Warning: This story includes language that may be upsetting to some readers.
THUNDER BAY -- When he heard about the Dec. 7 riot that tore apart the top floor of the Thunder Bay Jail, the head of the union representing its correctional workers left a voicemail for Premier Kathleen Wynne’s chief of staff saying, “you could have had a death on your conscience and you literally did nothing.”
Ontario Public Service Employees Union president Warren (Smokey) Thomas took a tour of the jail on Monday, walking out to Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It playing over the 90-year-old building’s bullhorn speakers.
“I thought I’d seen the worst but when you actually see it first-hand, it is a lot worse than I expected,” he said of the facility’s conditions.
Thomas described inmates living on lockdown for the last week, two to three people per cell. In the area where the riot broke out, ‘unbreakable’ glass was broken and electrical conduits were torn off the walls.
Moreover, he suggested inmates have become able to remove their cell doors.
Thomas called on the province to inject money into correctional facilities immediately, including building a new jail in Thunder Bay.
“You don’t need a six-month study here to determine you need a new jail. They know that. The plans for the jail were already done (in 2002) so there’s no reason you couldn’t tender the contract out, get the shovels in the ground and fix it,” he said.
“The super showed me welding caps on hinges and doing some things to make it safer and escape-proof but it’s still a shithole, frankly – for the inmates and the staff.”
OPSEU will be back at the bargaining table with a conciliator on Friday in the wake of its members voting 67 per cent to reject the province’s collective bargaining agreement on Dec. 10.
Thomas praised management at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, who made national news on Sunday when every manager slated to work called in sick. He said the riot at the Thunder Bay Jail will play a role in province-wide negotiations.
“I’ll be honest with you: I’m trying to parlay it into getting a deal,” he said.
“We want to negotiate a settlement, not a strike. But I don’t think the government should discount the resolve of this division to take that step. They won’t do it lightly and they don’t want to do it but they will do it if they have to because it has come down to the point where you’ve got to do something and it’s got to be something dramatic and it’s got to be something that will teach the government that it should pay attention.”
Ken Dowhaniuk has been a correctional officer at the Thunder Bay Jail for nine years. Between staffing levels and health and safety concerns, he said the attention is desperately needed.
“This is not over and the inmates across the province are not happy. It reflects by what they’re doing. It’s very difficult for everybody who works inside the institutions,” he said.
“Hearing them say things and the way they’re showing interest, it makes me feel like change is coming but we’ve heard that before. Actions are stronger than words.”
