Cecil Facer staff grapple with assault as use of isolation cell reduced, union says
Staff not trained to deal with mental health issues of youth, union president says
Kathleen Scott remembers counting the bricks on the wall of her isolation cell to pass the time.
A teenager at Sudbury's Cecil Facer youth detention centre in the 1980s, Scott said the use of isolation cell, or "the hole," was a go-to solution back then.
She said she was put in the isolation cell for 30 days after starting a food fight that left someone stabbed with a utensil.
"That's a long time for a child's mind," Scott said. "I was just building up more and more anger. And putting me in there just made me madder."
In the last few years, the administration has pushed staff to decrease the use of isolation cells, but that left staff vulnerable to abuse and assault from violent youth, according to the president of the local union.
"The numbers have been reduced with secure isolation, but the opposite side of that is that staff deal with it," said Brian Smith, president of Local 618 and a youth service officer at Cecil Facer.
Mental health challenges
Staff used isolation to ensure the safety of the youth and others in custody, Smith said, but they "hardly use it" now.
"We're hard pressed to have three or four a month. It's just not happening anymore," he said.
Youth need to be in isolation "when they're in crisis and they're imminent threats," Smith said.
When the numbers of isolation went down, instances of verbal and physical assault toward staff went up, Smith said.
Also, staff are not properly trained to deal with the challenges posed by youth with mental health issues, Smith said.
"We have no mental health training. We're at the point where staff are losing hope," he said.
All detention centre staff receive 23 days of training, including a "mental health 101" portion, according to the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services.
The number of assaults toward Cecil Facer staff has also decreased, with only one documented case toward a staff member in 2014, the ministry said in a statement to CBC Sudbury.
High isolation rate
Eighty per cent of youth in custody at Cecil Facer reported being put into isolation, according to a new report from the Ontario's Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth.
While the centre has cut back on isolation times, the report found, the average amount of time a teenager was detained in 2014 is approximately 14 hours. In comparison, the average across all facilities in Ontario is just over eight hours.
Critics say the practice is compounding mental health issues, while the ministry argues that isolation is not used as punishment, but as protection for youth, staff and property.
Youth in custody at Cecil Facer range from 12 to 17 years of age and the facility became male-only in 2010.