Collin Fitzgerald Sparks Thoughts on Treatment For the Mentally Ill in our Court System in Ontario by Jamie Gilcig

submitted photoCORNWALL Ontario – The dramatic bail hearing this morning for former Canadian Forces Sgt. Collin Fitzgerald was an interesting insight into how our court system; justice system, policing, and society are failing those with Mental health issue.

It was wonderful that after we broke the story that some members of the local Legion and the Friends of Vets group attended; but what about those with mental health issues that were not in the military?

The crown this morning tried to gain a publication ban, but the defense attorney argued successfully that CFN had already published and that it was in the public’s interest that some of the information be available.

I won’t go into the sad minutiae of what Collin Fitzgerald’s life has deteriorated into as he sat visibly upset and apprehensive in the witness box this morning wearing a brown Guinness beer hoodie.

While the CBC and other media showed up; again for most with mental illness facing similar situations there are no media present.

And once charged a single time and caught in the maw of the justice system the cycle begins.

Should anyone with mental illness really be in a prison?   While there has been some criticism of the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre are they truly prepared and trained to fully serve those with mental illness?

Brent Ross answered some questions for CFN:

1)   Do you have many soldiers incarcerated at the OCDC?

The Ministry does not track whether inmates have a military background.

2 & 3)  Do you see many cases of PTSD or other mental illness? Are there special challenges of mentally ill inmates?

The ministry takes its responsibility to ensure the safety and security of those in its custody very seriously. We do not track diagnoses of mental illness however, alerts will be placed on an inmate’s file which indicate concerns about an offender’s mental health. These alerts are generally self-reported by the offender but are also identified by other sources (i.e. court, clinical staff, police etc..). The presence of a mental health alert does not indicate a formal diagnosis of mental illness.

Corrections officers are also trained to detect possible signs of mental illness, and how to refer these inmates to health care or other professional staff that can provide the appropriate level of care they may require. In fact, there are ten facilities across Ontario, including the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre, with a mental health nurse and other professionals on site to assist patients and ensure they get the supports they need.  There are also four specialized treatment centres for individuals with mental health needs. The ministry also partners with various social service agencies to provide inmates with needed programs and services while they are in custody, and to assist them to continue to access supports when they are discharged.

4) Are special care and needs given when it comes to medications and issues?  

All inmates have access to healthcare, including mental health services, while incarcerated.  All medical decisions, including those related to mental health or the provision of medication are made by medical staff in consultation with the inmate.  The Ministry does not direct the medical care of any inmate.

5) Does the government need to do more to help facilities and staff at a facility like the OCDC deal with the needs of mentally ill inmates?

The ministry takes its responsibility to ensure those in its custody are treated fairly, respectfully and with the same access to services as those in the community very seriously. The province has invested an additional $50 million since 2004 to expand the continuum of community services like crisis teams, dedicated beds, mental health court workers, case managers and supportive housing.  All inmates also have access to a variety of supports including psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers, regardless of a diagnosis of a specific mental illness, and corrections officers are trained to detect possible signs of mental illness, and how to refer these inmates to health care or other professional staff that can provide the appropriate level of care they may require. In fact, there are ten facilities across Ontario, including the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre, with a mental health nurse and other professionals on site to assist patients and ensure they get the supports they need. There are also four specialized treatment centres for individuals with mental health needs.  The ministry also partners with various social service agencies to provide inmates with needed programs and services while they are in custody, and to assist them to continue to access supports when they are discharged.

The ministry is also working with the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Mental Health to address the recommendations from the Mental Health Strategy for Corrections in Canada report.  For more information on the provincial mental health strategy, we recommend you contact the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care.

6)  What options to inmates or their families have to ensuring that mentally ill loved ones are cared for?   IE many times it’s not so much a criminal issue as a mental health issue.  What options are there for families with concerns about loved ones in your facility who have mental health issues that they feel are not being addressed?

We recognize that treatment and medical care is normally a confidential matter between the patient and the treating physician, we also recognize that the support of families and others advocating for and offering care and support to the mentally ill is something that is critical to positive outcomes and we strive to find balance.  Families who wish to express concerns related to the care of their loved ones may contact the Superintendent of the facility or write directly to the Minister, Deputy Minister or other senior officials in the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.  These concerns will be raised with the medical staff at the facility who will then review the inmate’s treatment to see whether any change in treatment is warranted.  The Ministry does not interfere with or direct the medical decisions of its doctors or healthcare staff.

Brent Ross

Spokesperson

Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services

Listening to the OPP testimony this morning of Collin’s background of incidents with law enforcement it screamed out that this was a person who needed help and treatment and didn’t seem to be getting it.  In today’s world that treatment more and more simply seems to be drugs.   But what happens when a patient doesn’t take their medication properly or impacts his medication by the use of alcohol or other drugs?

From the officer’s notes it sounds like the OPP and police tried to be empathetic to Sgt Fitzgerald; but multiple incidents including Collin calling them eventually landed him in jail repeated times.   Are front line officers really trained enough to handle situations like this or do they need more support and assistance?

Do we simply have an acceptable amount of violence that occasionally explodes like the tragedy in Moncton?   Is there some actuary that has wrangled the numbers?   Or is this penny wise; pound foolish policy where we save some in treatment and then spend tons in the courts cleaning up the messes of lives destroyed simply because those with mental health needs simply do not get the help and support they need.

From his Wiki page:

Medal of Military Valour

Master Corporal Fitzgerald deployed with 5 Platoon, B Company, 1 PPCLI Battle Group in Afghanistan. He is recognized for outstanding selfless and valiant actions carried out on May 24, 2006, during an ongoing enemy ambush involving intense, accurate enemy fire. Master Corporal Fitzgerald repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire by entering and re-entering a burning platoon vehicle and successfully driving it off the roadway, permitting the remaining vehicles trapped in the enemy zone to break free. Master Corporal Fitzgerald’s courageous and completely selfless actions were instrumental to his platoon’s successful egress and undoubtedly contributed to saving the lives of his fellow platoon members.

Clearly Collin Fitzgerald needs help much more than he does imprisonment.    He gave to his country and locking him in a prison really should not be the solution even if he did commit criminal offences while in a state of mental disarray.

This writer isn’t even sure of what the solutions should be for people like Collin; or those who from the military who committed suicide needlessly from PTSD; or simply those with mental illness without support.

They say you can judge a society by how it treats its weakest links.  Today in that court house, watching Collin Fitzgerald endure his bail hearing I’m not sure we proved ourselves noble.

What do you think CFN viewers?  You can post your comments below.

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7 Comments

  1. “Clearly Collin Fitzgerald needs help much more than he does imprisonment. He gave to his country and locking him in a prison really should not be the solution even if he did commit criminal offences while in a state of mental disarray.”

    Exactly right. Collin, I’m so sorry our country is letting you down after your service to us. Hang in there, buddy.

  2. {MODERATED} guards have even gone on record with reports of excessive force and neglect of prisoners rights to medical treatment and proper food.. look up mark grady he was superintendent of the jail a few years back and was dismissed after some of the guards started filing complaints (yeah he was that bad). a lot of the guys that worked there with him tho still do and still carry on the practices he did. the management never really did get much better in fact in recent years it’s still being ranked as one of the worst run jails in Canada. last year in Ottawa a woman was even denied medical help until hours after she’d given birth (with some complications) in a cell alone despite crying for help from staff. in the reference below I’ve excluded anything that was older than 5 years. i’ve excluded rapes of female inmates as they are nearly impossible to prove and i’ve excluded many assault on the basis that they hadn’t been sufficiently proven (with emails, video, ect.)
    there are many articles from reliable source stating Ottawa’s innes road jail is as bad as an Iraqi or Venezuelan jail….

    references in the media and from ombudsman reports.

    grady: been in the news for problems with 3 different jobs (not just as jail guard)

    http://www.ottawasun.com/news/ottawa/2010/07/14/14714641.html

    http://hiiraan.com/news2/2011/oct/former_superintendent_alleges_systemic_discrimination_at_detention_centre.aspx

    http://www2.canada.com/life/former+jail+manager+sues/7299432/story.html?id=7299432

    http://loosepucks.com/index.php/2010/03/02/sapurji-grady-resigns-as-67-s-asst-coach?blog=2

    other guards found guilty:

    http://www.ombudsman.on.ca/Newsroom/Ombudsman-in-the-News/2013/Where-we-found-the-worst-;-Assault-on-brain-damage.aspx

    http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/06/11/ugly-conspiracies-cover-up-guards-brutality-in-ontario-prisons-ombudsman-report/

    http://www.bartamaha.com/somali-inmates-say-guards-beat-them-38304/

    http://www.ottawacommunitynews.com/news-story/3909012-inmates-abused-at-ottawa-innes-jail-report/

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-jail-cell-birth-leads-to-dismissal-suspensions-1.1342997

    http://criticalsocialjustice.com/category/human-rights/

    I completely understand why many will assume it’s obvious inmates may lie for personal gain but there’s a lot of irrefutable proof well beyond witness testimony and bruises. it’s important to note that a judge would of dismissed it right away if it didn’t have solid grounds and that even government agencies are putting these issues in the foreground and admitting that there has been a lot of abuse, assaults and cover-ups going on. if all inmate were murderers or pedophiles I also wouldn’t be complaining but a huge portion of them are doing 14-90 day sentences over very minor offences such as non payment of child support after losing a job, driving on suspended license due to late payment of fines, buying/selling native cigarettes, having spit on an officer during a schizophrenic episode, ect. there not all dangerous criminals who chose to break the law…. our law don’t exactly give em the best accomodations and civil liberties but the laws that are in place do need to be respected…

  3. just learn at the court house yesterday thath there is 4 veterans with ptsd at the same jail are they receiving theirs meds

  4. Since Canada’s involvement in Afghanistan began, billions of dollars have flooded into DND and financial controls were overwhelmed.

    Money was handled loosely and wastefully, and when nobody caught on, contractors and senior staff soon started siphoning money off for themselves and friends… favours, kickbacks, the promise of future jobs in the private sector…

    Now we have a DND rife with corruption, and a serious financial shortfall when we have to deal with the human costs.

    The ethically challenged, the full on crooks, and the top brass that are willfully blind cannot now be expected to do the right thing. There’s just no money in it for them, is there?

  5. Very good article Mr Jamie
    The streets of our cities, including Ottawa, are full of troubled people with no help in sight. Even comedian Norm McDonald pointed out in your interview that it was easier to get a new liver than mental health help.Last week in Ottawa I witnessed at least 15 police ambulance and firemen responding to drunk or drugged out men lying on either side of the Metro store a stones throw from Parliament Hill.
    Even hero Lieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire ,has talked about suicide attempts after his mission in Rwanda. My best friend just returned from that country and says in many areas the killers and victims have taken a page from South Africa and have come to terms with the horror of that Genocide. We owe our brave young Veterans every bit of help we can give them. It seems the governments that sent them to War would be happier if they just disappeared. Finding mental health help for them is going to take a long serious drive by our Government. Stop sending our guys to Ukraine and find some gd doctors to help keep them out of our prison system where everybody agrees no help exists.

  6. I find it absolutely horrific and outrageous that Canadians are allowing for those suffering from mental health issues that commit a criminal offence to be punished by locking them up in a prison! Having personally dealt with a couple of Canada’s correctional facilities, one in particular of which the inmate had been diagnosed a number of years earlier with Bi-Polar disorder, a mental health illness, of which prior to incarceration had been responding quite well to his treatments…unfortunately, once incarcerated the travelling psycologist on contract with this particular prison determined this inmate was not suffering from Bi-Polar and had his meds terminated…end result was the inmate acting out in prison, being locked up in segregation for days on end with reviews being done and being charged numerous times with institutional infractions…this was a frequent event of occurrances during this inmates entire 7 years of incarceration … another inmate endured the exact same type of treatment while incarcerated as well during his period of incarceration. Given that mental health illnesses often result in unacceptable behaviours when not being treated with the proper dosage of prescribed medications often of which is more or less a guessing game to find the correct medication and dosage of which all takes time to find with proper monitoring and observations by the medical professionals those within the Correctional system to this day are still not adequately prepared to deal with and respond to the needs and look at the questionable behaviour and just the inmate acting out which of course is not acceptable in a prison institution and are more often than not punished even more for something that they simply cannot control and in most cases in the throes of a psycotic episode have no real recollection of what they are even doing and yet WE are ALLOWING for them to be punished for being sick??? Ashely Smith is a classic example of the lack of treatment, care, compassion and understanding, treatment and help that currently exists fo those suffering from mental health issues within our correctional systems and THAT is what makes absolutely no sense to me at all, now or ever!!!

  7. The US has the same problem with their vets getting no help at all and it is a shame. I worked on a contract of 3 months at NDMC back in the late 80’s and I did medical terminology with no background and just thrown into that system. I came across many histories of mental illnesses and that was long before Afghanistan and I felt terrible to see these people suffer so much. There are plenty of mentally ill people here in Ottawa living on the streets downtown and elsewhere. Drugs are a very big problem as well here in Ottawa and you would be very surprised. That fellow Delaire was found in the Rideau Canal one time trying to commit suicide after what he saw and did in Rwanda – I remember that story very well. What these people see and do overseas affects them greatly and I don’t know how they do it.

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