Zip ties, cold air, strip searches: Ont. jail officials probe alleged assault on inmates by guards

Ontario correctional officials are investigating a reported assault — by specially trained officers in riot gear — on dozens of inmates at a provincial jail last December, the ministry of the solicitor general has confirmed to CBC News.

Video of the incident at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, west of Toronto, was to be played in court for the first time on Wednesday, but the hearing was postponed at the last minute.

A judge who viewed the video in private said inmates were "herded" with their hands zip-tied. One of the men caught up in the alleged assault described being strip-searched and left to wear just boxers in the "freezing cold" institution for 20 hours.

On Dec. 22, officers "busted in the door of my cell with a loud bang," the inmate, Jason Mercuri, said in a sworn affidavit reviewed by CBC. "I had no idea what was happening and hit the ground fearing for my life."

The incident followed an alleged attack on a correctional officer by an inmate two days prior.

The Toronto Star, which first reported the incident, cited other prisoners as saying they had been beaten and pepper-sprayed.

Ontario ministry investigating

A spokesperson for Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner said the ministry's Correctional Services Oversight and Investigations Branch is carrying out a "comprehensive internal investigation."

"Ontario expects all public safety personnel to act with the highest level of professionalism, and the vast majority do," the solicitor general's press secretary, Hunter Kell, said in an email.

He declined to say whether any jail staff had been suspended following the December incident.

Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday he wasn't aware of the episode.

In Hamilton, Ont., Justice Anthony F. Leitch said at a June sentencing hearing he had reviewed affidavits "from those … at Maplehurst which suggested that this was a step taken to protect order in the institution and it was a necessary step in all the circumstances."

The incident is alleged to have been carried out by officers with the Institutional Crisis Intervention Team (ICIT) wearing riot gear and carrying shields. In a news release in 2019, the provincial government described ICITs as being "responsible for controlling violent or potentially violent inmates as well as removing and escorting these inmates within the institution or transferring them to another institution."

Union defends action of correctional workers

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEFPO), which represents correctional workers at the jail, said in a statement on Friday that the assault on a correctional officer, which happened in December 2023, was "unprovoked" and "severe."

The union defended the actions of the correctional workers, saying: "The assault on the correctional officer took place in an overcrowded, understaffed general population maximum security unit, where inmates charged with the most violent offences and gang-related charges are held on remand. After the assault, a comprehensive threat assessment was completed as per usual practice."

The union said high threat level searchers by the ICIT are rare and require "stringent oversight" from senior managers. Under Ontario regulations, the use of force is authorized in certain circumstances and these include when conducting searches and maintaining order in institution.

Chad Oldfield, Chair of OPSEU/SEFPO's correctional bargaining unit, said in the statement that it was clear after the threat assessment that there was a "serious, credible, and ongoing threat" against correctional workers. A search by the ICIT was ordered and approved by senior managers to be carried out across the unit after the threat assessment, he said.

"ICIT operations are not used as a form of punishment or retribution. They are used to maintain order and safety within the institutions," he said.

Correctional workers are co-operating with the ministry's investigation into the operation, he added. To his knowledge, no correctional workers have been suspended at this time, he said.

'Severe violation of their Charter rights'

Across Ontario, lawyers representing some of the inmates involved are now seeking to have their clients' sentences reduced or the charges stayed. Many of the inmates held at Maplehurst are awaiting trial, meaning they're considered innocent in the eyes of the legal system.

"It's a severe violation of their Charter rights," said Alison Craig, a criminal defence lawyer who represents three clients caught up in the alleged Maplehurst incident.

She and another lawyer who viewed security camera video of the incident both said they signed an agreement with the Crown that prevents them from showing the clip to journalists.

The video "was extremely disturbing to see," Craig said.

John Kaldas, another lawyer whose client alleges he was assaulted in the incident, told Milton Superior Court on Wednesday it amounted to "extrajudicial corporal punishment." He added that, amid it all, cold air had been pumped into the jail's common area.

Justice Clayton J. Conlan said at the brief hearing in Milton that he was familiar with the alleged incident, since it had been raised in multiple criminal cases. Conlan said there's no question "there was an incident with guards in riot gear and prisoners on the floor."

Kaldas told CBC he intends to have the video shown in open court.

Incident sparked by alleged assault on jail guard

Mercuri denied having any involvement with the alleged inmate assault of a correctional officer.

"I did not know or assist this inmate with his assault," Mercuri, who pleaded guilty to gun and drug offences, wrote in his affidavit. "It felt like the guards were punishing us for something that we did not do."

His lawyer, Alexandra Valeri declined to comment.

At his sentencing hearing, Justice Leitch said he'd watched video of the Maplehurst incident.

"There is no doubt that Mr. Mercuri and others were herded into a hallway. Their hands were zip-tied, they were turned against the wall," the judge said.

Leitch said he couldn't be sure how long the situation lasted, "whether it was 20 hours, as [Mercuri] suggested, or something less."

Howard Sapers, who served as the federal correctional investigator from 2004 to 2016, pointed out that Maplehurst has been criticized in the past for overcrowding and poor management.

Provincial data showed Maplehurst was the most overcrowded Ontario jail last year, with an average inmate population of 1,188 but official capacity for 887 — meaning it was operating at 134 per cent capacity in 2023.

"You have a circumstance where [inmates] are very, very on edge … and you have correctional officers who feel nobody understands the danger that they're in," Sapers said. 

Still, he said, "there's absolutely no place in a jail for this kind of use of force and threatening behaviour by staff."