Ontario ombudsman says jail staff committing ‘brazen acts of violence’

Some prison guards in Ontario beat convicts, then lie about their injuries, scare them into silence and force their colleagues to do the same, says the province’s ombudsman in a damning report on jailhouse violence.

André Marin’s report includes photos of inmates, their eyes swollen shut, their faces covered in blood, and the stories of the prison guards who tried to get away with the attacks.

“Punching, slapping, kicking, stomping on someone who is under control, under restraints, is inexcusable and morally repugnant,” Marin said at a news conference Tuesday.

“Regardless of why they are incarcerated, inmates are human beings and they deserve respect, dignity and humane treatment.”

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Ombudsman slams OPP and government for lack of action on PTSD among officers

Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin slams the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services for being “reluctant” to acknowledge and take action to support police officers who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, likening the response to a “bureaucratic brush-off.”

In his long-awaited 155-page report called In the Line of Duty, which was released Wednesday, Marin said both the OPP and the ministry have shown little leadership in implementing proactive, preventive programs to help officers.

He makes 34 recommendations, 28 of them directed at the OPP alone, that focus on the need to confront the stigma in the police culture, increase psychological services available to officers and to develop province-wide programs aimed at preventing and dealing with operational stress injuries and suicide.

He calls on the OPP to conduct a comprehensive review of its education, training, peer support, employee assistance and other programming related to these injuries.

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Ontario Ombudsman's Report

Investigation into
The Ministry of Community Safety and
Correctional Services’ conduct
in relation to Ontario Regulation 233/10
under the Public Works Protection Act

“Caught in the Act”
André Marin
Ombudsman of Ontario
December 2010

The Link takes you to the full report. Here is a link to the Ombudsman's website. Tom

G20 report unflattering to Toronto Police Chief

By Adam Radwanski

Amid all of André Marin’s hyperbole, someone else’s words are the most damning thing to be found in the Ontario Ombudsman’s G20 report.

The Toronto Police Service “has made many public mistakes over the last 72 hours,” one Ontario Provincial Police officer wrote to another during the controversial crackdown on protesters during last June's international summit. “The public has largely supported police security operations for G20. What is not supported is the actions by TPS and the inconsistencies of answers they continue to provide….”

The internal e-mail, which explained why the OPP and the RCMP declined to participate in a joint news conference with their municipal counterparts, is the latest indication that the Toronto force went off the rails last summer. And along with other revelations on Tuesday, it stands to put even more heat on embattled Police Chief Bill Blair.

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Ombudsman charges G20 secret law was 'illegal'

A journalist with visible credentials is arrested by riot police as rain pours down at the conclusion of the G20 Summit June 27, 2010 in Toronto.

Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson

It was “illegal” and “likely unconstitutional” for Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government to pass a secret regulation that police used to detain people near Toronto’s G20 summit of world leaders last summer, says Ombudsman Andre Marin.

In a scorching 125-page report entitled Caught in the Act, Marin said the measure “should never have been enacted” and “was almost certainly beyond the authority of the government to enact.”

“Responsible protesters and civil rights groups who took the trouble to educate themselves about their rights had no way of knowing they were walking into a trap – they were literally caught in the Act; the Public Works Protection Act and its pernicious regulatory offspring,” he told reporters.

Marin recommended that the little-known 1939 legislation should be revised or replaced and protocols developed so the public is made better aware when police powers are modified. He has given the government six months to make progress on this front.

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