Cornwall Ontario – It’s amazing the games that politicians play with the lives of citizens. After the Julie Bilotta case which has resulted in a $1.3 million dollar lawsuit on her behalf via Super Lawyer Lawrence Greenspon, yet another incident has occurred at the much maligned facility.
Clearly not enough was changed in the culture of the facility after Ms Bilotta’s breech birth in the facility.
Now a pregnant inmate has suffered a miscarriage in her jail cell after her cries for help were allegedly ignored. She would eventually be transferred to hospital via prison van rather than an ambulance. Her reason to be locked up?
Simple theft.
The province recently released a headline entitled:
Ontario Making Criminal Justice System Faster and Fairer
The Ontario Attorney General’s office, which is at the root of much overcrowding and injustice to prisoners in the province is essentially and simply going to be given more money to hire more lawyers and staff which in this writer’s opinion is not the solution.
A clean up at the AG is.
The government’s plan to reduce time-to-trial and improve the bail system will enhance public safety by speeding up the resolution of criminal cases and making more supports and supervision available to vulnerable, low-risk individuals who come in contact with the law.
Do you really need an inquiry to figure this one out? Should Bilotta, this woman, or countless others be locked up in overcrowded facilities while Crown Attorneys dither away on the public dime?
The plan includes:
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Appointing 13 more judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, as well as adding 32 assistant Crown attorneys, 16 duty counsel, and 26 court staff to ensure faster justice.
Yasir Naqvi, the Attorney General stated:
“Our criminal justice system must work to protect the interests of all people — victims, the public and the accused. Ontario is working with all levels of government, the judiciary and community partners to ensure that cases get to court faster, and that people waiting for their trials are not held in custody if they don’t have to be there. By improving these fundamental parts of our criminal justice system we will make our communities safer.”
Those are fine words from the AG, but do they have any meaning or punch behind them? Will hiring more judges and crown attorneys really address issues such as staff ignoring prisoner complaints? After the Bilotta cases how many OCDC staff were sanctioned or terminated? How many of its management were condemned, removed, or penalized?
A huge part of the problem is the politicizing of the process of hiring judges and dishing out justice. The costly delays, and of course the cost to the economy for the entire circus, which usually results in extreme hardships for those caught in the grasp of the system.
After the Bilotta case there should have been a massive clean up at the OCDC. For another similar event to happen again in the same facility clearly shows that it didn’t occur, which in some ways make this incident worse than Bilotta’s. Clearly people need to be held accountable.
Unlike the Bilotta case, this situation transpired over a 15 day period. In spite of the Elizabeth Fry Society trying to assist why didn’t the OCDC take better care of this woman? Why was she even held?
According to reports the fetal remains don’t even remain, most likely being disposed of by the Centre.
In 2017 do we really need to lock up pregnant offenders for non violent crime? This writer thinks not.
I also think it’s time to hold people responsible for these and other incidents, from the AG’s offices right down to the OCDC facility. After all, if society can’t conduct itself in a professional manner and observe its own laws why should we be locking up others for the same?
What do you think dear CFN viewers? You can post your comments below.
Appointing friends and family to the bench is destined to be a wynne-win for all.
It has all the appearances of a solution to a failing justice system and at the same time rejuvenates the Liberal party’s power base and finances.
When someone is put into detention then they are forgotten by society. A lot has to do with racism as well. The health care is in trouble as well as so many other areas and when there are layoffs everything is affected. The government is in a bankrutcy situation thanks to the feds as well as Winnie the Poo the old Wynne bag and MacGuilty and their flying windmills.
Holy shit.
They had nearly 5 years to fix this and the same happened again a mere four days after the Liberals came out with a presser saying that they problem had been solved.
It’s time for Ottawa-Vanier to back Emilie Taman and it’s time for Yasir Naqvi and Marie-France Lalonde to resign and give their constituents and the people of Ontario real representation.
Where’s Elaine MacDonald and her “feminist” friends?
Too busy slumming around with Kilger, Lauzon, and Clement yet again?
Simple theft? Assaulting a peace officer is also among her charges, so…
Great coverage Jamie! Nothing will ever change until people are seriously held accountable. Their names and punishments should also be made available to the public! This really hit home for me and I wish I could say that I was surprised unfortunately I’m not and as long as there’s no repercussions nothing will change!
I really have no sympathy for criminals. Society uses a justice system to protect itself. Those that offend have made choices and the consequences can be ugly no doubt. The remedy is not to insure their comfort but for society to register its intolerance to crime. Criminality results in a loss of societal rights and so it should. That is the point of the exercise. Consequences not accommodation.
David, words almost fail me. Shall we bring back the lash and hard labour too?
I agree with Mr. Oldham and yes Furtz I do agree with the lashes and whips on today’s society. My heart is full about what is going on today and I wish that I could whip the hell out of many people for what they do. I have no pity on the criminals or anyone who is evil and deserves the worst punishments coming to them.
Holy Jumpin’ Jules… Do you dress up in black latex and chains? I hear there are S&M clubs in Ottawa.
Lol the irony here is unreal! So you’re all for those who break laws be held accountable but it’s also the law in Canada that inmates receive the exact same health care as anyone else so are correctional officers exempt from the law now? You both sound absolutely ridiculous first of all health care is not a privilege therefor it has nothing to do with making inmates comfortable!
Jules petty theft charges do not fall under the “evil” categorie but your comment would fall under absolutely ridiculous you need help!
The UN maintains a view that basic health care should be a human right. Health situations that arise out of choice (self inflicted i.e. ailments as a result of smoking, over eating, lack of exercise etc.) are not automatically included. Criminals lose rights, that is the point, however they are still human beings and as such entitled to basic care.
Something to consider is that over half of the inmates in Ontario prisons have not been convicted of any crime. They are awaiting trial. What ever happened to “innocent until proven guilty”?
Furtz you are funny and don’t tempt me. Julie Bilotta I am talking about murderers and not about people who do theft. There are plenty of murderers in those prisons who have to be sterilized for life. Women like Karla Homolka is pure evil and the stupid Canadian government let her go and she has kids. OMG what an insane law we have here.
The Ottawa Detention Centre is way over crowded and staff cannot keep up with everything going on. It has been for many years that the Detention Centre has been crying out for years about what is going on and I have read some things in Ottawa’s papers but not much is done about the problems. Things will get worse as time goes on.
Jules this woman was no Karla Holmolka and neither was I and I agree she’s pure evil and should be punished as bad as her victims were. Ocdc is not a prison it’s a remand centre and the majority of the population are awaiting trial like I was either way it has nothing to do with the story at hand and if anyone is evil it would be the guards who are responsible and we’re so evil themselves that
That they flushed the remains of her unborn child down the toilet so if anyone needs to be punished it’s them! There is absolutely no excuse anyone can come up with that would justify their actions!
Assaulting a cop is a serious crime and yes if you do theft and attack a cop you are in serious trouble. The law has changed a lot and a lot of times not for the better. Nowadays you are guilty and have to prove your innocence – welcome to 1984 by Eric Blair (real name) and yes things are getting worse and worse as time goes on. This is only a preview of what is coming.