Jail deaths a failure of the system

Eight years and 192 inmate deaths in jails across Ontario is a tragedy that can’t be allowed to continue.

Even worse, nearly all of them were preventable, according to the report of an expert panel from the Ontario Chief Coroner’s office released earlier this week.

The death of a person while incarcerated and in the care of the Ontario government is no less tragic than the death of anyone living under supervision in a government institution — a student in school, a patient in a hospital, a person in the military.

Every death of an inmate represents a failure and should be seen as a call to fix the system under which it happened.

The report indicates 72 per cent of those who died were being held on remand — they hadn’t been convicted of the crimes of which they were accused, and hadn’t gone to trial.

For the province to take a person into custody means it, the justice system, is assuming responsibility for their care and safety so they can eventually receive a fair trial.

That means protecting them from other inmates, from illness as happened with at best mixed results during the COVID-19 pandemic, and from themselves through possible self-harm or use of drugs.

In 2021, Ontario spent $1.1 billion on adult correctional services and yet, according to the report, that same year inmate deaths in Ontario nearly doubled from the year before.

In 2020, there were 23 inmate deaths; in 2021, there were 41 deaths recorded in Ontario jails.

Sadly, the coroner’s report determined “with very rare exception, almost every life lost … could be deemed a preventable death.”

In particular, it cited low staffing levels and frequent lockdowns “as ongoing barriers to effective care, humane conditions, meaningful programs …”

And staffing, or lack of, was responsible for the vast majority of lockdowns — not inmate behaviour.

Absenteeism, “severe restrictions” on staff’s ability to perform the most important parts of their jobs, low morale and “a prevailing dark cloud of mistrust” among staff were all cited by the panel as impacting care.

A Welland woman, Angela Case, is speaking out about her family’s tragic experience with Ontario’s justice system and it may well be people like her, and not the grim reports of a coroner’s panel, might eventually spark change in the system.

Case’s son, Jordan, was only 22 when he died at the Niagara Detention Centre in December 2018.

He hadn’t had the chance to enter a plea to the charges he faced; that was still three weeks away.

He was trying to get off drugs and was waiting for a spot to open up in a detox centre when he was arrested, Case told Niagara Dailies.

“He was in segregation and was supposed to be in a cell 23 hours out of the day,” she said.

“He was not supposed to have a roommate, but because they were overcrowded they sent in this guy who goes back and forth and is known to bring drugs into the jail.

“The autopsy report stated (Jordan’s) cellmate was immediately sent to the scanner, and they found contraband on him.”

Supervising inmates in jail is a hard job, and a massive undertaking for any government to oversee. In 2021, there were more than 30,000 people incarcerated or going through Ontario’s jail system, according to the province.

But it simply has to be done better. An inmate death is the worst-case scenario; how many prisoners didn’t die, yet suffered because there wasn’t sufficient staff.

Remember, more than two-thirds of Ontario’s inmates at any given time are estimated to be on remand and awaiting trial; legally, they’re still considered innocent.

There has to be a better way.

In 2021, Ontario spent $1.1 billion on adult correctional services and yet, according to the report, that same year inmate deaths in Ontario nearly doubled from the year before