Detention centre run like Iraqi prison
Source: The Ottawa Citizen online
URL: http://tinyurl.com/558f9 (subscribers only)
Date: October 30, 2004
lawyer: A landmark fight for inmate rights in Ottawa
The Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre goes on trial Monday when an array of criminal defence lawyers bring months of complaints of overcrowding, inhumane conditions and Charter rights violations into a courtroom.
Kingston lawyer Susan Mulligan alleges the jail is run like an Iraqi prison, citing such "elements of torture" as inmates having to stand, sit or lie on concrete or steel for 12 hours a day.
She says infrequent access by inmates to legal counsel, fresh air, exercise, showers, clean clothes and bedding violate Canadian and United Nations standards of human rights and prisoner treatment.
She alleges conditions at the jail "have fallen below an acceptable standard and can be fairly described as torturous, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and punishment."
The 100-member Defence Counsel Association of Ottawa is seeking intervener status, citing "widespread and systemic violations" of inmates' rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In addition, several experienced lawyers are submitting affidavits saying they have never seen such poor treatment and lack of inmate access to legal counsel at any other Ontario jail or penitentiary.
The Ottawa jail has room for about 450 inmates, the vast majority of them untried and presumed innocent, awaiting a bail hearing or trial. They come from across Eastern Ontario and when it gets too crowded, inmates are sent temporarily to a superjail in Lindsay, far from lawyers and loved ones.
For months, many members of Ottawa's legal system, including some members of the judiciary, have expressed frustration and alarm about the impact of crowding and short staffing at the jail and in the justice system. Crowding has been exacerbated by closures of small jails in Eastern Ontario and construction inside the Innes Road facility.
"The ministry is doing its best to punt my application," Ms. Mulligan said in an interview. However, "somebody needed to do something, so I am trying."
The ministry argues the application is moot because the jail has already responded to the applications brought forward by Ms. Mulligan and the Defense Counsel Association. Ms. Mulligan's client, accused murder Wahab Dadshani, has been released from a segregation cell and, in order to counter the association's charges that the inmates' Charter rights to access and instruct counsel had been violated, six soundproof rooms for lawyer-client meetings and a public liaison officer to co-ordinate appointments have been provided.
A memo leaked to the Citizen also shows three more bunk beds are to be installed in minimum security dormitories so fewer inmates will wind up sleeping on the floor, a practice that has been condemned by judges.
Ms. Mulligan had given notice Sept. 16 of her application for the release of Mr. Dadshani from two months of segregation, claiming he had been subjected to physical and psychological cruelty, had not received medical and dental care and had earlier been housed in insect-infested cells.
An affidavit by David Ainsworth, acting superintendent of the jail, says Mr. Dadshani was in segregation because of misconduct and that he was released to a general inmate population area Oct. 14, when reconstruction of an appropriate unit was completed. He shares the unit with five other inmates and they have access to a phone, showers, television, dayroom and yard time to the extent that security concerns and resources permit. The jail is arranging to find a dentist to fix his teeth.
Mr. Dadshani was admitted to the jail Sept. 6, 2003 on charges of murder, conspiring to commit murder and possession of a restricted weapon, Mr. Ainsworth said. Since then, a remand warrant was issued against him for charges of attempted murder on March 5 of this year and for uttering death threats the following month. He had been found guilty of inmate misconduct 10 times, one of the grounds to put an inmate in segregation, and his stay was reviewed weekly.
Lawrence Greenspon, president of the Defence Counsel Association, said ministry steps taken in response so far are welcome but fall short.
"If they think that by arguing the mootness of Mr. Dadshani's application, this whole thing is going to go away, they're sadly mistaken," he said yesterday. "We have a very real interest in getting these issues before the court. Arguments about mootness, that Dadshani's had his teeth fixed and we're not giving him the TV that he wants, they're missing the forest for the trees. There's a whole forest there to be dealt with."
The ministry has applied to the court to quash Ms. Mulligan's subpoenas for testimony from corrections minister Monte Kwinter, deputy minister John Rabeau, Mr. Ainsworth, deputy superintendent Don Lanctot and operational manager Dan Lefebvre.
The application says some of the witnesses were subpoenaed "for who they are rather than for the evidence that they are likely able to give," that there is no evidence they can provide material testimony; and they are required to bring documents to court which go far beyond the scope of Mr. Dadshani's application.
Ms. Mulligan says she has dealt with more than a dozen Ontario jails and penitentiaries over the years and "I have never witnessed the deterioration of a custodial facility such as I have witnessed over the past several months at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.
"I have seen some abuses and cruelties over the years," she added, "But never have I observed such an all-encompassing disregard for the basic human rights of the inmates."
Lawyer Matthew Webber wrote that having accessed jails in Toronto, Brockville, Napanee, Hamilton, London Sault Ste. Marie, Sarnia, and numerous penitentiaries, "I can say without reservation that the difficulties that are becoming commonplace at the OCDC are worse than any I have elsewhere encountered."
© The Ottawa Citizen 2004