André Marin’s report includes photos of inmates, their eyes swollen shut, their faces covered in blood, and the stories of the prison guards who tried to get away with the attacks.
“Punching, slapping, kicking, stomping on someone who is under control, under restraints, is inexcusable and morally repugnant,” Marin said at a news conference Tuesday.
“Regardless of why they are incarcerated, inmates are human beings and they deserve respect, dignity and humane treatment.”
His report makes 45 recommendations, the first of which states all correctional staff should be made aware “that the code of silence (among prison guards) will not be tolerated.”
“The code of silence exists in the military, it exists in the police, but I’ve never seen it so entrenched, so pervasive within an organization as it is here,” said Marin
A team of investigators reviewed about 2,800 cases of use of force reported over an 18-month period in 2010 and 2011.
The report tells the story of “Colin,” an inmate who was acting aggressively toward guards at a facility in Ottawa.
Six officers restrained him with handcuffs and leg restraints, then beat him to a pulp, leaving his head swollen, his face and body battered. Guards initially claimed the prisoner hit his head on the floor.
Marin also describes one inmate, who guards took out of his cell and brought to a room hidden from cameras and other inmates. There, he was punched, head-butted and spat on by two correctional officers, who downplayed the extent of his injuries in subsequent reports.
The guards photographed and interviewed him only after they cleaned him up. The inmate, aware that one of the officers who assaulted him was close by as he wrote up a report about the incident, said he sustained the injuries in a fall. After his injuries landed him in hospital, he later admitted the officer’s presence made him feel “intimidated” and “scared.”
Another story details how one manager was pressured by staff and another manager to go along with a story that painted a problematic inmate as the aggressor, when in reality he had done nothing wrong. The whistleblower’s colleagues were fired and charged with assault, but she was ostracized by her peers for speaking out.
Marin commended the correctional officers who “put their own welfare at risk to break the code of silence.”
Both Marin and Correctional Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur noted that it is a minority of prison guards that engage in the abuse detailed in the ombudsman’s probe.
The report, which is the result of an investigation launched in August 2011, refers to “brazen acts of violence” committed by some prison guards.
A total of 31 corrections staff were fired in connection with excessive uses of force, of which four face criminal charges and one has been convicted. There were also disciplinary measures taken against 108 staff.
“This report should not be construed as an attack on correctional officers,” Marin said. “It’s an attack on behaviours that have led to the ripe conditions . . . for bad behaviours to be entrenched.”
One of the report’s recommendations calls for ongoing training for staff on dealing with inmates who have mental health issues, a topic Marin acknowledged as a pressing concern.
The ombudsman also accused correctional officers of giving their managers boilerplate responses, vetted by their union, in response to use of force-related incidents.
The president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents prison guards, disputed the claim that the union approves statements before they’re submitted.
But Warren “Smokey” Thomas said many of Marin’s recommendations echo changes the union has been asking for “for years.”
“We are really looking forward to working with the ministry and making things better,” he said.
The use of force in correctional facilities has been a recurring theme in the public inquiry into the death of teenager Ashley Smith while in the federal corrections system.
Marin said the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services cooperated with the investigation and has promised to implement the recommendations.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Kamila Hinkson
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