FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 29, 2000

MEDIA ADVISORY
Closure of province’s only max security correctional centre “a grave mistake” union says

MILLBROOK - Provincial correctional staff working with the most volatile adult offenders in the Ontario correctional system say that Ministry plans to close the Millbrook Correctional Centre is a grave mistake. Millbrook holds provincially sentenced adult male offenders who are deemed unmanageable in other Ontario jails.

To highlight their concerns, correctional officers and support staff will be holding an information picket and press conference outside the Millbrook Correctional Centre.

Date: Wednesday, August 30, 2000
Time: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. (Media conference at noon)
Place: Millbrook Correctional Centre, King St. W., Millbrook

“Millbrook has staff in place that are trained and experienced in handling these offenders,” says Peter Wright, spokesperson for OPSEU Local 341. “Why would the Minister close this facility when he alleges that his government is getting tough on crime?”

Corrections Minister Rob Sampson is closing Millbrook along with other area jails and transferring those operations to the new superjail currently under construction in Lindsay. Many staff say they will not transfer to the Lindsay facility because of the threat of privatization of correctional services.

“The offenders we deal with are the worst of the worst in the provincial system,” Wright says. “Putting these offenders in a superjail with inexperienced staff and 1,200 other offenders is a recipe for complete disaster. Millbrook is a relatively new and efficient institution. This closure completely defies logic and common sense.”

OPSEU president Leah Casselman, Citizens Against Private Prisons chair Sharon Dion and Liberal Corrections Critic David Levac will be attending the event to lend their support.

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For more information: 

Peter Wright (705) 745-4414
Don Ford (416) 723-8430