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June 26, 2024

26 June 2024

Mistaken identity

A transgender inmate contacted our Office after she was involved in an altercation with correctional officers.

Topics include:Les sujets incluent:

June 26, 2024

26 June 2024

Privacy protections

We received complaints from a group of 10 inmates, all women, that they were strip searched by correctional officers in their unit, in view of one another.

Topics include:Les sujets incluent:

June 26, 2024

26 June 2024

Report as required

We received complaints from two inmates at the same facility, alleging they had been sexually assaulted.

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October 5, 2023

5 October 2023

Dangerously close

An inmate sought our help because he was housed on the same range with another inmate who was facing charges for stabbing him – and, he told us, was now extorting him for access to the canteen, food and phone calls.

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October 5, 2023

5 October 2023

Issues overlooked

An inmate told us a correctional officer threw him to the ground and started punching and kneeing him – leaving the inmate with swollen arms and a broken hand.

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October 5, 2023

5 October 2023

Added grief

A woman whose common-law spouse had died while they were living in a homeless shelter complained to us that the Chief Coroner’s Office had buried him even though she had requested to claim the body.

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August 10, 2022

10 August 2022

The right to know

After an inmate complained to us that he was pushed to the ground and attacked by several correctional officers, we intervened to verify that a local investigation had been conducted.

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August 10, 2022

10 August 2022

Supplemental care

An inmate with HIV complained that he hadn’t been receiving testosterone and other supplements he required to prevent muscle deterioration.

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August 10, 2022

10 August 2022

Email retrieved

A man contacted us in frustration after his application to have his issue heard by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) was dismissed.

Topics include:Les sujets incluent:

August 10, 2022

10 August 2022

Voting rights – and wrongs

A man who was in jail awaiting sentencing complained to us that correctional officials had told him he could not vote in the September 2021 federal election, even though he was eligible.

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June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Under the gun

We received numerous complaints in 2020-2021 about delays in approvals by Ontario’s Chief Firearms Officer (CFO) for transfers of restricted firearms.

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June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Report duty

An inmate sought our help after he was involved in an altercation with another inmate and then pepper sprayed and assaulted by correctional officers.

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June 28, 2021

28 June 2021

Search terms

Several inmates in the same facility complained to us that they were strip searched in a main hallway, in view of security cameras.

Topics include:Les sujets incluent:

September 28, 2020

28 September 2020

Vote for fairness

A young person in custody contacted us last year to complain that he wasn’t able to vote in the federal election, although he had expressed his interest in voting to the youth facility’s staff members.

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July 6, 2020

6 July 2020

Unreasonable search

A group of Indigenous inmates complained to us that they were strip-searched before attending a smudging ceremony, leaving them feeling violated, discriminated against and targeted because of their Indigenous spirituality.

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July 6, 2020

6 July 2020

Needed support

An inmate who uses a customized wheelchair to support his spine sought our help because he was being repeatedly transferred to a second institution without his chair.

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July 6, 2020

6 July 2020

Misconduct-ed

An inmate complained to us after a sergeant at his facility penalized him by taking away 30 days of earned remission (time off his sentence) for refusing a transfer to another facility.

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June 25, 2019

25 June 2019

Without further delay

A woman who had been pursuing her case at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario for several years sought our help after she learned that the adjudicator assigned to her case was no longer able to continue.

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June 25, 2019

25 June 2019

Re: Vision

An inmate complained to us that staff at his correctional facility had taken his eyeglasses and refused to return them.

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June 25, 2019

25 June 2019

A time to mourn

An inmate sought our help in reaching the appropriate correctional officials after her father passed away and she could not get a response to her request to attend his funeral.

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June 26, 2018

26 June 2018

Lost and found

We referred a man to the right internal complaint mechanism at the Office of the Children’s Lawyer so he could voice concerns about delays in receiving documents and in setting his court date, all of which resulted in added legal costs for him.

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June 26, 2018

26 June 2018

Weekend schedule

A man serving weekend time in jail who required anxiety medication three times a day sought our help because the correctional facility would not give him his medication on Saturday mornings when he arrived, or on Sunday evenings before he left.

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June 26, 2018

26 June 2018

About time

We helped a woman from Manitoba who had struggled for six months to get Legal Aid Ontario to recognize her approval for legal aid in a custody case in Ontario.

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June 26, 2018

26 June 2018

Welcome assist

A woman who broke her collarbone before she was sent to jail complained to us that she had been waiting for eight days for a sling for her arm.

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June 27, 2017

27 June 2017

Motherhood issue

An inmate who was 29 weeks into a high-risk pregnancy contacted us in fear that she would lose her baby due to lack of care. She complained of delays in being referred to prenatal appointments, in being taken to hospital, and in accessing her health record.

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June 27, 2017

27 June 2017

Security risk

An inmate who had been in segregation for nine months – because the facility had concerns about his and others’ safety and security – complained to our office that it was harming his mental health and he needed to see a psychiatrist.

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June 27, 2017

27 June 2017

Sweet relief

An inmate with diabetes who needed to take insulin before his meals complained to our office that correctional staff could only give it to him after meals.

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November 8, 2016

8 November 2016

Justice delayed

An inmate complained that he had sat in jail for days after becoming eligible for parole because a parole hearing had not been scheduled for him.

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November 8, 2016

8 November 2016

Best defence

A senior who was charged with threatening police complained that Legal Aid Ontario told him he was no longer eligible for their services after the Crown decided it would not seek to put him in jail if convicted.

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July 28, 2015

28 July 2015

Pearly rights

A woman whose teeth had been damaged as a result of physical abuse by her partner years earlier contacted the Ombudsman for help in obtaining funds to have them fixed.

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July 28, 2015

28 July 2015

Return to sender, address unknown

A man contacted our Office in frustration when the Ministry repeatedly sent mail to his address for a former tenant. He had returned the envelopes several times with a note stating “this person does not reside at this address,” but the Ministry mail did not stop.

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