Toronto South Detention Centre (132 Horner Ave, MCSCS, 8s, Zeidler)

[Thernan]

Hi Everyone,

a heads up that this is happening Oct4-6.

The Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services is pleased to invite members of the public to visit the Toronto South Detention Centre.

This is a unique opportunity to see the province’s state-of-the-art facility before inmates are admitted later this year.

Construction of the TSDC supports the Ontario government's commitment to safe, strong communities with an efficient and effective correctional infrastructure plan that ensures that individuals in our custody are held in safe, secure, and humane conditions.

We will be offering an overview and tour of the building.

We look forward to introducing you to this efficient and secure facility.



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Dates
Friday, October 4, 2013
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Sunday, October 6, 2013

Time
Members of the public may tour the facility from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. The tour is approximately 30 minutes long.

Address
169 Horner Avenue, Toronto

Please enter through the main entrance.



Parking
Limited public parking is available in the area.

Please note
• The tour may not be suitable for young children. Parents/guardians may wish to exercise caution as there are some areas that deal with sensitive matters.

• No cellular phones, cameras, or backpacks will be allowed in the facility.

• No photography will be permitted.

• All persons entering the facility will be subject to a security screening.

 

[junctionist]

See it now if you're interested. There will never be a tour after they start putting people inside, except perhaps to scare kids.

 

[interchange42]

Depends upon how long a visit you want I suppose.

42

 

[Thernan]

I'll be there assisting with the tours. It is the first modularly constructed and LEEDS Silver correctional facility in the province. It's worth the visit, trust me.

 

[Thernan]

Just a friendly reminder that the public tours will be happening this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It will be unlike any other building you've ever toured as part of a doors open style event.

 

[nopacnone]

8s is a high rise?

 

[interchange42]

It's all relative, and this area is relatively low-rise otherwise… but why are you asking that anyway?

42

 

[plink]

Just a friendly reminder that the public tours will be happening this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It will be unlike any other building you've ever toured as part of a doors open style event.

Just a quick note to say thank you for posting this. I attended with a group of friends today; it was a very interesting tour and provoked some contemplation about how we deal with offenders. Well worth the visit (as a visitor, I mean!).

 

[interchange42]

From the Islington Avenue bridge over the Willowbrook Yards:

42

 

[anonymous0024]

Not sure where else to put this, but seems that the South Detention Centre has been plagued by some pretty severe issues:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/staff-calls-out-toronto-south-detention-centre-for-crisis-in-inmate-health-care/article26763123/

 

[AlbertC]

Why Toronto South Detention Centre is known as Guantanamo South, a $1-billion Hellhole, and the Plea Factory

By Rosie DiManno Star Columnist
Fri., Dec. 13, 2019

Rosie DiManno: Why Toronto South Detention Centre is known as Guantanamo South, a $1-billion Hellhole, and the Plea Factory

Prisoners are having their custodial sentences cut due to time given as credit in recognition of the jail’s intolerable conditions, writes Rosie DiManno.

www.thestar.com

 

[jje1000]

TBH, seems to be more an issue with staffing, though the architecture certainly doesn’t help with retention. I wonder if the design flaws mentioned can be fixed?

 

[Northern Light]

Why Toronto South Detention Centre is known as Guantanamo South, a $1-billion Hellhole, and the Plea Factory

By Rosie DiManno Star Columnist
Fri., Dec. 13, 2019

Rosie DiManno: Why Toronto South Detention Centre is known as Guantanamo South, a $1-billion Hellhole, and the Plea Factory

Prisoners are having their custodial sentences cut due to time given as credit in recognition of the jail’s intolerable conditions, writes Rosie DiManno.

www.thestar.com

TBH, seems to be more an issue with staffing than a fatal flaw in the design, though the architecture certainly doesn’t help.

Yes, but...............

I would contend our system of 'remand' or pre-trial detention of people not convicted of a crime is, aside from being a profound abuse of rights/curtailment of freedom, a huge waste of money.

It's simply too expensive to do it properly. Canada's incarceration rate continues to be among the highest in the OECD, we have rates higher than France and Italy, not merely the Scandinavian countries.

Notably, this is not driven by post-conviction sentences. A whopping 38% of all prisoners in Canada have not yet been sentenced for a crime.

That's nuts!

We need to ditch the idea of custody by default with a requirement that you or a surety have money to put up (bail).

We need to replace it with, we hold you in custody if there is substantial evidence you are an on-going threat the community; to witnesses/victims; or demonstrable flight risk.

The onus needs to be on the crown to establish this; and the default needs to be an ROR release. (no bail, you're free to go with a summons to appear).

If we did this, we could drop from 72nd of 226 countries in pre-sentence incarceration to lets say the median even, around 113 that would eliminate fully 10% of our prison population, and almost 1/3 of those in 'remand'.

It would make it much easier and more affordable to have secure and just living conditions.

Worth saying, if we dropped our rate to Japan's (they have fewer than 11% of their prisoners pending sentence); we could eliminate 70% of those in provincial jails.

Imagine if we took 1/3 of the savings and put it to better prison conditions, 1/3 to rehab programs, and banked the remaining 1/3?

List of countries by incarceration rate - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Based on this from Statscan, I expect those 1/3 numbers could be over 100M each, easily.

Table 6 Operating expenditures of the adult correctional system, by jurisdiction, 2015/2016

Description

www150.statcan.gc.ca