Over 100 staff at Milton jail ‘unjustly’ placed on leave despite adhering to COVID measures

Over 100 staff members at Maplehurst Correctional Centre in Milton have been “unjustly” placed on leave stemming from an order issued by Halton Public Health as a result of an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak at the jail, sources tell CityNews.

Sources indicate this has impacted as many as 70 to 100 correctional workers and several sergeants.

Correctional staff in Ontario are not required to be vaccinated. On Aug. 17, the provincial government announced that it would be making COVID-19 vaccination policies mandatory for specific high-risk settings — these include hospitals, schools and post-secondary institutions but not jails or correctional facilities.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) says staff are being wrongly treated and losing timely work despite complying with orders. Ryan Graham — a Correctional Officer and current Union Co-Chair of the Provincial joint Occupational Health & Safety Committee at Maplehurst — tells CityNews this latest development is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to COVID-19 related shortcomings.

RELATED: ‘Disgusting and criminal,’ Union responds after staff at Milton jail forced off job

The public health order issued through Halton Region ultimately forced their hand, leading to staff being pushed out of work. Employees at Maplehurst were given the option to complete a form proving full vaccination or submit to rapid antigen testing every 48 hours.

“This is not a matter of vaccinated versus unvaccinated workers. This is a matter of a demographic of workers that are in compliance with a ministry directive being disciplined unjustly,” Graham said.

He cites insufficient rapid testing as a pressing and urgent issue. The Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) authorized a “safe workplace directive” that took place on Oct. 1. The directive, Graham says, designed to protect workplaces from COVID-19, gives multiple choices to staff. These include attesting to being fully vaccinated, having written proof of a medical exemption, and completing an education session approved by Ontario Public Service (OPS).

NEW: sources tell ⁦@CityNewsTO⁩ that Correctional staff who are NOT vaccinated at Maplehurst correctional centre will be walked off the job today & placed on unpaid leave, following several outbreaks at the jail. #onpoli #covid19 pic.twitter.com/hcvGXWlp7P

— Cristina Howorun (@CityCristinaH) December 2, 2021

Under this order, employees who elect not to provide proof of full vaccination status or are not fully immunized are considered unvaccinated. Graham says as of Nov. 1, unvaccinated staff are asked to complete regular rapid antigen testing every 48 hours and provide proof of the negative test result before entering the physical workplace.

Union Local 234 says correctional workers were informed on Nov. 30 the province would not be providing paid leave to unvaccinated staff forced to miss work for contracting COVID-19 or if there was an active outbreak.

“Having staff removed from the building, without pay, for following the directive is an egregious abuse of management rights by the Ministry of the Solicitor General,” Graham told CityNews.

“All of the staff that have been sent home without pay have chosen the employer’s option of completing testing every 48 hours, as opposed to attesting to being vaccinated. The ministry gave them this option and is now disciplining the workers financially for complying.”

Graham asserts Health Canada, supported by documents obtained by CityNews, advised against using the current rapid antigen test — a BD Veritor System for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 — saying it does not extend to asymptomatic testing.

“When performing asymptomatic serial testing, the instructions for use should be followed, and the BD Plus Analyzer should be used to interpret the results,” the document states.

Graham says a negative test result is valid for only 48 hours. After the time has passed, the employee must retake the test before entering the physical workplace again.

“We came across this document that was given [to us] from the company, and it is from Health Canada, that says the manner in which the tests are conducted is not suitable,” Graham says.

“This is a direct violation of Health Canada and may be another contributing factor to the rise in institutional COVID-19 cases and directly jeopardizing the safety of the workers and inmate populations.”

Andrew Morrison, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General, says the province continues to comply with the Section 22 public health order related to a COVID-19 outbreak at Maplehurst, affirming that all unvaccinated staff will not be permitted onsite as of Dec. 1.

“Employees who are unvaccinated or who refuse to disclose their vaccination status were instructed by management to go home. Employees not on shift who are unvaccinated or who refuse to disclose their vaccination status will be advised not to come into work,” Morrison said in an email to CityNews.

“Because the public health order does not permit them to attend work, all unvaccinated employees, including those who refuse to disclose their vaccination status, will be placed on unpaid leave pending the resolution of the outbreak and/or the local public health unit’s orders.”

Morrison says newly admitted inmates are screened and tested (with their consent) for COVID-19. Regardless of vaccination status, these inmates are housed separately from the general population for 14 days and tested again on day 10 (with consent).

“Any inmate that tests positive for COVID-19 is placed on droplet and contact precautions and isolated from the rest of the inmate population while they receive appropriate medical care,” Morrison says. “The ministry works with local public health units to complete contact tracing and to determine isolation and testing requirements for high-risk close contacts.”

He says that since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry has delivered “important operational changes across all provincial correctional facilities.” These include screening and testing all newly admitted inmates with their consent and housing newly admitted inmates in a separate area from the general population for 14 days, among others.

Halton Public Health ‘concerned’ for staff, inmates at Maplehurst

In a statement to CityNews verifying the Section 22 order, a spokesperson for Halton Region says public health officials are growing increasingly concerned with the situation at Maplehurst in Milton.

The outbreak was confirmed a month ago, on Nov. 4, with Halton Public Health advising the jail on how best to manage COVID-19. The Section 22 order was issued with the “outbreak expanding… worsening and the need for more immediate actions to be taken to safeguard the health of everyone at the facility.”

“Halton Region Public Health is concerned about the health and welfare of both staff and inmates at this facility, as well as the potential of this outbreak to cause a surge of cases in our community and beyond,” said spokesperson Elizabeth Kosturik.

“As part of the outbreak management, Halton Region Public Health has asked that all unvaccinated staff do not enter the facility for the duration of the outbreak.”

In September, Morrison said inmates “have access to vaccines at all provincial correctional facilities” but defended the decision not to mandate vaccines in these settings.

“Ministry health care staff [are to] administer first and second vaccine doses to any eligible and consenting inmates,” said Morrison. “The ministry has been working with local public health and community partners to promote the vaccine and address hesitancy in the inmate population. Provincial correctional facilities will continue to manage inmates according to their pandemic response plans regardless of individual vaccine profiles of newly admitted inmates.”

Maplehurst Correction Complex entrance is seen in an undated file photo. CITYNEWS TORONTO

According to the Government of Canada, “offenders and employees must consent to receive the vaccine.” Officials add that employees “are encouraged to take the first vaccine that is offered to them.” The Canadian government says that in April and May 2021, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) offered the vaccine to employees who work in institutions and Community Correctional Centres (CCCs) who had not yet had a chance to be vaccinated by their province.

At the end of the month, Maplehurst deputy superintendent David Whalen testified in an Ontario court that only 37 per cent of inmates at the jail in Milton wanted to get vaccinated. It followed well-documented and separate COVID-19 outbreaks — the first reported on Jan. 23 that saw 28 positive cases at Maplehurst. The second, on Feb. 4, saw 16 inmates and 64 staff test positive, with cases rising by 15 to 30 daily.

The evolving situation led to the Ministry of Labour issuing nine orders citing unsafe work conditions against the provincial government concerning COVID-19 protocols. The orders, obtained by CityNews back in February, came after several field visits by Ministry of Labour inspectors to Maplehurst Correctional Centre and included several troubling findings, such as screenings not always being appropriately performed for staff entering the facility and social distancing measures not enforced for staff in the lunchroom. Additionally, staff were not adequately instructed on using PPE in isolation areas of the jail.

According to a government database, by Feb. 16, there were 186 cases recorded at Maplehurst, but only prisoners were counted. The provincial government then decided that the facility would not take any new inmates until the outbreak was deemed under control.

Opened in 1974, Maplehurst is a correctional facility for adult males over 18 sentenced to less than two years incarceration and for those remanded in custody pending an appearance in court.

Last week, Toronto Public Health reported an outbreak at another jail — the provincially-run Toronto East Detention Centre — following a confirmed case of the Omicron variant.

With files from CityNews reporters Michelle Morton and Cristina Howorun