Trouble in Ontario jails

The birth of Gionni Lee Garlow at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre last month after his mother, a prisoner, was left in pain and alone despite her pleas for help, is shocking and demands a thorough investigation and serious answers.

Madeleine Meilleur, the minister in charge of jails in Ontario, and whose riding happens to be close by Ottawa’s detention centre, said, when contacted by the Citizen, that pregnant women in jail are supposed to get normal care just like any other woman.

“They are followed by a doctor and when they go into labour they are transferred to the hospital. That’s the normal procedure,” she said.

That might be what is supposed to happen, but it is far from the story family and prisoner advocates are telling about what happened when Julie Bilotta went into labour at the detention centre on Sept. 29. Meilleur said there is an internal investigation to see whether proper procedures were followed.

According to family and the Elizabeth Fry Society, nursing staff at the jail took Bilotta’s vital signs and then told her she was not really in labour, that it was likely indigestion. Jail officials eventually moved her to a segregated cell because she was making so much noise.

It was not until one of the baby’s feet began to emerge that Bilotta, her family and the Elizabeth Fry Society say, was able to convince nurses she was in labour. Even then, Bryonie Baxter of Elizabeth Fry said she has concerns about how quickly an ambulance was called.

Breech birth is considered so high-risk to mothers and babies that, in most cases in Ontario, mothers are given C-sections. Bilotta’s mother says her daughter was given a blood transfusion once she arrived at the hospital after the delivery and her baby, who weighed less than six pounds, was placed in intensive care. While it is possible there are some details of the story not known, it appears that normal protocol was not followed in this case.

If so, the provincial government must investigate and answer why her treatment was not only so far from protocol but also so far from the humane treatment prisoners have a right to in Canada. And, more importantly, what is being done to correct mistakes and, perhaps, discipline those involved.

Coming at a time when there are growing concerns about deteriorating conditions within the province’s jails, it also raises the question of whether Bilotta’s case reflects bigger problems related to overcrowding and training.

This past summer saw increased tension at provincial corrections facilities in southern Ontario and elsewhere. A judge said he was sending people “with great reluctance” to the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre because he is concerned about people’s safety. A lawyer there described prison conditions at an “all-time low.”

Meanwhile, there have been tensions between judges and the federal government over a law that no longer allows them to give prisoners additional credit for time served at detention centres before sentencing, which would reflect the poor conditions there.

There are serious problems in Ontario’s jails.

Julie Bilotta’s case is alarming and requires an investigation to determine whether her rights were violated and she and her baby were endangered and, if so, why and how that happened. And the province must take seriously growing evidence about the poor state of its jails and begin to fix what is wrong.

Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: editorial