Outbreak at Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre could have been prevented: expert

With 27 prisoners and one staff member having tested positive for COVID-19 at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, a local criminology expert is weighing in on the vaccination rollout in local jails and what needs to be done.

Addressing the severity of the situation, Justin Piche, an association professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, says this outbreak at the Ottawa jail could have been prevented if they had received vaccines earlier.

“The OCDC only started offering vaccines to prisoners two weeks ago,” Piche explained to CityNews Ottawa. “Other jails across the province started offering those at the end of March and in April. OCDC is one of the last three jails across 25 in the province to get access to COVID vaccines to prisoners.”

This happened despite the jail reducing its capacity to 400 from 585.

Piche says he doesn’t understand why the vaccine wasn’t being offered to prisoners when the rollout began, given the risks of transmission, poor air ventilation and the lack of self-isolation and physical distancing capacities that have been shown throughout the pandemic.

Another key issue, he says, is the fact that only about 50 per cent of prisoners want the vaccine — that’s why more needs to be done by the province and local public health units to inform prisoners about the vaccines.

– With files from CityNews Ottawa's Eric O'Brien