Ontario jail staff exempt from contraband scanning as inmate overdose deaths rise: report

Acute drug toxicity is the major contributing factor in the deaths of Ontario inmates in recent years, yet provincial correctional employees are exempt from regular security scannings for contraband – a policy researchers said they were 'shocked' to discover while crafting a January coroner's report.

The findings are outlined in the January report entitled 'An Obligation to Prevent,' authored by a team of researchers made up of academics, healthcare professionals, correctional staff, government officials, and people with lived experience in custody.

“No person should gain access to any secure area of these facilities that hasn't been properly screened for contraband," Norm Taylor, panel moderator and lead writer for the report, told CTV News Toronto Wednesday. "Unless [the government] adopts that decision, you're putting people in harm's way.”

Not only does an absence of the most stringent screening measures put inmates in direct harm, but places staff at “great risk for extortion and duress," the panel wrote.

READ MORE: Inmates in Ontario jails are dying at a 'dramatically' increasing rate, coroner's report shows

While the province says it has made “considerable progress” to combat contraband, including the implementation of randomized staff screenings and ion detection tools, the report found that drugs continue to make their way into facilities across the province “at an alarming rate.”

“We know it's an imperfect world,” Taylor said. “There's always going to be ways that people circumvent security procedures, but in our view, the situation is critical enough, [the government] should be putting in as rigorous a policy as possible to ensure that no unprescribed medications are getting to people in custody.”

The special care medical inmate facility is shown during a media tour of the Toronto South Detention Centre in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013. The facility is slated to open this fall. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

SEARCHES ON RANDOMIZED BASIS: MINISTRY

Correctional staff who choose to smuggle in contraband likely represent a small fraction of Ontario correctional officers and are by no means the only route for illicit drugs to enter prisons — they can be brought in by individuals entering custody, visitors and visting professionals such as lawyers, and drones, among other avenues, the report states. 

Nonetheless, as the “most frequent” in-bound line, screening “must surely be expanded to all staff to the extent possible,” the panel suggested in January.

However, three months after the report's release and subsequent recommendations, searches are still being implemented on a randomized basis in Ontario jails, the Ministry of the Solicitor General, which oversees Ontario’s carceral operations, told CTV News Toronto.

When asked this week if staff screening measures have been expanded as per the report’s request, the ministry said “processes [are] in place to randomly select staff to search when entering the secure part of the correctional institution.” The ministry did not provide a direct response when asked if it had plans to expand screenings to staff.

“The Ministry continues to do everything possible to prevent deaths in custody,” spokesperson Greg Flood said in a statement. “A great deal of work has been underway to address many of the issues outlined in [the coroner’s report].”

As part of its Contraband Strategy and Action Plan, introduced in 2021, the ministry said it has implemented ion scanners – meant to detect trace elements of drugs – and contraband cell phone detectors, alongside existing measures such as body scanners, hand-held and walk-through metal detectors, searches, and canine units, to security protocols. It didn't specify how often these measures are implemented, to whom, or whether they were mandatory for all.

The authors of the report said they question the effectiveness of these tools and the levels of willingness among staff to implement them.

The panel said they noted “astonishing levels of non-compliance” among staff, and “were left to wonder [...] if perhaps too many of the policies cited are out of step with operational realities.”

When contacted by CTV News Toronto, the Ontario Public Service Employee Union said it was unable to comment on search operations, "as that particular policy is currently before the Grievance Settlement Board."

Spokesperson Janet Laverty said the coroner's report echoes what the correctional bargaining unit has been saying "for years," that there is a crisis in corrections.

"The report identifies that policies are out of step with operational realities; that contraband continues to enter our institutions with the inmates on admit/return from court, despite the additional contraband detection strategies already in place; and that there are significant gaps in training for frontline staff, particularly around mental health and addiction issues," Laverty said.

"Preventing deaths in custody cannot be accomplished by focusing on one recommendation, but rather, it requires the Ministry to action all of the recommendations made by the review panel.

The Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont., Friday, April 17, 2020. A coroner's inquest into the drug-related deaths of five inmates at the eastern Ontario jail has begun today. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

PANEL, FAMILY RECOMMENDATIONS

People who enter custody surrender almost all autonomy and, in doing so, they and their families must be able to expect that those who assume that control will protect them from harm, the report states.

Families like those of Angela Vos, a Tiny Township resident who lost her 26-year-old while in custody in 2020.

“I believed they could help my son,” Vos told CTV News Toronto Thursday. Vos said Jordan struggled with addiction for months before entering the system in 2020, which she hoped might provide him with the structure and oversight to withdraw.

Instead, Jordan died of a fatal overdose within days of incarceration at a Lindsay, Ont. jail.

Angela Vos can be seen above, holding photos of her son, Jordan. (Twitter)

"I was, I am devastated," Vos said. "I had literally been screaming for help for him."

In the three years since Jordan’s death, Vos has continued to advocate for inmate safety and wellness. She’s currently seeking more than $1 million in damages from the province and two unnamed doctors and is still awaiting an official inquest into the circumstances of her son's death.

"[People in jail] are not safe – I had that delusion too – but they are exposed to just as much in there as they are on the streets,' she said.

Alongside the expansion of security measures, the coroner’s office issued a number of recommendations to the Ontario correctional facilities in its report. Recommendations relating to reducing the number of overdose-related deaths include, but are not limited to:

• The creation of an Intersectoral Custody Advisory Committee which will, among a litany of other duties, review contraband insights, staff compliance, safety improvements, harm reduction practices, and CO competency models;
• A comprehensive report on best practices to implement in and ongoing evaluation methods for eliminating the trafficking of contraband in all facilities;
• The dependence upon reliable forms of contraband screening for access to secure areas, with the inclusion of corrections staff in all scanning and inspection procedures;
• The development and implementation of improved intelligence and surveillance methods, including wider deployment of canine units, for the recognition and interdiction of contraband;
• A revision of quality standards for correctional health care services; and
• The integration of care with programs funded and delivered by other institutions with expertise, such as the Ministry of Health or Ontario Health

Every recommendation made as a result of an inquest into an inmate's death “must be implemented,” Vos said, adding that, until that’s the case, she will continue to raise her voice for one of Canada’s “most marginalized groups.”

“[The families of those who lose their lives in custody] suffer years of mental torture to make these recommendations,” Vos said.

“The least they do is take them.”