A 44-year-old man who has spent more than two-thirds of his 20 months in pre-trial custody at the Sudbury Jail said Friday living conditions there are not fit for people.

"Just living in all this mice feces, other people’s feces and urine, it’s enough to drive anyone mental," the man testified. "It’s gross. I wouldn’t even put my own animal in there."

The man has been in custody since his arrest Nov. 8, 2014. He is awaiting sentencing for having a sexual relationship with his step-daughter. The man also spent about nine months in custody at the Sudbury Jail in 2007 for another matter.

The man said he has spent time in custody at the jail in Penetanguishere. "It’s cleaner," he said. "Sudbury is dirty. We get all our cleaning supplies (at Penetanguishene). In Sudbury, we get nothing. We aren’t able to get sanitary wipes. There’s feces on the walls. People puke on the floor. It’s disgusting."

The man said he has spent time on almost all of the 16 ranges at the Sudbury Jail including "F", which is commonly known as segregation and "The Hole", due to inmates being constantly confined to small cells.

He said when lockdowns occur due to fighting, excessive noise or other problems, showers — which are supposed to occur every second day — can be delayed up to four days. The man said that results in inmates having to sponge bathe themselves using cold water, as the sinks in the cells don’t have any hot water.

"I have gone five days without a shower several times," he said.

The man said the mice infestation is so bad that inmates wake up to find the rodents on their mattresses and mice feces everywhere. He said the mice are so bold, they are almost like pets.

"Sometimes, we will go into the storage area (in the kitchen) and we will see the mice going in and out of the bread," he said. "There’s probably 100 million mice in that jail … They are just bad everywhere. They go across our beds when we are sleeping. It’s just as bad on the top bunk. When you are (sleeping on a mattress) on the floor, it’s even worse."

The man said that while the cells at the jail are intended for two inmates, it’s not uncommon to have as many as four share a cell. That means, he said, one inmate sleeps on a mattress under the bottom bunk with very little clearance and the other sleeps on a the main floor of the cell with either his feet or head close to the toilet and sink.

As for black mold, the man said it’s everywhere, including the kitchen area. He said it’s especially bad in the shower stall area on each range and in the cells close by.

He said the mold gives off a foul smell that can burn the nostrils. The mold comes back despite all cleaning efforts to remove it, he said.

The man also said about 90 per cent of inmate request forms end up going nowhere.

"If the guard doesn’t like you or has had enough, they just throw them into the garbage," he said.

The man said he is assigned to the laundry area and often gets called out to clean up fire scenes, as well as bio-waste on other ranges because jail staff and outside contractors don’t do it.

"It’s gross, disgusting," he said. "We shouldn’t have to live like that. But that’s the way it is at the jail."

As for inmate yard time, or access to fresh air in the prison’s enclosed compound outside, the man said it all depends on the guards.

"I have gone five months without any yard time," he said. "You’re supposed to get it every second day … They always say they don’t have enough staff. They don’t have any yard officer available. I don’t know what the world looks like because I don’t get any fresh air … It’s driving me nuts. I’m used to being outside all the time."

The man also said that as for programs available at the jail, there is just anger management for men and no organized activities. Reading material, he said, is courtesy of the local John Howard Society chapter, which visits regularly, or a newspaper or magazine from a guard who provides it after reading it.

The man said inmate safety is precarious since it depends who is on the range with you.

"There’s a lot of threatening, a lot of fights," he explained. "People just spitting at people for whatever. They look at you. There’s ‘spearing’ (the use of a broom handle to poke). I have got a hot coffee thrown on me, urine thrown on me half a dozen times, spat on probably a dozen times."

The man said he had feces thrown at him once, but "they missed. I backed up quick enough."

The man also said that during his time at the Sudbury Jail, he has developed rage issues, but has been able to obtain an extra mattress to punch and blow off some of that emotion.

HCarmichael@postmedia.com