or screened in order to work, a policy that has not changed amid the rise in outbreaks.
As of Dec. 12, there were 16 active inmate cases in the jail, up from a high of 51. So far, there have been 87 cases related to the outbreak, according to the control panel for the Halton Public Health unit.
On December 2, Toronto Public Health sparked an outbreak at the Toronto East Detention Center after a staff member living in the Durham region tested positive for the Omicron variant. No cases of inmates have been reported. Four inmates were sent for further testing and the results came back negative for COVID-19.
Last month, the Algoma Detention and Treatment Center faced an outbreak with at least 13 cases of inmates and nine cases of staff. That outbreak was declared closed on December 3.
There have been at least 10,000 cases related to jails and prisons in Canada during the pandemic.
Reference-www.thestar.com