Tory policies blamed for stress at jails

Stress is mounting in Ontario jails because of provincial policies, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union said.
The union is speaking out in reaction to the Harris government’s criticism of the amount of sick days taken by employees of Ontario’s correctional facilities.
“The Harris government is deliberately making scapegoats of correctional officers to provide a flimsy rationale for privatizing prisons,” OPSEU president Leah Casselman charged in a press release issued last week.
The union compiled a survey of Ontario’s 44 correctional facilities to illustrate a link between recent policies introduced by the Corrections ministry and the increase in sick time taken by staff.
“Mike Harris and [Corrections minister] Rob Sampson couldn’t survive an hour in the pressure-cooker environments they created in our jails,” said Casselman.
“They should hang their heads in shame instead of attacking the honest, hardworking people who put their lives on the line every day,” she added.
Those thoughts are echoed by Chris Bonner-Vickers, the Fort Frances Jail’s prison rep and guard.
“Because we’re a smaller institution, obviously, things are relative but the things to do with jail closures and privatization, it’s adding to our options and along with day-to-day options, there’s a lot of stress,” he said.
“In the correctional system as a whole, definitely, there’s stress,” he added. “If there is an increased stress on staff, there is an increased stress on prisoners.”
Along with its survey, OPSEU released a 15-minute video, “Sabotage,” featuring real-life stories of life behind bars from 17 Ontario corrections workers.
Among the stressful situations faced by corrections officers and highlighted by OPSEU were overcrowding of jails, increased tension and assaults among prisoners, and deteriorating hygiene.
Last fall, the Harris government announced the closure of several correctional facilities, including the Fort Frances Jail in 2004, as well as the privatization of several other institutions.
Bonner-Vickers said that will only compound the problem.
“They need to give us a new facility. We’re running between 80-90 percent capacity at all times–it shows there is a need for a facility here,” he argued.