Deplorable’ conditions see sentences lowered at Toronto South Detention Centre: court – CTV News
April 16, 2024
A growing number of judges presiding over Ontario’s criminal cases are condemning “deplorable” jail conditions at the Toronto South Detention Centre (TSDC), where sentences continue to be shortened over inhumane conditions.
In considering a bail decision issued last week, Justice Brock Jones wrote that near-constant lockdowns and confinement are contributing to a “deplorable state of affairs” at the facility, which holds inmates awaiting trial or who have been sentenced to less than two years.
“Those who suffer the greatest are often our most vulnerable citizens – the poor, socially disadvantaged, those with mental health challenges, Indigenous Canadians, and racialized Canadians,” Jones wrote in his decision, which saw a man charged with eight possession charges granted a conditional release on bail.
