Brockville Prison closed on Tuesday due to a COVID-19 outbreak, with all inmates transferred to another prison in Lindsay, Ont., According to a note from the prison superintendent sent Monday afternoon.

The closure of the small prison – it has a capacity of about 44 inmates – comes as cases increase in prisons across Ontario, including the Niagara Detention Center, Maplehurst Correctional Center, Quinte and the Southwest Detention Center. It is the second prison to close due to an epidemic in recent months. the Sudbury Prison closed in mid-October and reopened a month later.

At least seven epidemics have been declared since November after a lull over the summer – following a pattern similar to the second wave last year and reflecting the increase in the number of cases in surrounding communities. In September and October, the ministry reported a total of four outbreaks.

It is not known how many cases of inmates and staff have been identified in Brockville. According to the latest data released by the Ministry of the Solicitor General, there were two cases on Sunday. All inmates have been transferred to the Central East Correctional Center, and new admissions will be redirected to the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Center, according to the memo seen by The Star.

“We should be very worried. As if there could not only be court closures and other delays, but these are real people in horrible Dickensian conditions, ”said Ottawa defense lawyer Michael Spratt. “We should not only be worried about the consequences for the justice system, but also about treating people humanely.

COVID protocols since the start of the pandemic have meant that inmates face frequent blockages where they cannot leave their cells and are unable to shower or make phone calls for days as conditions become even harsher during epidemics.

The prison population has also returned to near pre-pandemic levels after an initial surge at the start of the pandemic to reduce the number of people in custody.

Spratt says the sense of urgency has long dissipated in the justice system.

“In fact, we are increasing the prison population instead of decreasing it. It’s a perfect storm right now that could get worse, ”he said.

Inmates at some prisons, including Maplehurst and the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Center, are triple bunk – where three people are confined in a cell designed for two, one person sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Meanwhile, new prison admissions are placed together in a quarantine zone, which inmates say puts them at risk of contracting the virus.

“It’s a disaster waiting to happen,” said Justin Piché, a University of Ottawa professor and inmate rights advocate who called on the province to reduce the prison population throughout the pandemic. “The province, along with its municipal and federal counterparts, must treat this as an emergency and increase community resources for those criminalized such as housing, income and employment support, health and mental health care and other necessities to improve public health and community safety at this critical time.

In an email, a ministry spokesperson did not clarify whether inmates would receive booster shots as per general provincial eligibility or sooner. “The ministry has its own supply of COVID-19 vaccines and makes the vaccine available to all eligible inmates on an ongoing basis,” the spokesperson said.

As of Friday, there were 31 inmate cases at the Niagara Detention Center. Niagara Public Health said the cases had tested negative for the Omicron variant and were presumed to be the Delta variant. About 70 percent of the cases were in unvaccinated people, according to the public health unit.

Positive inmates from the prison are being transferred to the South Toronto Detention Center, where they will be isolated from other inmates in the prison, according to the ministry.

According to the latest ministry data, there were 21 positive inmate cases at the South West Windsor Detention Center. According to the Windsor-Essex Public Health Unit, there are 23 cases and no variants of concern have been detected in the outbreak which was first reported in late November.

An epidemic was declared at the Quinte Detention Center in Napanee on December 3. According to the local public health unit, there are seven cases. As of Sunday, there were eight cases of detainees, according to the ministry. The public health unit also declared an epidemic at a halfway house, with 14 cases reported.

Cases appear to be declining at Maplehurst Correctional Center in Milton, where Halton Public Health issued a Section 22 order on Nov. 30 prohibiting unvaccinated staff from entering jail during the outbreak of the outbreak – a decision that prompted the local’s pushback after the ministry announced that unvaccinated staff will not be paid while the ordinance is in effect. Under current Ontario public service rules, prison staff must be vaccinated or regularly tested to work – a policy that has not changed amid increasing epidemics.

As of December 12, there were 16 cases of active inmates at the prison, up from 51. There have so far been 87 cases linked to the outbreak, according to the Halton Public Health Unit’s scorecard.

On December 2, Toronto Public Health placed the Toronto East Detention Center in an outbreak after a staff member living in Durham Region tested positive for the Omicron variant. No detainee cases have been reported. Four inmates were sent for further testing and the results came back negative for COVID-19. The outbreak was declared over by Toronto Public Health on December 10.

Last month, the Algoma Treatment and Remand Center faced an outbreak with at least 13 inmate cases and nine staff cases. This outbreak was declared closed on December 3.

There were at least 10,000 prison and prison-related cases in Canada during the pandemic. Six people have died from COVID in federal prisons and one in Ontario, authorities say.