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The gaunt man in the prisoner’s box is asking for bail, but the Crown prosecutor isn’t having any of it.

The prosecutor, neatly and conservatively dressed, lists a string of criminal offences and a couple of relatively minor charges as he argues his case for keeping the 30-year-old defendant at the notorious jail on Innes Road until his case can be dealt with, months down the road.

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If the accused chooses to plead not guilty, his wait for a trial could be a year or more.

Welcome to a day — any day, really — at Ottawa’s bail courts.

This room, housed in the courthouse at the downtown corner of Elgin Street and Laurier Avenue, is part of a system that’s fallen under new scrutiny. Critics allege those accused of crimes, supposedly innocent until proven guilty, are being unfairly warehoused at a jail that has occasionally been so crowded authorities have needed to use showers as cells.

On average, six in 10 inmates at the jail are there on remand. The union that represents correctional officers complained Sunday the overcrowding at the jail is a “full blown crisis”, and prisoner advocates say it is just the tip of a proverbial iceberg — along with the lack of programs, support for prisoners with mental illness, inedible food and lack of daily yard time.