The primary job of everyone employed by Correctional Service of Canada is to put themselves out of work. Charles Klassen
We Knew This All Along!
Brennan received a call from Frédéric Héran, Manager of Investigations at the Office of the Correctional Investigator, on the afternoon of February 12, the day after “Office of the Correctional Investigator Looks at Justice for Brennan Guigue” was posted here.
The Correctional Service of Canada review of the July 22 incident at the Regional Reception Centre north of Montreal concluded that the use-of-force was not justified, and the OCI investigation agreed. Mr. Héran gave Brennan a reference number for the OCI file, and a phone number should he have further questions.
He knew Brennan had filed a third level grievance on this incident with CSC in Ottawa, he knew Brennan hadn’t received a response as they needed a current mailing address, and he gave him a contact number to update that information.
Mr. Héran also indicated that some data the OCI had requested from CSC HQ in Ottawa was still not in their hands, that CSC had imposed four extensions, and the OCI had issued a warning to them just that day.
Finally, Brennan was told he’d be receiving a letter by mail confirming their findings.
This is Mr. Héran’s February 12 letter; it speaks for itself, is good news, and Brennan’s Montreal lawyer has received a copy………
The Correctional Investigator
Canada
P.O. Box 3421,
Station “D”
Ottawa, Ontario,
K1P 6L4
Ottawa, February 12, 2015
M. Brennan Wayne Guigue,
908 – 31 Alexander Street,
Toronto, ON M4Y 1B2
Mr. Guigue,
This letter is further to M. Klassen’ letter dated February 3, 2015, as well as our brief conversation surrounding our Office’s finds pertaining to the incident that occurred at the Regional Reception Center (RCC) on July 22, 2104.
The object of this letter is to share the conclusion of the local management and the regional review from Correction Service Canada (CSC) which is consistent with our review of the fact that the level of force used was inappropriate and inconsistent with the Situation Management Model.
Furthermore, according to our review, you were in the shower and refused to accept the underwear provided to you. According to our records, you did not cooperate with orders but you also did not show aggressiveness. Our Office has concluded that there was no emergency to intervene. Therefore, the use of OC was not appropriate to the situation.
As per the Situation Management Model that CSC applies to all use of force incidents, CSC should have re-evaluated the situation and responded appropriately to your uncooperative state. Of note, CSC has identified and completed the corrective actions to address the concerns our Office had in regard to this incident.
I trust that the above information is of some assistance to you. Please note that we have now this file closed at our Office.
Sincerely,
Frédéric Héran
Manager of Investigations
Are you really sure you want this?
February 23, 2015
Monte Vieselmeyer,
Corrections Division Chair,
Ontario Public Service Employees Union,
100 Lesmill Road,
Toronto, ON M3B 3P8
Re: Prison guards say province must prevent drug-smuggling.
Increased violence, overdoses a result of ongoing problem
Toronto Star, Thursday, February 19, 2015
Dear Mr. Vieselmeyer:
What’s been left unsaid here is a Catch 22 you’ve hesitated to identify but which threatens your membership with unwelcome difficulties.
I’m a federal prisons’ specialist, and although I’m less familiar with Ontario’s provincial jails, I can speak to the drug problem you addressed for the Toronto Star.
There’s no doubt that if every prisoner was turned inside-out upon admission to provincial institutions, the price of drugs would increase beyond their already inflated values. But, they would still be available. I was only a little surprised to learn a number of years ago how easily a clean-as-a-whistle and enterprising inmate could arrange for whatever he wanted to be put into his hands.
I take no pleasure in the quandary, but you should be careful for what you wish until all involved are prepared to cope with what lies beyond more stringent prohibition practices.
Yours truly,
Charles H. Klassen
cc turnoverarocktoday.com
This has come up….again….because two inmates died from overdoses in two southern Ontario jails in mid-February, and there was at least another two overdoses where the inmates survived. I’ve become more than a little cynical on the subject of drugs in provincial institutions. While I don’t doubt the sincerity of the concern for the safely of staff and inmates, this is also an on-going political football in which sides are chosen, points are scored, games are won and lost, and the battle continues.
OFFICE OF THE CORRECTIONAL INVESTIGATOR LOOKS AT JUSTICE FOR BRENNAN GUIGUE
Following the use-of-force incident at the Regional Reception Centre north of Montreal on July 22, and as soon as it was possible after his transfer to Donnacona on July 23, Brennan contacted the Office of the Correctional Investigator in Ottawa.
Subsequent to this telephone call, he received a letter dated July 28 from Jean-Frédéric Boulais, Manager of Investigations at the OCI. In it, Brennan was told that an OCI analyst would review the documentation and video footage of the July 22nd incident “as soon as the file is received by our Office.” In the meantime, he was strongly advised to present a grievance to CSC’s National Headquarters, which he did.
Mr Boulais then met with Brennan at Donnacona on August 19 to assure him that the OCI would take an active role in moving the investigation forward. He explained that even if 50% of what Brennan described as having occurred on July 22 was true, it represented a serious breach. I followed up with a letter to Mr. Boulais on September 4, thanking him for the OCI participation, and expressing Brennan’s resolve that this would not be shunted aside. I also asked that this should be seen from a wider perspective, noting that Brennan’s experience could not be a one-of and that other inmates must have endured similar treatment.
I received a September 10 acknowledgement of my letter from an intake officer at the OCI, a more or less stock response, and I wrote back to Manuelle Larocque on September 22, underscoring our intention to pursue this investigation vigorously, and stressing the importance for consistency within the OCI by having just one investigator on this case.
Brennan has heard nothing further. What follows here is my February 3rd request to the OCI asking for the results of their review of the information received from CSC. How the Office of the Correctional Investigator phrases its answer will be interesting.
February 3, 2015
Manuelle Larocque, Intake Officer,
The Correctional Investigator Canada,
P.O. Box 3421, Station “D”,
Ottawa, ON K1P 6L4
Re: Brennan Wayne Guigue
Dear Mr. Larocque:
Please refer to my September 22, 2014 letter in response to yours of September 10 concerning the OCI’s examination of Brennan Guigue’s July 22, 2014 experience at the Regional Reception Centre in Ste. Anne des Plaines.
Jean-Frédéric Boulais’ letter of July 28 to Brennan Guigue indicated your analyst would review the documentation and video footage of this July 22 incident once the file was received at the OCI office. Brennan is asking for the results of this review.
You may contact him through me at the above address, or as an alternative, you may provide the information to his Montreal counsel, Stephen Fineberg, at 625 Rene-Levesque Blvd, Suite 900, Montreal, QC H3B 1R2.
In anticipation of your response, I am
Yours truly,
Charles H. Klassen
cc Stephen Fineberg, Montreal
Gotta Minute? (3)
Fighting crime by building more jails is like fighting cancer by building more cemeteries.
Paul Kelly
When will we ever learn?
Not only is solitary confinement in our federal prisons and provincial jails “a broken and dangerous system”, no matter how the practice is labeled, the policies, safeguards, and restrictions put in place are neither followed nor enforced with any consistency. Management has no option but to deny irregularities are common, and no authoritative body exists to which recourse is available.
The letter to Julia Payson of B.C.’s John Howard Society was also sent to Carmen Cheung, Senior Counsel, at the B.C. Civil Liberties Association which is the other party to this lawsuit.
The British Columbia action has been filed with the B.C. Supreme Court. A few days later, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in partnership with the Elizabeth Fry Societies petitioned the Ontario Superior Court, challenging the constitutionality of isolation.
The letter to Jason Tamming is one of those delightful tasks that make life worthwhile
January 27, 2015
Julia Payson, Executive Director B. C.,
John Howard Society of B. C.,
763 Kingsway,
Vancouver, BC V5V 3C2
Re: Rights groups sue Ottawa over solitary confinement
Globe and Mail, Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Dear Ms. Payson:
Sunny Dhillon and Patrick White’s Globe article begins with, “two rights groups have sued the federal government over the use of solitary confinement in prisons, arguing Canada remains committed to a broken and dangerous system that increases inmates’ suffering even as jurisdictions around the world scale back its use.”
The Toronto Star editorial on Monday, January 26 calls your lawsuit “welcome news”, and opines that, “it’s not as if Canada doesn’t know better.”
Thank you, and the B. C. Civil Liberties Association, for taking an action you wouldn’t have to if our public servants weren’t so hell bent on being on the wrong side of right.
Yours truly,
Charles H. Klassen
cc turnoverarocktoday.com
January 27, 2015
Jason Tamming, Press Secretary to Steven Blaney,
Ministry of Public Safety,
Ste. 306, Justice Building,
House of Commons,
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Re: Rights groups sue Ottawa over solitary confinement.
Globe and Mail, Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Mr. Tamming:
You’ve got to be kidding! The Canadian government is “taking action to keep our streets and communities safe.” “[Correctional Service Canada] uses all of its tools to make sure the corrections system actually corrects criminal behaviour, including the use of segregation.” Now really, only the uninformed would believe you, and only the mean-spirited would want to believe you.
As the Toronto Star’s editorial on Monday, January 26, pointed out when it called this lawsuit “welcome news”, “it’s not as if Canada doesn’t know better.”
The minister for whom you work and the government he represents are so hell bent on being on the wrong side of right, they make no effort to hide their position as anything more than pandering to a particular voter base.
Yours truly,
Charles H. Klassen
cc turnoverarocktoday.com
Ontario’s Provincial Jails – A Comment
January 26, 2015
The Honourable Yasir Naqvi,
Minister of Community Safety & Correctional Services,
18th Floor,
George Drew Building,
25 Grosvenor Street,
Toronto, ON M7A 1Y6
Minister Naqvi:
I’ve been following the Toronto Star’s Amy Dempsey’s work over the last number of weeks on the use of segregation in Ontario’s jails, and in particular at the new Toronto South Detention Centre. The one persistent question I would have in your position as this sorry tale unfolds is, how is it possible that this could be allowed to happen? But then, I’m able to see from your ministry’s response to the media that comments such as the health of inmates and staff is a “top priority”, or that inmates continue to receive the medical care they require in population or in segregation, is only fodder for public consumption.
If you were genuinely concerned about jail operations, you might imitate television’s “Undercover Boss”. I doubt though you’d find one person in your professional circle who would recommend this course. You’d have to be a very courageous politician to take that step.
The federal prison system is one of my specialty areas of activism and advocacy, but I was persuaded to look at Ontario’s provincial jails over a number of months in 2008 and 2009. What I found led me to write a series of questions “To Ontario’s Provincial Jail Superintendents”, a copy of which I’ve attached.
I suspect not a whole lot has changed over the years.
Yours truly,
Charles H. Klassen
cc turnoverarocktoday.com
The Attachment
July, 2009
TO ONTARIO’S PROVINCIAL JAIL SUPERINTENDENTS
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE BEEN BEATEN BY GUARDS IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE BEEN INTENTIONALLY PUT IN SITUATIONS WHERE THEY WILL BE BEATEN BY OTHER INMATES IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE BEEN VERBALLY OR PHYSICALLY HARASSED WITH REMARKS BY STAFF, SUCH AS, “FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING INMATES”, “I HATE INMATES”, “WHO DO I OWE A BEATING TO TODAY”, OR BACKHANDED/SLAPPED BY STAFF, IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO IMPLIED OR OVERT RACIAL SLURS, OR SINGLED OUT FOR HARSH TREATMENT BECAUSE OF RACE, IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE BEEN DENIED A SHOWER AND A HOT MEAL ON COURT DAYS IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED OF CLOTHING AND/OR FOOD AND/OR BEDDING AND/OR HYGIENE PRODUCTS, OR PLACED IN SEGREGATION FOR NO SPECIFIED OR VERIFIABLE REASON, IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE BEEN THE THIRD OR FOURTH OCCUPANT IN A CELL IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE HAD THEIR CANTEEN ORDERS DESTROYED BY STAFF IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE BEEN DENIED THE USE OF A TELEPHONE, PREVENTED FROM CONTACTING THEIR LAWYERS, OR THE ONTARIO OMBUDSMAN, IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED OF PAPER AND/OR PENCILS TO PREVENT THE FILING OF INSTITUTIONAL FORMS SUCH AS AN “INMATE STATEMENT FORM” IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE BEEN DENIED PRESCRIBED MEDICATIONS OR MEDICAL ATTENTION OR TOLD THAT MEDICATION IS A PRIVILEGE AND NOT A RIGHT IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INFRACTIONS OF POLICY, PROCEDURE AND THE LAW HAVE JAIL CHAPLAINS WITNESSED IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK, BUT CAN’T DO THEIR WORK UNLESS THEY KEEP THEIR EYES, THEIR EARS, AND THEIR MOUTHS SHUT?
HAVE JEWS, CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS EACH HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO WORSHIP IN COMMUNITY IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY INMATES HAVE RECEIVED “PACKAGES” THROUGH THE COLLABORATION OF JAIL STAFF IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MANY STAFF MEMBERS ARE NOT WEARING A CORRECTIONAL SERVICE ISSUED IDENTIFICATION TAG WHILE ON DUTY, OR WEARING A CORRECTIONAL SERVICE ISSUED IDENTIFICATION TAG IMPROPERLY, IN YOUR INSTITUTION THIS WEEK?
HOW MAY LOCKDOWNS HAVE OCCURRED IN YOUR INSTITUTION IN THE LAST MONTH BECAUSE OF STAFF SHORTAGES OR EXTENDED STAFF BREAKS, AND HOW MANY VISIT DAYS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED BECAUSE OF STAFF SHORTAGES, PARTICULARLY ON WEEKENDS?
WHY AREN’T RECORDS KEPT OF LOCKDOWNS AND CANCELLED VISITS IN YOUR INSTITUTIONS?
Gotta minute? (2)
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth. Albert Einstein
Gotta minute?
Of about 24 million registered electors in the country for the last federal election on May 2 in 2011, just under 15 million turned out to vote (61.4%), and slightly less than 40% of those, or about 5.9 million persons, voted for the present government in Ottawa. That equates to about 25% of registered electors! In other words, our government was elected with the votes of one in four….the other three either didn’t vote or cast a ballot against the government.
To paraphrase Winston Churchill from his speech to the Canadian Parliament on December 30 in 1941, that’s some majority! Some mandate!
Update – The First
Brennan Guigue was given a status report in a January 6th teleconference with his Montreal lawyer with respect to requests made of Correctional Service Canada’s Access to Information and Privacy Division, as specified in the November 2, 2014 posting in this file.
A November 28 letter from CSC’s Access Division to the lawyer indicated the approximate time to research the materials requested would be five hours, and an estimated cost for the service was quoted. A 50% minimum payment was due in advance. That has been made and a confirmation has been received by the lawyer.
Once the research is initiated, the lawyer’s experience with the process tells him several people will be assigned to look at one file at a time, moving on until the work is completed. There are additional costs per page for photocopies over a specified number, although it seems there is no charge for copies of video information.
The lawyer believes this could take as little as one month which complies with provisions of the Act, although delays should be expected.
This exchange between the lawyer and CSC’s Access Division should in no way suggest that Correctional Service Canada is cooperating fully and openly to provide what details are necessary to prove the case against them. Let’s just say this is the top of the first inning, and CSC now knows Brennan Guigue is serious in his intention to pursue this action.
The balance of the conversation between Brennan and his lawyer dealt with accumulating costs and a summary of expenses to date.
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