FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 11, 2000

Media Advisory
Inmate disturbance at Metro East jail “imminent,” union says

ORONTO - Union representatives at the Metro East Detention Centre say that a major inmate disturbance at the maximum-security facility could happen at any time.

Ryan Sellick, president of Local 582 at the jail says that staffing cuts and overcrowding are behind the unrest at the institution.

“The Ministry of Correctional Services cut over 15 per cent of our full-time correctional positions at the jail and then they expect to operate business as usual,” Sellick says. The jail began operations under the reduced staffing level one week ago.

“Inmates are now spending 15-16 hours per day in their cells because there are no staff available to provide proper supervision,” reports Sellick.

Mark Dewar, Local 582 vice president, says that record-setting inmate counts are increasing tensions between inmates and staff. “Three inmates are being crammed in cells designed for one,” Dewar says. “Living conditions are inhumane.”

Adding further to staff frustration, Dewar reports that the Ministry is utilizing pay-duty Toronto police officers to guard inmates at local hospitals. “This is our work,” Dewar says, “but we do not have enough staff to do it. It is an outrage that Corrections Minister Rob Sampson states that he must privatize to save money while he is paying $120 an hour to police officers to guard one inmate.”

The union alleges that the former privatization Minister is creating a crisis in provincial jails in order to justify his privatization agenda.

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For more information: 

Ryan Sellick (905) 426-3202
Mark Dewer (905) 642-1407
Don Ford (416) 723-8430