Toronto jail inmates 'protested' to get showers during lengthy lockdowns
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Lockdowns caused by jail-house staff shortages are “a vicious cycle that has to be broken,” says a defence lawyer representing a cocaine dealer whose lengthy lockdowns recently triggered a shorter sentence by a frustrated judge.
Pharah Bacchus, who represents Andrew Barnes, said Justice John McMahon has “persistently spoken out about the appalling conditions at the Toronto South Detention Centre.”
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Barnes spent 455 days in pre-trial custody and 300 of those days had either full or partial lockdowns — 285 days were attributed to staff shortages. Lockdowns deprive inmates of fresh air, exercise time, visits with family or counsel, showers and lights remain on for 24 hours in the cells.
“Absolutely unacceptable, shocking and deplorable,” Justice McMahon of the staff shortage lockdowns that prompted him to slash five months off the dealer’s 4.5 year sentence in addition to the 28 months deducted for credit for pre-trial custody.
“This centre has a notorious record of lockdowns due to staff shortage since 2014,” he said.
In an affidavit filed in court, Barnes, 30, said he and other inmates refused to return their food trays to the guards so inmates could get a shower.
“This is our form of protest so that we can get a shower,” wrote Barnes. “The maximum time without a shower has been either two or three days.”
“This is just beyond ridiculous — they shouldn’t have to be doing that just to get basic human needs — a shower and fresh air,” said Bacchus.
The lockdowns also mean criminal defence lawyers cannot consult with clients in jail, so they must clog up court time and interview their clients in the cells at courthouses, said McMahon.
“It’s a massive waste of court time and court resources,” said Bacchus.
Barnes, has only two years and two months remaining to serve after pleading guilty to trafficking cocaine, possession of a loaded Colt revolver and possession of a restricted weapon in 2017.
“The new giant factory that is the Toronto South, while gaining an increasingly well-deserved reputation as a white elephant, is turning into a giant black hole for those who disappear there while presumed innocent of any crime,” said John Struthers, president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association.
“(Lockdown restrictions) are unfairly punitive and harmful. It delays and obstructs the justice system but most importantly, is cruel,” he said. “We have a responsibility to our fellow human beings to be better than this.”
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