Ontario to pay ex-inmates $33M for harms suffered at London jail

The province of Ontario will pay former Elgin-Middlesex Detention Center (EMDC) inmates almost $33 million for what they endured in London’s provincial jail.

Individual payments will range from $1,500 to $35,000, depending on the level of suffering, according to a judgment released Tuesday by Superior Court Justice Duncan Grace.

“The settlement amount is significant. It is likely to result in meaningful – though not terribly substantial – amounts paid” to many former inmates, Grace wrote.

“All of them wish for more. Even at the highest amount, the compensation seems grossly inadequate for what they endured and continued to bear.”

But given how long it would take to hold a trial, with no guarantee of winning and the likelihood of an appeal, a settlement was endorsed by many members of the class action, he said.

“Something now is certain. The possibility of something more later is not,” Grace wrote. “No amount of money will ever fully repair the harm done.”

As lawyers noted, many of the former inmates live with socioeconomic and health problems and some might pass away before the end of trial and appeal, and indeed, some had already, Grace wrote.

Affidavits and informal testimony at a settlement hearing last week revealed what inmates endured at the provincial jail, Grace wrote.

“The stories were deeply troubling, individually and collectively. It is important to say here that I appreciated and was affected by their bravery and apparent candor. Stories of physical and emotional harm abounded,” he wrote.

“Although a few of the class members reported being in a good place in their lives, the scars of remembrance are borne by all. Sadly, a larger number continues to struggle, despite the passage of time.”

The settlement ends a key battle over prisoners’ rights that began with McKenzie Lake lawyer Kevin Egan more than a decade ago.

“This is a positive outcome, especially for those class members who can use a leg up now, as opposed to five or 10 years from now,” Egan said.

“Obviously, we would have liked more for class members, but to obtain that, it would have been decades down the road. As the decision says, sometimes no amount of money is enough.”

In 2011, Egan represented the family of Randy Drysdale, who was killed at EMDC in 2009, at a coroner’s inquest.

After The London Free Press reported on that inquest, the inquest into the 2009 death of Laura Straughan and rising problems at EMDC, Egan began getting phone calls from other inmates and their families.

“People started coming forward. By 2013, I had at least 65 individual claims, some pretty horrific stories,” he said.

Many of those cases became part of a $325-million class-action lawsuit launched in late 2013 by McKenzie Lake over the violence, overcrowding and living conditions at EMDC.

The lawsuit eventually covered inmates who had been at EMDC between Jan. 1, 2010, and Nov. 10, 2021, and it’s estimated 12,000 people may be eligible to make a claim.

Over the last decade, Egan has become a well-known advocate for prisoners’ rights, working with families who have lost loved ones at EMDC and other jails, and pushing the province to make changes.

“This is gratifying. It’s vindicating,” he said of the settlement. “For many years, I felt like I was fighting this alone, a voice in the wilderness saying there’s something going on here.”

Justice Grace took note of the former inmates’ desire for systemic change and better conditions for future inmates.

“Those detained, no matter the reason or length of time, deserve to be treated humanely,” Grace wrote. “That means providing them with adequate shelter, nourishment, medical care, a reasonably safe environment and unless and then only for so long as it is unearned, respect.”

That comment “needs to resonate with the province,” Egan said.

Since 2009, 22 EMDC inmates have died. Inquests, trials and other judicial hearings over those deaths and other matters have revealed the extent of violence, drug smuggling and drug use, and shortfalls in supervision and health care at the jail.

The Ministry of the Solicitor General has added staff and programming, like addiction treatment, to the facility and made other improvements, but violence and other problems continue, former inmates and their families say.

“One of the goals of class action is behavior modification,” Egan said. “One way to modify behavior is to make it more expensive to continue the things you’re doing than to change.”

“It is hoped behavior modification” has been achieved, Grace wrote in her decision.

The settlement provides another roughly $8 million in fees for McKenzie Lake, which are “fair and reasonable” given the 8,600 hours of time and “hard-fought” litigation that took place beforehand, Grace said.

[email protected]

Twitter.com/RandyRatLFPress

EMDC DEATHS

April 2009

Randy Drysdale, 46, homicide, inquest completed

November 2009

Laura Straughan, 25, pneumonia, inquest completed

November 2013

Adam Kargus, 29, homicide, criminal trial completed

September 2014

Keith Patterson, 30, suicide, inquest completed

December 2014

Jamie High, 40, delirium, inquest completed

August 2015

Floyd Deleary, 39, overdose, inquest completed

October 2016

Justin Thompson, 27, overdose, inquest completed

June 2017

Raymond George Major, 52, suicide (suspected drug withdrawal)

July 2017

Mike Fall, 47, unknown (heart condition and overdose), inquest completed

August 2017

Murray James Davis, 24, overdose, inquest completed

Dec. 9, 2017

Ronald James Jenkins, 49, suspected suicide

Dec. 26, 2017

Justin Struthers, 29, suspected suicide

Jan. 7, 2018

James Pigeau, 32, suspected overdose

Mar. 31, 2019

Sean Tourand Brightman, 33, suspected overdose

June 22, 2019

Chase Blanchard, 29, suspected overdose

Nov. 25, 2020

Malcolm Ripley, 41, suspected illness

March 22, 2021

Tyler Lancha, 26, unknown

March 24, 2021

Clayton Bissonette (Danny Armstrong), suspected overdose

July 26, 2021

Brandon Marchant, 32, suspected overdose

Sept. 13, 2021

Ronald Jack, 59, suspected assault

Nov. 16, 2022

Jamie Biggs, 44, suspected head injury from pre-admission assault