Inmate Dies In Custody - April 27/09

Inmate dies in custody
LondonTopic.ca
The death of an inmate at the Elgin Middlesex Detention centre is under investigation by the London police Major Crime Section, police said Monday (April 27).The man, identified as Randy Drysdale, 46, of London, was transported to the London courthouse at 80 Dundas St., April 16 when authorities realized "he was in medical distress," police said, adding he was then taken to hospital for treatment.Drysdale died as a result of his injuries Saturday (April 25). An autopsy conducted Sunday (April 26) showed Drysdale had suffered head injuries "which contributed to his death," however, police said the investigation is ongoing as the cause of his death is unknown at this time.Anyone with information is asked to call the London Police Service Major Crime Section at (519)661-5670 or contact Crime stoppers online (see link) or call 1-800-222-TIPS

The Chatham Daily News - April 14/09

Delays affect court process
By Erica Bajer The Daily News
Long waits at a London detention centre are causing some delays at the Chatham-Kent Courthouse. “It’s ridiculous,” local defence lawyer David Jacklin said of recent prisoner delivery backups from the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre. “The problem is you have people in custody, usually females, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. court and not arriving until after 1 p.m.,” he said. “The whole court system comes to a halt while we wait for these people to arrive.” Jacklin said he’s heard that the delays are a result of job action at the detention centre. Rick Kennett, vice-president of the Ontario Public Service Employees' Union (OPSEU) Local 108 that represents guards at the London jail, denied suggestions last week's delays were an intentional display by OPSEU members unhappy with recent changes to overtime compensation. Kennett said overcrowding at the London jail, a building designed for 300 inmates, caused the delays. The overcrowding means five inmates often share a cell designed for three, he said. Though the courts expect inmates to arrive promptly, Kennett said it takes a significant amount of time and "a lot of manpower" to get the prisoners to the courthouse, causing the backlog. "Our process is safety first," he said. "As far as I can tell, everyone who was scheduled to go to court went to court. Whether they went there early or late, they got there." Frequent remands also crowd the facility, Kennett said. "If the lawyers keep remanding the inmates into custody, the jail gets more and more crowded, and everything takes that much longer. "The reality is it takes time and we do what we can." Sgt. George Vieira, head of security at the local courthouse, said his officers started noticing the delays on April 2. He said delays of two-and-a-half hours picking up and dropping off prisoners have been fairly consistent since then. He noted local police don’t attend the EMDC daily but do transport prisoners a few times a week. Vieira is documenting when the delays occur and said local judiciary and Crown attorneys are aware of the situation. “We’ve made every effort, when we know we are going to be late, to contact our partners at the courthouse,” he said. “We have no control over it, it’s a corrections issue, not a police issue.” The sergeant said the issue results in overtime costs when there are long waits when prisoners are returned to the facility. Jacklin said clients have expressed frustration with the waits. “It causes a great deal of anxiety for the accused people because they don’t know why they are being held up,” he said. Defence lawyer Gudrun Mueller-Wilm said waits at the detention centre have only impacted one of her clients so far. She’s concerned about the issue, hoping it is resolved quickly. Mueller-Wilm said a local justice of the peace announced last week that delays should be expected because of job action involving EMDC. Ontario's Attorney General Chris Bentley, who represents London West, said he's aware of the issues locally and has passed them on to Correctional Services Minister Rick Bartolucci. "I'm concerned about any delays in the courts and hope that any issues between parties get resolved as quickly as possible," Bentley said.

Mr. Bartolucci What About Correctional Staff?

The Family Counselling Centre of Cornwall and United Counties will be benefiting from a $133,486 Victim Safety Project grant, announced local MPP Jim Brownell recently. The grant the Family Counselling Centre of Cornwall and United Counties is receiving will go to the hiring of a local coordinator to work with police, the Family Counselling Centre and probation and parole officers to make victims aware of their offender’s sentence and scheduled release. The coordinator will also provide safety audits of the victims’ homes.The Victim Safety Project (VSP) is a province-wide, joint initiative between the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and the Ministry of the Attorney General. Grants are available to municipal and First Nations police services that are partnering with not-for-profit, community-based victim service agencies. VSP will invest just over $2.8 million on 26 projects to enhance victim services where gaps in victim safety have been identified, including approximately $429,000 for five projects in Eastern Ontario. All projects will be completed by July 31, 2010. Funding for VSP comes from fine surcharges, including traffic violations, imposed under the Provincial Offences Act and Criminal Code of Canada. “These initiatives address the need for victims of crime and domestic abuse to feel secure in their homes and protected in their communities,” said Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Rick Bartolucci. “Bringing perpetrators of crime to justice is an important part of our justice system, but it is equally important to provide support to the victims of crime. (Today’s) announcement will help ensure local victims of crime receive the support they need,” said MPP Jim Brownell.

Mr. Bartolucci what about initiatives supporting correctional staff who are victims of violence including assaults? What about correctional staff who exhibit Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Thomas, Rout Acclaimed As OPSEU Leaders

TORONTO - OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas and 1st Vice-President/Treasurer Patty Rout have been acclaimed into their positions for another two-year term at the 34th Annual OPSEU Convention. It is the first time in OPSEU history that both positions have been acclaimed in the same election year. In his acceptance speech, Thomas said he was honoured and humbled by the support of the members. “This is a great union, and it is the members who make us great,” Thomas said. “I thank you for your confidence.”Thomas, 56, works at the Providence Continuing Care hospital in Kingston. He said the fight for good jobs and working people will continue, and he vowed to defy any moves to weaken the public sector contracts. “If any government wants to kick working people when they’re down, they will have a fight on their hands the likes of which they have never seen before.”Rout, 57, who works at the Lakeridge Hospital in Oshawa, said in an emotional speech that it is a great honour to be acclaimed. She acknowledged the support of her family and supporters, and especially thanked Smokey Thomas for his ongoing support and assistance. “As a union, we come together as one, and that’s where we get our strength,” Rout said. “Our prize is good collective agreements, good pensions and good jobs,” The prize now is to keep our collective agreements and the pensions that low our members to retire in dignity.” OPSEU represents 130,000 members across Ontario, including members working for the provincial government, colleges for applied arts and technologies, hospital professionals and workers at the LCBO.

On behalf of Local 517 congratulations to Warren "Smokey" Thomas and Patty Rout. Thank you for your continued support of our division and our local.

OPSEU 1-800 Line For WDHP Complaints

1- 800 LINE FOR MEMBER ON MEMBER
HARASSMENT & DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINTS
1-800-268-7376 Ext. 8789
STEP ONE
1.Tell the member that the action is unwelcome and to stop.
2.Notify your Local President or Highest Ranking Officer of the incident (if not involved with the incident).
3.Write down name(s) of respondent(s); date, time, place of occurrence and a short synopsis of incident and any actions taken by yourself.
4.If behaviour/actions continue, move to step two.
STEP TWO
1.Call OPSEU’s 1-800 Line. Leave a voice mail containing the following information:
i)Your name,date & time called, work location,local number and a short synopsis of incident(s),including name(s) of respondent(s).
ii)Leave a contact number where you can be reached, including any cell phone numbers.
2.A person from OPSEU’s Head Office will gather the information in the voice mail left and contact your Local President/Highest Ranking Officer (if not involved with the complaint), Regional Representative and the Equity Unit.
3.Someone will be in contact with you within 5 business days to discuss your complaint and resolution.
NOTE: To protect the interests of the Complainant and the Respondent, CONFIDENTIALITY will be maintained throughout the process, subject to the requirements of a fair investigation and resolution process, or as otherwise required by law.

Health And Safety-Workplace Violence April 21/09

Ministry initiative to stem workplace violence a step in the right direction
OPSEU has welcomed the announcement by the Minister of Labour that amendments will be made to the Occupational Health and Safety Act to help protect employees from workplace violence and harassment. “After years of lobbying and all-out campaigning by OPSEU and other unions, the changes announced by Minister of Labour Peter Fonseca are like a gust of fresh wind blowing through the workplaces of Ontario,” said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas.
“We warmly welcome the government’s initiative on this critical health and safety issue and we can only hope that the changes will be locked into place with the required resources and enforcement muscle.” The proposed legislation to the OHSA would, if passed:
-Require employers to develop a framework that would include policies and programs to help prevent workplace violence and harassment
-Require employers to take reasonable precautions to protect an employee from domestic violence in the workplace
-Allow workers to remove themselves from harmful situations if they have reason to believe that they are at risk of imminent danger due to workplace violence
In his announcement, Fonseca also promised the government would appoint two Healthy Work Environment Champions whose task it will be to “build a culture of workplace safety in health care settings across the province.”Thomas said it is clear the government could no longer hold back on the changes in the face of years of campaigning by OPSEU and other unions, as well as the strong recommendations from the 2007 coroner’s jury following the tragic workplace murder of nurse Lori Dupont. “When I read the announcement it is clear the Ministry has been paying close attention to many of the arguments we have been raising over and over again for years. We are particularly pleased that the definition of workplace violence has been expanded to include harassment, as well as the spread of domestic violence into workplaces – issues that we have been fighting in support of for years.” Thomas also paid tribute to NDP leader Andrea Horwath whose private member’s Bill – tabled in 2007 – mirrors the Ministry’s proposed legislation. In October 2008, OPSEU, in response to a call for consultation by the Ministry, released a position paper on workplace violence. In it, OPSEU put forward several recommendations which appear to be addressed by today’s announcement.

Message From MERC Member Dan Sidswoth

I have not written anything for fourteen days, that being on April 04, 2009. In that entry I gave my opinion of what I saw developing and where I thought we should be going. I wrote:
“From the information I have, each local is setting up General Membership meetings. I believe these meetings can be used to empower all of us as a united group to discussed strategies for change. I prefer to see us move forward united and with strength. We should turn this situation into a positive one. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down. ~ Mary Pickford
“If we choose to rescind our notification of withdrawing from the CWW agreement at this time we should all do it as one collective. We have shown our resolve. We have forced the employer back to the table to negotiate. We have shown we will fight hard for our CWW agreement. We wanted an action for CTO and are still on high alert. We have a lot more fight left in us.We can use this as an opportunity to move forward. We can all hold our heads up knowing how difficult this is and that we need to remain united”
Since that time the employer has met with OPSEU and after what sounds like posturing on both sides, the employer decided to walk away from the meeting with no desire to discuss and resolve the CTO issue. CTO is a negotiated benefit and this dispute will need a negotiated settlement.We have not achieved our gaol of impacting the employer on how important this issue is to us collectively. Waiting for something to happen at the GSB will take too long. We must show the employer that we continue to have the resolve to influence a positive outcome for both sides.I do understand the employer’s need to save money during this economic time. The various layers of bureaucracy have all been given their mandate to cut costs. We understand.The number of Correctional Officers has remained stagnate for decades, with our workplaces falling into disrepair. When the too few facilities were built by the Ministry they cut corners to save costs on design, security and the number of Correctional Officers. (Maybe that’s why the pods are not square?) During this same time the numbers of police officers, judges, and crown attorneys have all increased, which resulted in an increased number of remanded inmates in the system. The irony being additional beds were never added to the system despite the new buildings.The added workload has never been addressed with additional resources or modified procedures, so that we may continue work in healthy and safe workplaces. As we know there are many problems within Corrections. As Smokey has stated:“We remain willing and ready to work with the employer to solve these problems. In the meantime, our members are refusing to take any more chances with their jobs…and their lives. I will always support my members who are following the rules – even if the system breaks down because of it." There is a reason Corrections in Ontario is one of the few provinces that hasn’t had a major disturbance in the last five years. The members have gone above and beyond the call of duty on a daily basis. In the past we have taken the short cuts, strived to make things work when we know if we did things by the book, the resulting impact would have negative outcomes. Whether that be getting inmates out to court on time, working in over crowded ranges without proper staffing levels, or getting the bare essential duties completed just to be able to placate the inmate population.This coming week OPSEU will be having its annual convention. This opportunity for the Corrections Division to Caucus together again is very timely and does not happen very often. The employer knows we will be taking full advantage of this. We will be organized, we will move forward together, and we will remain determined to resolve this issue.Like the trains that run past the windows at my post like clock work, the time now has come that we can no longer ensure that the “trains run on time” in Corrections. Knowing that the sacrifices we make are at our expense. The time has past where we can turn a blind eye to all the short cuts we take on a daily basis. Our job is to make sure that we all get home to our families safely. It is the employer’s job to make sure all the resources are available for the system to operate and run on time.Smokey hit the nail right on the head…without the memberships buy-in, the system will break down.Stay safe,
In Solidarity, Dan Sidsworth