An Oshawa judge has ruled that seven inmates being tried on drug conspiracy charges will have to be given more food during the day while they're in court.
The decision came after defence lawyers argued their clients have a hard time staying alert during proceedings because of a slimmed down prisoner menu that Durham Regional Police implemented this past summer.
Detainees usually get a full breakfast at around 5 a.m. and then dinner at 7 p.m. Inmates used to get a sandwich and a pop halfway during the day but now all they get is a granola bar and a juice box.
"It's pretty bad when you have to starve and go to court," one prisoner told CTV Toronto as he was being hauled away.
The prisoners are held in a provincial jail and have their cases tried in provincial court but security is handled by Durham police. Durham police are expected to feed the inmates but recently, their food budget has dropped from $3 to $1 per person.
Defence lawyers say prisoners need to concentrate on their case when they go to court but that becomes hard to do when their stomachs are growling.
Lawyers have taken to asking for court delays until their clients are properly fed.
"You can't order either one of the parties to provide food but you can halt the proceedings until food is provided," said defence lawyer Daniel Brown.
Durham police officials say the prisoners' budget was cutting into their operation.
"Bear in mind, (the) $90,000 we spent on lunches last year, that's one policeman on the street," Supt. Michael Ennis told CTV Toronto in September.
Durham police argue the lunch tab should be the responsibility of the corrections ministry, not them.
Officials say the seven inmates who were granted a larger lunch menu have been segregated because of fears the decision would cause riots by other prisoners who were not granted the same consideration.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Austin Delaney
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1 comments:
It is truly disheartening to read the general public's comments with respect to stories about the violations of the rights of the incarcerated. I find that most people are rather quick to offer their cold and uninformed opinions of the same old "can't do the time, don't do the crime," or "maybe he should have thought about how little food you get in jail before he decided to deal drugs etc."
I think that such people need to first "learn" a little more about the criminal justice system before they grace us with their comments. I would have used the word "remember" instead of "learn" but obviously the latter has to be accomplished first.
The first thing that people should know is that, like the "Durham granola bar thing," most prisoners who are the subject of such comments are in custody in detention centers and are awaiting trial or some other resolution in their case. In other words, they have not been tried and found guilty of the crimes they are charged with.
You can't just see a person in the news in handcuffs and read about all the serious crimes he's been charged with and assume he is guilty. Furthermore, even if the individual is guilty of a criminal offence, does that somehow rationalize not feeding him enough food so that, at the very least, he doesn't faint during his preliminary inquiry? Absolutely not, that would be absurd.
In Toronto alone, our detention centers are alarmingly over-crowded, to the degree, that 3 grown men commonly have to live with each other in a cell smaller than most people's bathroom.
Toronto's East and West Detention Centers are routinely locked-down for 3,4 and even 5 days without access to a phone, shower or fresh air, all of which every inmate is afforded the right to have access to every 48 or 72 hours. The real show-stopper is that every single last one of them are awaiting trial or resolution and have not been found guilty.
Take it from me, no matter how trivial or serious the criminal charges, when you are in jail, you are always, in some way, fighting for your life to get out.
Those who have either forgotten or not yet learned that the presumption of innocence until proven guilty is a fundamental right of every human being, have no excuse for embracing such ignorance, regardless of their environment or up-bringing.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the single most powerful and important constitutional document ever to be written in the history of our Country.
So, yes, it is important to punish criminals, but it is never, ever necessary to ignore their rights under the Charter.
D.Noronha
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