PROVINCIAL NEGLIGENCE CAUSES PERMANENT INJURY

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries this story titled "Ontario liable for jailhouse attack on gang member". Once again simple common sense fails to prevail. Unless of course guards or supervisors were looking for a little "fun" or excitement. Toronto's Don jail was the scene in November 2008 when guards put a low level member of a Toronto gang into the same unit as a the leader of a rival gang. The fully to be expected, based on the reputation of the gang leader, occurred and the new prisoner received a beating causing him to spend months in hospital, more than a year in rehabilitation and left him with permanent brain damage. It only took a little over eight years for the province of Ontario to be found civilly liable in this case. Negligence plain and simple yet the province fought all the way until recently losing in the Ontario Court of Appeal. Shame on the province and the provincial correctional service.