As published in the Globe & Mail May 23, 2023.
By Angela Vos, Lindsay Jennings, and Alexander McClelland
Angela Vos is the mother of former prisoner Jordan Sheard. Lindsay Jennings is a research associate, and Alexander McClelland is the principal investigator at Tracking (In) Justice.
On June 1, 2020, 26-year-old Jordan Sheard lost his life to a toxic drug overdose at the Central East Correctional Centre (CECC), a provincial jail in Lindsay, Ont. That year, Jordan was one of 23 people to die in provincial custody under the supervision of the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General (SOLGEN).
Like others, Jordan’s death was preventable. Instead of being provided naloxone, the life-saving drug that can reverse opioid overdoses, Jordan was neglected by staff and left to die.
For years, instead of implementing proven measures that would prevent mental-health crises and drug-related deaths in its prisons, the Ontario government has allowed the crisis to escalate.
In 2021, deaths in custody almost doubled to an alarming 41 people across the province. In the same year, 13 people at the CECC alone tried to end their lives, according to a report by the Kawartha Lakes Police Service. Constable Mike Stratford, the police liaison officer with the jail, told the police board: “Just from my investigations, speaking to the inmates who attempted suicide, it’s the lockdowns and the pressures of not having staff” that are giving rise to a mental health and overdose crisis. A consistent lack of staff often leads to lockdowns, leaving prisoners with no support.
Awareness of the crisis and a list of potential solutions are not new. According to SOLGEN, there was a spike in deaths in custody in both 2017 and 2018, with a “rise in suspected overdoses” cited as the reason. This was reaffirmed by the Ontario Chief Coroners’ 2023 report on deaths in Ontario jails, “An Obligation to Prevent,” which states that “acute drug toxicity is the most frequently identified manner of death for those who died in custody between 2014 and 2021, accounting for 74 deaths, or approximately 40 per cent of all deaths in the period of study.”
The report also reveals astonishing levels of staff non-compliance to basic protocols and health care standards, such as the mandatory rule for guards to physically perform and document their “rounds” of observation in the prison, and respond to medical emergencies. Prison staff acknowledged in the Chief Coroners’ report that they are hesitant to administer naloxone owing to an (unfounded) fear they will be held liable if the person is not saved. As a result, we continue to see dramatic increases in both mental-health crises and drug-related deaths, exacerbated by mismanagement and neglect by both SOLGEN and the Ontario government.
Our continuing research with the Tracking (In) Justice project about transparency within policing and the criminal justice system confirms that since Jan. 1, 2023, there have been at least 22 deaths in provincial jails in Ontario. This includes the recent suspected drug toxicity death of Anthony Chatzimanolakis, and many others whose identities have yet to be reported publicly. If this trend in deaths continues, we could see more deaths than in 2021, the highest year on record. We also know from family members of people incarcerated that the numbers we’ve collected are an underestimation. But a consistent lack of transparency from SOLGEN means little information is available to the public, including people’s names. Unlike the federal level of corrections, in Ontario there is no dedicated oversight body and no legal obligation to make public announcements about deaths that occur in provincial jails.
How do we get out of this crisis?
We need consistent, arm’s-length and independent oversight of Ontario’s correctional facilities. To be relevant, any oversight body must include people with lived experience of incarceration.
Correctional health care must be transferred to the Ministry of Health. Experts have called on SOLGEN to do this for years, including in the 2017 Independent Review of Ontario Corrections and the 2018 Ontario Expert Advisory Committee on Health Care Transformation in Corrections. Transferring health care to ministries of health has taken place in other provinces, resulting in dramatic improvements in health outcomes.
Furthermore, there must be mandatory inquests into all deaths in custody – including those deemed “natural deaths.” All deaths must be reported immediately to an oversight body at the Ontario Ombudsman office, and be made available to the public.
Calls for change have gone unaddressed by the Ontario government. People are thrown in jail with a total disregard for their physical and psychological well-being while the system continues to violate basic human rights.
On June 1, 2023, three years after Jordan Sheard’s death, families of loved ones who died in custody and advocates from across the country will be on Parliament Hill, drawing attention to the crisis and taking their demands to the federal government. We hope they listen.