EMDC may be about to get more crowded

Members of the media tour the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre in London, Ont. on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012. (Wayne Jennings / CTV London)

Offenders serving intermittent sentences at the Windsor Jail may now have to report to the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre instead.

A letter from Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Yasir Naqvi sent to Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky, lays out the plan to move the service as the Windsor Jail is being decomissioned following the completion of the South West Detention Centre (SWDC).

Dated Sept. 16, the letter indicates "Intermittent offenders who were reporting to the Windsor Jail will be required to serve their sentences at the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC) until they can be accommodated at the SWDC."

So while all inmates from the Windsor Jail have been transferred to the SWDC, those serving their sentences mainly on weekends, will reportedly now be required to self-report to EMDC.

The letter continues "Plans are also in place to ensure the timely transportation of inmates to and from court."

The news raises concerns after a lockdown and work refusal at the already overcrowded EMDC earlier this month.

The job action was prompted by the dismissal of five correctional officers and one manager in connection with the death of inmate Adam Kargus in October 2013.

Gretzky says "To find out that we're not utilizing the entire (SWDC) facility and that we are taking those low-risk offenders and sending them to another city, to a facility that isn't supposed to house them, is a big concern."

OPSEU Local 108 president Dominic Bragaglia says a new facility to hold intermittent offenders has been promised at EMDC, but it won't be built for months.

"There's supposed to be an intermittent centre being built on site, starting sometime in October of this year, and we're supposedly housing all the intermittents we get from our area and the surrounding area...I mean there's no details whatsoever, as far as I'm concerned, it's an idea."

The ministry won't confirm plans for the facility at EMDC, and while it promised the SWDC 'super jail' could handle all of Windsor's inmates, only part of it has opened, leaving empty beds there and sending more inmates to London.

Statement released by Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services

"The safety and security of correctional staff and inmates is the ministry’s top priority. Over the course of the past spring and summer, the Ministry transferred all inmates from the closing Windsor and Chatham Jails to the Southwest Detention Centre (SWDC).

"The decommissioning process is completed in Chatham and is continuing in Windsor. The new SWDC was recently opened to ensure that both staff and inmates have a safe and secure environment in which to work and live. The SWDC is currently at 80 per cent capacity and has capacity to house female intermittent offenders from the Chatham and Windsor area on weekends.

"The SWDC will also house male intermittent offenders once the facility is fully operational. In the interim, the four-six current male intermittent inmates from Windsor and Chatham area will be housed at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC), which has been operating under capacity. For example, EMDC has on average 430 beds available and has since April 1, 2014 housed an average of 383, including intermittents from the London area.

"Intermittent inmates will be required to report in person to EMDC as they would to any other institution across the province at no cost to the taxpayer. The Ministry does not arrange transport for intermittent inmates. We will continue working with our corrections partners to ensure the safety and security of all staff and inmates."