Former Ontario inmates say complaints system is broken after docs reveal medical concerns, abuse allegations
CBC
A cancer survivor says he wasn't given access to pain medication.
A man who lost 42 pounds says he couldn't get the right food for a medical condition.
Another man felt like he was going to die after staying in the back of a hot van for hours during the summer.
A person reported being sexually assaulted.
These are just some of the complaints by inmates at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre that were lodged in 2022 to a provincial phone line. It's the same facility where prisoners went on hunger strikes in 2020, 2021 and earlier this year, due to what some have called poor conditions inside the maximum-security jail.
CBC Hamilton has obtained documents containing what are known as "informal complaints" after filing a freedom of information request. The documents show the nature and number of the complaints, and reveal there's no system in place to monitor if and how they're resolved.
The "formal" complaint process, through Ontario's ombudsman, can be too long to be helpful, according to former inmates who've become prisoners' rights advocates.
They say the complaints from the Hamilton institution are common and reflective of those heard across Ontario, and signal the provincial and federal governments need to improve jail conditions.
"Every single complaint is shocking and vile, but ultimately are not surprising," said Cedar Hopperton, a former Hamilton inmate and volunteer with the Barton Prisoner Solidarity Project.
According to the documents, 32 informal complaints were made in 2022, through the Client Conflict Resolutions Unit, superintendents and regional directors
The unit, run by the Ministry of the Solicitor General, is a toll-free phone number for inmates across Ontario. It links them to an "adviser" who, with the inmate's consent, may work with the institution to address issues.
Of the complaints in the documents, 12 related to medical issues or health-care access.
In one case, an inmate was on a wait list for at least a month while feeling "brutal and excruciating" pain after he said his top molar broke and exposed his nerve. A nurse gave him Tylenol and clove oil to numb the area, but it wasn't helping, according to his complaint.
Another complaint reports a male inmate was put on suicide watch and was waiting for over a day to see a doctor.
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