COVID-19 is forcing the Ontario government to speed up the court system.
Bill Hayes in the union leader at Thunder Bay’s district jail, and tells us it’s meant to move inmates through quicker, since they are currently moving around provincial jails, such as Thunder Bay to Toronto. “The longer they stay in there, the more risk they have of contracting COVID, and spreading it, whether it’s in the institution, or in the community, once they are released.”
The union leader adds Maplehurst in Milton has a big outbreak, meaning those inmates could also go to Toronto.
He points out there is only so much room at jails as inmates, who are given a sentence, are diagnosed.
“We’d have to decide whether we’re looking at a federal sentence, or a provincial sentence. But once they are sentenced, we usually try to get them out of here ASAP to either a correctional centre or a federal institution,” says Hayes.
The union boss adds if they run out of room provincially, the government will have to come up with a solution.
