‘We did our best to be Jeff’s voice’: Mom

Much has changed since the brutal death of Brantford’s Jeff Munro in the notorious Don Jail almost 15 years ago.

Article content

But an inquiry that wrapped up on Thursday seeks to ensure that any remaining issues are still addressed to improve the situation of those incarcerated who have mental health issues.

“I feel from the bottom of my heart that we were Jeff’s voice and I’m truly grateful for what’s been done thus far,” Chris Munro, Jeff’s mother who participated fully in the inquest, said in an interview.

“If this can prevent someone from having to go through this again, it’s the best we can hope for.”

A gregarious former dancer, Jeff Munro, 31, was placed in the old Don Jail after his mental health and addiction issues resulted in an arrest for exposing himself on a Toronto street.

His mother said he was repeatedly seen by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and should have been sent to them instead of being placed with violent offenders.

Article content

On Nov 7, 2009, Munro was stomped on and kicked repeatedly by another inmate during an argument over a bag of potato chips and aspirated on his own blood.

“There were mistakes made,” said his mother who, during the inquest learned more about the range where Jeff was held.

“I knew he was isolated at the very end of a long corridor, but there was a huge obstruction to being able to see into his cell. There was a lot of concrete, which added to the noise and unsettled feelings.

“From the time he was first assaulted to when a medical alert was called was two hours and seven minutes. Even through they were still doing patrols, he went undetected.”

It’s a different world 15 years later at the Toronto South Detention Centre.

The jail has a round open-concept range system so there are no obstructed views, CCTV cameras everywhere, a control room that shows the range from all angles and at all times, and the presence of CAMH workers is a constant.

Article content

“It was extremely valuable to see what’s been implemented in a decade at Toronto South. They paid attention when they were building that facility.”

Munro said other improvements include officers who are directly on the range with offenders and a major change in the distribution of medication so that staff have eyes on those in their cells.

“And now, every cell has an emergency call button,” said Munro. “I’m not saying it’s foolproof but it tells me they really did some thinking and that means so much to me.”

On Thursday during the inquest, a panel representing the Forensic Early Intervention Service from CAMH explained that the FEIS program, introduced in 2015, could be expanded to other jails.

The FEIS program was launched at Toronto South in 2015 as a jail-based forensic mental health service for those remanded to jail. It’s been dealing with a huge leap in the number of people struggling with mental health since the pandemic hit.

Article content

There is also a consensus that those dealing with mental health issues are over-represented in the criminal justice system.

One of the recommendations from the inquiry is that the government explore expanding the FEIS program.

The other four recommendations are:

• Work with CAMH to provide more training to officers dealing with inmates struggling with mental health.
• Explore getting funding for this training.
• Review the existing training programs that have been provided by CAMH to see what should be mandatory and how often it should be redone.
• Ensure a staffing audit set for the next few months looks at whether the safety and security of inmates and staff is prioritized.

“There’s not a thing I can do to bring Jeff back,” said his mother, “but I think we did our best to be Jeff’s voice.”

[email protected]

@EXPSGamble

Article content