The province is delivering on its promise to ease tensions at the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre by building a new facility for those serving weekend sentences.
Construction has already started on the 112 bed facility. It is completely separate from EMDC. Those who arrive on Fridays will not enter the detention centre's general population, which means there will be less drugs and other contraband coming into EMDC.
The design of the new intermittent inmate facility is a result of consultation between the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services and the union representing those who work at EMDC, which notoriously overcrowded and understaffed. Those serving weekend sentences were supposed to be housed at Windsor's new "super jail" but certain sections have yet to open and it is not fully staffed.
"We will have three different types of units; two will be dormitories, one will be another smaller special purpose dormitory and another will be a segregation unit. Some individuals, because of their behavior, are not permitted to be within the general population," says Assistant Deputy Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Steve Small. "There will be less movement on Friday nights to make room for the intermittent offenders and there will be less interaction, obviously, between the intermittent inmates and general population. It's a totally separate, self contained unit."
It is expected the new London facility will open within 10 months. The total cost is $8.5-million.
Small says the plan is to hire more correctional officers to work within the different building, but a staffing model has not been finalized.
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