THUNDER BAY - A local attorney participating in a class-action lawsuit on behalf of prisoners in Ontario is calling it one of the largest institutional suits in the province’s history.
Attorney Christopher Watkins is working on a class action lawsuit on behalf of prisoners across Ontario with partnering law firm Koskie Minky in Toronto. The number of punitive class members in the lawsuit is expected to be more than 200,000.
The $1.5 billion suit was launched Monday and alleges systemic human rights abuses throughout the Ontario justice system.
“This covers all Ontario institutions but also includes all the remand centres, or what we refer to as jails, across Ontario,” Watkins said.
“Forty-two per cent of people who go through those institutions and spend time in them are never convicted of a criminal offence. So they are never given credit for that time they spend in those institutions. It covers them and all other prisoners.”
Watkins added that inadequate staffing throughout Ontario institutions has also become a significant issue when it comes to alleged human rights abuses.
Watkins pointed to the Thunder Bay district jail riot that occurred in late 2015 as an example of inadequate staffing levels that led to injuries.
“What we are seeing is the consistent process of improper staffing in the institutions for many years, which I believe has been admitted to by the minister, has caused significant human rights abuses and charter abuses in the jail system in Ontario,” he said.
“We are not reaching even basic United Nation standards for our jails.”
According to Watkins, guards and staff are often overworked and placed in improper positions to effectively do their jobs, which results in poor and unfair conditions for prisoners.
“That results in lockdowns for sometimes 23 or 24 hours a day,” he said.
“People get no fresh air, they get no programming, they get no assistance with the basic human rights issues, dietary issues, there are questions about whether people are getting proper access to medical care and to mental health care within the institutions, and often people are lodged three to a cell.”
By not providing access to rehabilitation, education, or substance abuse programs, Watkins argues that the province is creating a revolving door system where offenders are constantly moving in and out of the system.
“We want to cut down on the recidivism rate,” he said. “If we pen people up in institutions and treat them worse than a lot of animals placed in the humane society, we are treating humans worse than humans, what do we expect?”
Currently there are hundreds of inmates from Northern Ontario named as punitive class members and Watkins expects that number to grow into the thousands.
Watkins expects the suit to take anywhere between three and five years. As for the cost, Watkins said it is about sending a message to the government of Ontario.
“When you look at the cost, it’s got to be punitive, there’s got to be a message to the government that this is inappropriate so the problem is dealt with and the end result, hopefully, will be better institutions, better run, safer for the guards, safer for the inmates, and at the end of the day, the taxpayer should save if things are done properly,” he said.
