“Congratulations man,” the inmate yelled.

Another prisoner at the Central North Correctional Centre had just gotten bail, he explained in the middle of a phone interview. “But the guys near the end of their sentences are still waiting.”

As efforts continue to reduce the province’s jail population, inmates and correctional staff are warning there is not enough personal protective equipment available for guards to prevent them from bringing COVID-19 into the jails.

As of Tuesday, there were four confirmed cases of COVID-19 among inmates at Ontario jails: Three at the Toronto South Detention Centre, and one at the remote Monteith Correctional Complex, near Timmins. The Ministry of the Solicitor General, which oversees provincial jails, would not say what condition the four men are in, citing “health privacy.”

The supply and rules around the use of PPE is an ongoing issue for corrections staff, according to Chris Jackel, chair of the corrections division of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU). Different institutions have taken different approaches, with some leaving use to the discretion of the guards, and others saying mandated PPE can only be used when an inmate has symptoms.

At the Ontario Correctional Institute in Brampton — a medium-security jail that focuses on treatment programs — correctional officers have been denied use of PPE while transferring inmates, a process that requires close contact and getting into a small transport van — making physical distancing impossible — said Adam Cygler, president of OPSEU Local 229, which represents correctional staff at the jail.

“There are officers who want to wear a mask to work and they are being denied because of potential shortages,” he said. They are also not allowed to wear their own masks that they may have at home, he said.

While the federal public health recommendations on non-medical mask-wearing only changed at the start of the week, he said the guidance that such masks may help prevent spread where physical distancing is not possible means jails need to act quickly to also allow the change.

It was only recently that they got access to the PPE supply without it being locked away, he said.

Meanwhile, his requests to find out the total amount available to staff have been ignored, he said. If they knew the amount, he said, staff would be better able to understand the supply, knowing “OK, we need to be very mindful of how we are using them.”

Cygler says staff see grocery store workers and outside contractors at the jail using PPE but they are not being allowed to do the same. Staff are concerned about being able to keep as safe as possible for their own families while still coming to work, he said.

“We know that by the time you are showing symptoms you have already been spreading around the virus,” he said.

Unlike most jails, the Ontario Correctional Institute only houses inmates who have already been sentenced, typically for relatively serious sexual and violent offences. So far, the jail has received far fewer transfers into the jail than usual, and inmates are understandably worried that it is the guards who will bring the virus in, Cygler said.

“Here is a very stable inmate population. We don’t get admits off the street. They are most concerned about us as staff going out and having all this contact with all these different places,” he said. They want to know what procedures are in place and to know that guards are wearing PPE, he said.

Jackel said there must be clear and consistent instructions on the use of PPE that allow staff to use it when in close contact with any inmates regardless of whether they are symptomatic.

Temperature screening of correctional staff finally began on Monday, he noted.

The bottom line, he said, is “there needs to be more PPE and it needs to be much more readily accessible.”

The ministry has said correctional officers have access to PPE “as required.” Two correctional officers and one outside contractor have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the ministry.

Under a program meant to reduce jail populations and prevent a devastating COVID-19 outbreak, the province has so far granted early release to just nine low-risk inmates, all convicted of non-violent offences and near the end of their sentences.

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This is a tiny fraction of the more than 2,100 jail inmates released over the last few weeks through a combination of normal releases at the end of a sentence, paroles and bails. The total jail population has dropped to 6,148 from more than 8,300 and is expected to continue to decrease, according to a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General.

The province does not have a breakdown of how many inmates were released under each category, however, lawyers say they suspect bail hearings and bail reviews account for a large number. It is also unclear how many releases are the result of recent guilty pleas that result in sentences of time-served. Meanwhile, intake into the jails has reduced due in part to an overall drop in crime, and an increase in people charged with crimes being released on their own recognizance rather than having a formal bail hearing.

In recent phone calls from the Central North Correctional Centre, two inmates said several men on their range qualify for the release program but have not heard anything yet about being released. One older man on their range has also had a persistent cough, muscle aches and fever, they said.

He is sleeping on the floor and trying to stay away from the others as much as possible just in case, they said.

They fear it is only a matter of time before there is a COVID-19 case.