COVID-19 cases at Toronto South Detention Centre doubled in a week

TORONTO -- The number of COVID-19 cases at a large Etobicoke jail dealing with an outbreak has more than doubled in a week.

The Ministry of the Solicitor General confirmed Friday that there are now 54 inmates at the Toronto South Detention Centre who have been diagnosed with the disease, up from the 25 cases reported last Thursday.

“Those inmates are under droplet precautions and isolated from the rest of the inmate population while they receive appropriate medical care,” a spokesperson for the ministry said in a statement.

“The ministry is working with Toronto Public Health to support contact tracing. Voluntary testing of staff, as well as inmates within the same units, are underway.”

The ministry did not provide the number of cases among jail staff.

Meanwhile, there are five cases at the Toronto East Detention Centre. Two other provincial correctional facilities have COVID-19 cases, including Central North Correctional Centre with three and Maplehurst Correctional Complex with one.

A woman who did not want to be identified told CP24 she is concerned about the safety of her boyfriend, who has been held at the detention centre since September, waiting for a bail hearing.

She said her boyfriend's cellmate and five other inmates "on his range" have tested positive for COVID-19.

"He's been not getting the proper medical attention. He has asthma. He has severe respiratory issues where he's constantly asking the guards for his puffer and things like that, and he's not getting it in a timely manner," she said.

The woman said she believes the virus got into the jail through the guards.

Her boyfriend told her that guards rarely wore masks and when they do, they pull it down when they yell at the inmates.

"And that was kind of one of my main concerns. Are the correctional officers following the proper social distancing rules? Are they doing the proper protocols and things like that? Are they following what they should be following?"

After contacting numerous officials several times, the woman said she finally got a reply from the Ministry of the Solicitor General on Friday.

The ministry told her that they are following proper COVID-19 protocols and the well-being of those in their care and custody is of their highest concern.

"They also told me that the inmates in provincial custody have access to medical care as required," she said. "They also told me inmates are provided with cleaning supplies and directions on the proper cleaning protocols as well as appropriate."

When she pressed officials about why her boyfriend has still not been moved to a different cell, a representative from the detention centre sent a statement, saying they continue to monitor the isolation situation in the units.

"(The statement) didn't answer any questions because they're still not telling me why someone is confined in a cell with someone else that's tested positive," she said.

The ministry said it made operational changes across all provincial correctional facilities in the past few months.

These include testing all newly admitted inmates with their consent and housing them in a separate area from the general population for 14 days, and providing masks to inmates and personal protective equipment to staff.

Staff and visitors are always required to wear masks and get their temperature taken. The ministry said there is also increased cleaning at facilities.

Kevin Yarde, the NDP critic for Community Safety and Correctional Services, has written a letter to Solicitor General Sylvia Jones, calling for transparency and further action from the Ontario government to address the outbreaks in provincial correctional facilities.

"We wrote to you in April 2020, raising concerns regarding potential COVID-19 outbreaks in correctional facilities," Yarde wrote in his letter. "At the time, we requested your ministry act immediately to ensure a plan was in place to minimize risk to these populations.

"We also warned that unless more was done to halt the spread of COVID-19 in correctional facilities, we would be met by certain disaster. Well, certain disaster has struck."

Yarde said he received reports that the number of cases at Toronto South Detention Centre may be higher.

"We are alarmed at these developments, which were clearly avoidable. We are further concerned by the manner in which your Ministry is allegedly dealing with the outbreak –including placing inmates who are COVID-positive in solitary confinement, as opposed to proper medical isolation, and failure to provide PPE to inmates," he wrote in the letter.

On Thursday, Correctional Service of Canada revealed an outbreak at a prison in Kingston has resulted in more than 80 inmates testing positive for COVID-19.