# Two Ontario Corrections Blogs



## Bruce Monkhouse (15 Jan 2009)

As some of you know Ontario Corrections is heading for a strike mandate vote. Here are two blogs that detail the Guard's side as the Govt. has their propaganda machine on full blast. [including using the Auditor General]

 Metro West Detention Centre

 Don Jail


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## Bruce Monkhouse (24 Jan 2009)

Letter To Dalton McGuinty - January 23/09 

I am writing to you as one of your 5500 plus Correctional Service employees represented by the Correctional Bargaining Unit within OPSEU. Among us are Correctional Officers, Youth Workers, Probation Officers, Probation and Parole Officers, Rehabilitation Officers, Recreation Officers, Bailiffs, Industrial Officers and Electronic Surveillance Officers. Our Adult Facilities typically maintain custody of more than 8,000 offenders while youth facilities hold nearly 900 youthful offenders. Adult Probation and Parole Officers supervise between 56,000 and 60,000 Offenders in the Community while Youth Probation Officers supervise around 8,000 young persons. 

We are a dedicated group of professional staff in the Institutions and Community Corrections Offices who provide a quality continuum of service to the offenders of Ontario while maintaining Public Safety for the citizens of this province. The general public simply does not understand the environments that we work within. We supervise or detain criminal offenders who are often physically and verbally aggressive or violent. We are frequently the targets of threats and intimidation from these offenders or even the criminal gangs that some are associated with. The stress and demands of the work takes a heavy toll on workers in the Correctional Services. It is often difficult to gain understanding and respect from the public or our employer for the unique and challenging work that we do in the Public Service. Particularly in our institutions where we are seeing the culmination of all the systemic problems creating sick-workplaces.

 In a Ministry that has decommissioned so many institutions we see overcrowding as a serious problem at most institutions. The changing nature of the offenders and the problems with remand populations exacerbate the dangerous working conditions that already exist. Offender assaults on staff have become common place and post traumatic stress among staff is at an all time high. In such a workplace environment that is consistently fraught with, anger, misery, hostility and despair is it any wonder that illness would be a symptom of all the systemic factors that exist? Volumes of contemporary occupational health research reflects that correctional officers suffer much greater incidence of illness and post traumatic stress disorder than almost any other profession. How can you not see that this problem is far more than simply abuse and in fact a complex set of issues. A different sick plan may create some savings, however it will do nothing to address the real factors that are poisoning these workplaces. It would be disheartening to think that the health and safety of your employees meant less than tight-fisted budget balancing. In the community we have different but equally serious issues. 

Community Corrections staff are mandated with protecting the public, rehabilitating the offender and ensuring that their sentence is served. We are integral parts of the entire process an offender passes through from pre-trial to post sentencing. We work with offenders who are on probation, parole, conditional sentences or other community based correctional programs. Our clients are individuals who run the gamut of being in trouble with the law. It can include the most serious sexual offenders, violent offenders, domestic assaults, mentally ill offenders, drug dealers and organized or criminal gang members. It can also be less serious offenders who need social adjustment or guidance and education. In the community we also work with the victims of crime, the families of offenders, the courts, social and health agencies, the police and an array of other professionals in the correctional system. PPOs and POs are highly trained professionals who strive to serve the public in both the adult and youth justice systems. With excessive workloads, we navigate a mountain of legislation, polices, procedures duties and responsibilities and try to utilize all the possible resources available to prevent an offender from returning to crime. Community Corrections workers meet with our clients in our offices and sometimes in their homes. Some of these visits occur in rural areas with the nearest police agency a great distance away. Any day there is potential for violent episodes. Officers deal with disturbing events, threats to persons, intimidation, and even assaults. They are responsible for dealing with the perpetrators and victims of violent crime, sometimes heinous and repulsive acts. Often the emotional strain of dealing with these situations daily is transferred to the PPO or PO . Stress and burnout have become chronic ailments for our staff. Community Corrections staff work under a magnifying glass where media, the public and sometimes our own employer are quick to blame when one of our offenders becomes infamous while under our supervision. Yet we are rarely credited for the good work that occurs. It is time that the Probation Officers and Probation and Parole Officers receive the support respect and consideration that they should have as vital partners in the criminal justice system. 

As politicians push to hire more police, or build more prisons, there also needs to be resources dedicated to hiring, training and assisting those women and men who deal with the aftermath of crime and punishment. These changes are not just for the workers in the sector—though that should be justification in itself— but for the victims, the offenders and their families and for the protection of our communities. Our Deputy Minister Jay hope recently sent a memo to our Corrections Division that spoke about a concept of TRC. He explained it as copied below: “I believe that Transparency, Respect and Consistency (TRC) are key to sustaining organizational change and managing the tensions: Transparency-communicating what’s going on and why, Respect-correctional service workers recognized as equal partners with others in the justice sector, and Consistency-all Correctional Services Division (CSD) employees feeling that they work for one, unified organization.”These words are indeed honorable and inspiring if they were matched with consistent action at all levels of our government. What I am getting at is that although I trust Mr. Hope is sincere, Mr. McKerlie and your bargaining team at the Corrections table is presenting an offer that diametrically opposed to any of the concepts that he has expressed. Your bargaining team is knowingly presenting an offer that is so vastly unsuitable to either the institutional or community corrections staff that they are thereby provoking a strike that is completely unnecessary.

 How can our Ministry or MGS reach a tentative agreement with OPPA that gives a 27.59% wage increase over 3 years and then offer the Corrections Division so much less, particularly the PPOs and POs who are offered even less than everyone else in the Ontario Public Service? How does that make us feel like equal partners in the justice sector? How is that respectful? Trying to force Correctional Officers and Youth Workers to accept a privatized and inferior sick plan is tantamount to contravening the Ontario Human Rights Code. By discriminating against this small group of individuals based on their illness or disabilities (and hence sick time usage) your bargaining team is in violation of the OPS WDHP policies and the Ontario Human Rights Code. Discrimination and harassment should not be any more acceptable because it is disguised as “bargaining”. I urge you intervene in the misguided process that your bargaining team has engaged in and have them return to the table in good faith and bargain a contract that truly respects all of the staff in your Corrections Division. Instead of approaching this in a way that perpetuates the unjustly negative stereotype of public service workers, present this as multi-faceted occupational health challenge that both the government and the Union will earnestly take on in an interest based fashion. We can fix this problem if we work together. Your Corrections Division employees are dedicated professionals that are committed to delivering public safety. However we will reject this offer because it it is simply disrespectful. Please acknowledge our professionalism and commitment and bargain with us fairly. Let us continue to do our work and to keep our communities safe.
Sincerely Gord Longhi, Corrections MERC P&P Rep


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