Jurors at inquest of man killed at Don Jail call for more training

The mother of a man murdered at Toronto's now-shuttered Don Jail 15 years ago says she is encouraged by improvements made to inmate safety, but jurors at his inquest say more training is needed for guards at the facility that has replaced the one where he died.

Troy Campbell murdered Jeffrey Munro, 31, in the Don Jail's special needs unit in November 2009 after Munro ate half a bag of chips that belonged to Campbell, according to an agreed statement of facts. Both men had a history of schizophrenia and Munro was fighting a drug addiction.

Campbell pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2012. The inquest, mandatory after deaths in custody, was meant to look at the circumstances of his death and make recommendations. While the inquests carry no criminal liability, jurors are tasked with determining the manner of death, which they said was a homicide due to blunt impact facial injuries.

"Things have really come a long way since what has happened to my son," Christine Munro said in an interview with CBC Toronto after the inquest. 

"It's really, really good to hear. Will it bring my son back? No. But it was a different day and it was a different time and the Don Jail was much different than [the facility that's replaced it]."

The inquest heard that the Toronto South Detention Centre, which replaced the Don Jail in 2014, has emergency call buttons in cells and its layout allows for better supervision — important changes after Munro was found unresponsive in his cell, two hours after his assault was first witnessed around 5:30 p.m.

Additionally, when Munro did not show up to receive his medication around 6:30 p.m., nobody went to check why. When that happens at Toronto South today, a nurse is dispatched to check on the inmate, according to a lawyer for the Ministry of the Solicitor General who took part in the inquest.

While the ministry touted those changes, concerns about Toronto South have been raised in recent years by advocates, the Ontario Human Rights Commission and a provincial judge, particularly around the use of lockdowns at the facility. 

In 2020, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) published a report on conditions at Toronto South, and found multiple issues, including management and front-line workers "routinely using segregation" that raised "serious human rights concerns."

In a March decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy called conditions at the jail "deplorable," "intolerable" and "excessively harsh." Molloy wrote the biggest problem at the jail is its recurring lockdown.

Jurors at Munro's inquest put forward five non-binding recommendations around how correctional officers deal with inmates experiencing mental health issues, which were originally proposed by the counsel for the Office of the Chief Coroner. 

The recommendations are:

The Ministry of the Solicitor General, who oversees correctional services, said in an email it will carefully review the recommendations.

Jurors at the inquest heard Jeff Munro was beaten to death in a cell that was considered a blindspot by guards, something the lawyer for the solicitor general stressed no longer exists in Toronto South.