Koskie Minsky LLP has commenced a class action against the Province of Ontario alleging that lockdowns arising from the Province of Ontario’s failure to properly staff its correctional institutions facilities have caused and continue to cause physical and psychological damage to inmates across the Province.
A staffing-related “lockdown” of a correctional institution occurs when prisoners are locked in their cells due to shortages of prison staff. Lockdowns can last for days or even weeks at a time. Staffing related lockdowns have become a common feature of Ontario’s correctional institutions that deprive prisoners of their most basic rights.
The class includes:
All current and former prisoners of correctional institutions as defined in the Ministry of Correctional Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. M.22 (the “Correctional Institutions”) since December 10, 2002 who are or were remanded, except the Excluded Persons; and,
All current and former prisoners of the Correctional Institutions since December 10, 2002 who are or were serving a sentence at a Correctional Institution or who have violated parole and are or were imprisoned at a Correctional Institution as a result, except the Excluded Persons; and
“Excluded Persons” are all prisoners detained by the Canadian Border Services Agency in accordance with the Immigration and Refugee Act, S.C. 2001, c. 27 and all prisoners of Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (solely with respect to their incarceration at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre).
November 27, 2017
Justice Glustein certified this class action as a class proceeding.
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