Article content continued

“We can’t pretend that we don’t know about it anymore. We can’t turn our eyes away anymore. Throwing someone in a small cage and leaving them to rot for two years in inhumane conditions is no way to rehabilitate a prisoner.”

Champ said any inmate who served time in the detention centre between May 25, 2014, and June 30 of this year is eligible to join by filling out an online form that will be posted on his law firm’s website on Thursday.

Champ said he’s already started circulating copies of the form to advocacy groups, including Mothers Offering Mutual Support, the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project, and Elizabeth Fry Society. The form asks for their name, dates of incarceration and some details about the conditions experienced.

Champ said he believes that the potential damages could run in the tens of millions of dollars. However, there are still hurdles. The plaintiffs must file a statement of claim in 60 days, then go before a judge to convince him a class-action lawsuit is necessary and appropriate. It could be years before it goes to a civil trial.

Champ said he is encouraged by recent efforts by Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi to improve the jail, but believes the problems run so deep that nothing but a court order can force the province to make the necessary changes.

A task force that was put in place after this newspaper published stories of inmates having to sleep in damp and mouldy shower cells is expected to make recommendations next Wednesday on how to alleviate overcrowding and improve conditions at the jail.

Naqvi has vowed to make the task force’s recommendations public the day it presents them to the ministry. The province is also conducting a review into the use of segregation. That report is expected later this year.

The ministry declined to comment for this report.

aseymour@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/andrew_seymour