Violence in Ontario jails, including London’s, appears to be reaching record levels.

Statistics provided by the province show that inmate-on-inmate assaults and inmate-on-staff assaults were on pace in 2017 to top the record numbers of the year before.

Correctional officers blame the province for taking away their ability to manage the misconduct of inmates, including new limits on segregation and solitary confinement.

“We have no mechanisms to discipline anyone effectively,” a veteran correctional officer at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC) in London said.

Inmates have become “empowered into thinking we can’t do anything. They see us as weak.”

The assaults have not only become more numerous, but serious, too, he said.

“Staff are getting punched in the face or bitten, not just spit on or having body fluids thrown at them.”

Across the province, inmate-on-staff assaults had reached 697 by the end of June 2017, on pace to reach 1,394 by the end of the year.

In 2016, that number reached 865, already the highest by far in the past five years.

Across the province, inmate-on-inmate assaults had reached 3,033 by the end of September 2017, on pace for 4,044 by the end of the year.

In 2016, that number reached 3,253, also the highest in the past five years.

The same scenarios are playing out at EMDC, with inmates assaulting each other and staff at record or above record paces.

“Minor tinkering is not going to fix the problem,” said Chatham-Kent-Essex MPP Rick Nicholls, the Progressive Conservative corrections critic. “Staff is overwhelmed and don’t have the resources to deal with violent incidents in overcrowded detention centres.”

The incidents of assaults collected yearly by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services include a range of events.

“The ministry considers assaults to include generalized threats and threats of harm, and/or physical violence, threatened or actual physical contact without consent. This includes a statement of an intention to inflict pain, injury, damage, or other hostile action,” spokesperson Andrew Morrison said.

Each incident recorded could affect more than one person, Morrison added.

“Violence within Ontario correctional facilities is unacceptable and the ministry has zero tolerance when it comes to assaults or threats involving its staff,” Morrison said in an emailed response to questions.

“All correctional officers receive comprehensive and ongoing training to do their jobs effectively. If a correctional staff member or an inmate is assaulted or threatened, the police are contacted to investigate.”

But correctional officers say provincial policies and detention centre practices are leaving them in increasing danger.

“It comes down to the segregation reform that the ministry has begun to initiate,” Chris Jackel, co-chair of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)/management relations committee, said. “I think this is one of the consequences.”

In response to pressure from human rights advocates and media coverage, the province last year announced a series of reforms to limit the use of segregation, also called solitary confinement.

Segregation was an effective punishment, and deterrent, for inmates’ misconduct, Jackel said.

“The ministry has put nothing in its place.”

Inmates who assault an officer or fellow inmate without punishment become more powerful and more dangerous, Jackel said.

New use of force guidelines have hampered the ability of correctional officers to prevent and stop violent acts, a correctional officer at EMDC said.

Every use of force is reviewed by seven different committees at various levels of the ministry, and can lead to suspensions that last years awaiting resolution of the case, he said.

“Which is the reason no one will be assertive and deal with rebellious inmates, which has empowered the inmates into thinking we can’t do anything,” he said.

There are so many levels of bureaucracy worried about getting called out for not flagging incidents, that people flag everything, he said.

OPSEU would like the province to lobby the federal government for mandatory minimum sentences on inmates who attack correctional staff, Jackel said.

Too often now inmates are handed sentences to run concurrently with the ones they are serving, not a deterrent at all, he said.

“That is meaningless.”

Managers too often downplay assaults, not supporting police intervention, because of an inmates’ mental illness, Jackel added.

That simply hides the problem that jails are filled with people struggling with mental illness and addiction, and sets up officers for further assaults, he said.

rrichmond@postmedia.com

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INMATE ON INMATE ASSAULTSs

Province EMDC 2012 3,151 244 2013 2,893 137 2014 2,651 112 2015 2,880 215 2016 3,253 248 2017 (to Sept. 30) 3,033 242

INMATE ON STAFF ASSAULTS