THUNDER BAY – After a city delegation returned from a provincial meeting without commitments for a new jail, frustration is mounting for local corrections officers who work in the existing nearly century-old facility.
OPSEU Local 737 president Michael Lundy acknowledged while he was pleased municipal leaders raised the issue at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario annual general meeting earlier this week, he is dissatisfied with the answer from the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
“Unfortunately, I think it’s going to take a tragedy or something else to happen inside the jail for them to realize. We can’t deal with today’s big group of inmates and the needs we’re supposed to provide. It doesn’t work,” Lundy said.
“I was less than thrilled with the answer and non-commitment.”
According to the ministry’s website the district jail, which was built in 1926, has a capacity of 132 but Lundy said the facility regularly houses as many as 155 inmates.
The MacDougall Street facility holds the remanded male population, individuals not granted bail while their charges work through the legal system.
Coun. Joe Virdiramo, who is chair of the city’s intergovernmental committee, was among those who broached the issue with Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi this week’s meeting in Niagara Falls.
While Naqvi seemed responsive to concerns raised by the city’s delegation, there is no commitment for a new facility.
“I think we need to continue pressing and we need to continue pushing the issue,” Virdiramo said.
“Our jail is (nearly) 100 years old. It needs to be replaced. If you’re looking at doing things in a different way and thinking outside the box use Thunder Bay as a pilot. Give us a facility that is going to meet the needs of our people.”
Members of the intergovernmental committee toured the jail earlier this year. In March, the Thunder Bay Police Services Board passed a motion to send a letter to the Ministry of the Attorney General urging for a jail replacement.
Calls for a new jail have met receptive ears from at least one Queen’s Park representative. MPP Michael Gravelle (Lib., Thunder Bay-Superior North) said he has also heard from local leaders pushing for a solution.
“I’ve been very strongly supportive of the fact we need a new facility. It’s something we’re working on in a very strong way…We’re trying to move that project forward,” Gravelle said.
But for Lundy and the other corrections officers, they feel like change is as far away as ever.
In the early 2000s there were plans to build a super jail on the property of the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre on Highway 61 but those have since been abandoned.
“Here we are 15 years later and not only are we no further ahead, we’ve taken a step backwards," Lundy said. "They put the shovel in the ground but they’ve taken it out and it’s not going back in.”
Ministry spokeswoman Lauren Callighen responded to an email sent by tbnewswatch and said safety of all involved in the correctional system is a paramount concern.
"The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services is continually working to transform Ontario's correctional system to improve staff and inmate safety, increase rehabilitation and reintegration programs, and strengthen inmate mental health supports. Moving forward in these key areas is at the very core of building safer, stronger communities right across our province," an email states.
"While working to transform our correctional system, our top priority is always the safety and security and both staff and inmates within our correctional facilities. We would like to thank local MPP, Michael Gravelle for his advocacy and note that we will continue to engage with our local staff, health and safety representatives and correctional officers, to ensure that those working and living in the Thunder Bay District Jail and the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre, may do so in a safe and healthy environment."
