Complaints at Ottawa jails third highest in Ontario
Posted Jun 24, 2014 06:36:37 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – Complaints at Ottawa jails are the third highest in the province, according to the Ontario Ombudsman’s Annual Report.
There were 416 complaints filed against the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre in 2013-2014, 25 more than the year before.
In one case, the report said an inmate slipped on a wet floor breaking his femur but was hauled back to his cell, given an ice pack and told to shut up.
“This is captured on video camera from inside the institution,” said Ombusdsman André Marin. “He’s put in a wheelchair upon further assessment, and the wheelchair is going down the stairs and hitting the stairs one by one as he is complaining of pain to his leg and told to simply shut up.”
When the inmate went to the hospital, he had to have surgery and it took three weeks to recover.
A year ago, Marin spoke about the “code of silence” in provincial jails, where inmates who had been beaten couldn’t get justice because no one was willing to stand up for them.
He says this local case draws attention to the fact that Ontario jails need work.
