Jail guard assaults renew calls for mental health resources

In the wake of an assault on two jail guards, the head of the union local representing officers at the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre says the facility has inadequate mental health resources.

There are no mental health nurses at the Thunder Bay jail, and no access to one, Shawn Bradshaw said.

He also charged that the province hasn't adequately trained officers to deal with mental health issues among inmates.

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"There should be mental health training," he said.

"It's almost non-existent and there's no access to that. We're fighting for the training because we don't want to have another Ashley Smith scenario happening."

Overcrowding compounds the problem, he added.

"Some of them are mental health inmates and they're taking up the bulk of the segregation cells where the really violent offenders should be, but they can't put them there."

The jail has no appropriate housing for them, he continued, and that "some of them shouldn't even be in our facilities, but there's nowhere for them to go," adding that those inmates require additional resources while in detention.

The two officers were assaulted last week while dealing with an inmate who was trying to harm herself, Bradshaw said, adding that management originally denied requests to use a specialized restraint chair, only allowing it after one officer was assaulted.

"The levels of violence that we're seeing in the institutions and the access to tools just don't correlate," he continued.

"We're seeing a spike in violence across the province and they're not allowing the officers the safety equipment that's already approved."

The second officer was assaulted as the inmate was being taken to hospital.

In a written release, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services said it works to ensure it does what it can to address concerns as they are raised.

According to spokesperson, Brent Ross, the ministry won't comment on specific incidents, but he said the province is "actively recruiting," a mental health nurse for the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre.  The province is also designing an expanded training regimen for officers about dealing with mental health challenges.

That's expected to roll-out later this year, Ross added.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union released a report last year calling for reform in Ontario's prison system, while detailing the needs for increased staffing, fixing crumbling infrastructure, and providing more rehabilitation programs for inmates.