Correctional officers some who refused to return to work at the Toronto South Detention Centre due to the assaults and danger.
The Toronto South Detention Centre is leading the pack for assaults in South Etobicoke, records show.
There were five assaults at the maximum security facility, on Horner Avenue, in one week alone from November 23 to 29, police records show.
There were 30 assaults in total across the South Etobicoke area during that time.
There were also 30 auto thefts during that same period, 12 break and entries, 18 theft from motor vehicles, two sexual violations and one shooting in South Etobicoke, police records show.
Behind this fence and walls on Horner Avenue holds some of the most dangerous criminals in Canada, including sex offender Peter Nygard.
Officers are routinely called to handle complaints at the sprawling detention centre, which is a provincial institution for those serving two years less a day, in addition to those awaiting court proceedings.
Things are so rough in there, that it is dubbed as Guantanamo South, the $1-billion Hellhole, and the Plea Factory, because so many inmates plead guilty just to get out of the place.
Segregation. Isolation. Overcrowding. No showers. No fresh air. No family visits. No lawyer meetings. Seething anger that can be taken out on anybody, according to the Toronto Star’s Rosie DiManno.
The Toronto South Detention Centre is dubbed Guantanamo South or The Plea Factory by prisoners who want to get out.
Prisoners are having their custodial sentences cut due to time given as credit in recognition of the jail’s intolerable conditions, writes DiManno.
In March 2019, about 200 employees refused to work at the Centre after an incident in which correctional officers were allegedly assaulted by several inmates.
Warren (Smokey) Thomas, president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents staff at the jail, said the job action, mainly by officers, stems from an alleged “attack.”
Union officials said that a group of inmates staged what looked like a fight inside a cell that led to a showdown.
When officers went to investigate, the inmates turned on them. Two officers were punched in the head and had garbage cans thrown at them. They suffered concussion-like symptoms and facial scratches, the officials said.
The Detention Centre is a maximum-security facility that houses about 2,000 dangerous inmates.
He said the officers retreated but were chased to their work station, where they called for help. Assistance did arrive but not from the Toronto police. The two officers went to hospital and went home the next day.
Police have charged with aggravated assault guards and inmates at different times at the Centre, which holds some of the worst criminals in Canada, who until recently included sexual predator fashion designer Peter Nygard.
The facility consists of a maximum-security building that can house up to 1,650 remanded accused awaiting trial, and a medium-security building, the Toronto Intermittent Centre, that can house up to 320 inmates serving weekend or other intermittent sentences.
It is built on the site of the former Mimico Correctional Centre, which closed in 2011 and whose origins dated back to 1887. The Centre officially opened on January 2014, replacing the Toronto Jail, the Toronto West Detention Centre, and the demolished Mimico Correctional Centre.