Sarnia Jail’s employee union comes out swinging against planned closure, ‘reprehensible’ actions of Ministry

It's been almost a year since the Ontario government announced its intentions to close the Sarnia Jail and consolidate operations in the new Windsor Jail, which at present is scheduled to be opened in 2014.

Soon after the announcement was made last year, two local committees were formed to address the situation and both with a common goal of saving the jail and the jobs that would be affected as a result of the planned closure. "Save the Jail" was the first of the two committees to come about and was a direct response to the matter from the community. OPSEU Local 128, which represents employees at the Sarnia Jail, formed the second group that’s committed to saving the institution and employment in the community.

At a press conference held Wednesday (Jan. 18), OPSEU Local 128 president Dave Esser said the committee "has done an excellent job" of presenting information to the government.

Esser also said he believes  the Minister, Madeleine Meilleur, is looking at the data being presented to her [in good faith] and, as such, is actively assessing and reassessing the real costs of closing the Sarnia Jail.

At the same time, Esser said his union doesn't think officials are serious about a possible change in posture.

"Their current actions have, in our opinion, accelerated the closure of the Sarnia Jail," said a statement by the workers' union.

The union also said it  believes the Ministry is “intentionally manipulating conditions” at the Sarnia Jail in order to convince the ministry that the jail should be shuttered.

Staunch opponents to the pending jail closure have said government assertions that the jail is old, underutilized and expensive to run are simply not true. According to Esser, both committees have separately and collectively provided information that demonstrates the jail was not underutilized and was not expensive to run. The numbers cited in their analysis go back a decade.

The union contends that as recently as September 2011, shortly after the decision to close the jail was made public, significant changes in the operation of the Sarnia Jail were made. Union officials say the changes have negatively affected overall labour costs, facility operating expenses, overall operation and financial status of the facility.

Esser said he believes current inmate populations are artificially low, with Sarnia Jail management and the Ministry no longer actively participating in population transfers from other institutions. The result, he said, creates  an under-populated jail in Sarnia while other jails remain overcrowded. "This leads to an artificially high cost-per-inmate metric which is well above the Jail's historical average.

The union says at least one key job, a maintenance position, has not been replaced, with the work now going to outside contractors who may be "over qualified" for the work being done (one example cited being a qualified electrician called in to change a light bulb).

The building owner, Ontario Realty Corp., has issued a statement saying that the new HVAC system being installed inside the jail will not be hooked up to the jail. The union contends that this means when the boilers are replaced in the summer the Sarnia Jail will have no heating system, rendering the building useless for any purpose.

Along with these operating changes OPSEU Local 128 officials say the Ministry is retaliating against members for their actions in trying to keep the jail open.

Officials allege that since September of last year a series of investigations has led to six employees being suspended with pay. Several of them were said to have not been informed for months, or not at all, as to the reason for the suspensions. Esser said there are currently some 4,800 hours of suspension with pay, number that will continue to grow.

Union officials say they have filed a complaint with the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario, Lynn Morrison, concerning this matter. The union has also asked the Ombudsman, André Marin, to investigate.

"When we look at the actions of management over the last number of months we can only come to the conclusion that the Ministry of Corrections is actively trying to shut the Sarnia Jail down as soon as possible, even rendering the building itself useless for any purpose in order to do so," Esser said.

Esser said the union and local members want to see the jail remain open, a new maintenance person hired, have the HVAC system hooked up to the jail, and want, what they perceive as, the vindictive, costly actions of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to stop.

"We want our people back to work."

—Joe Burd, joe@lambtonshield.com