Roy McMurtry Youth Centre The Ford government and the Ontario corrections community is bracing for the results of an investigation into seven female jail guards suspended last year at Brampton’s Roy McMurtry Youth Centre under a cloud of scurrilous allegations, according to sources.
The Toronto Sun has learned this report is expected to be tabled next week — just two weeks removed from the sudden and abrupt resignation of child and youth services minister Merrilee Fullerton from cabinet, caucus and from her Queen’s Park legislature seat.
Whether her sudden resignation has any relation to what will be found in this report is unknown at this point.
But sources say the investigation came about as a result of accusations that these new hires were allegedly involved in nefarious and illegal activities with youth inmates who had outside connections to organized crime.
Sources say the seven were suspended with pay after fellow staff members claimed some were connected to outside criminals and had allegedly worked in prostitution outside of the centre.
None of these allegations have been proven and may in fact be unfounded. No criminal charges have been laid and no disciplinary action has been meted out so far. That is what the investigation is for.
Inappropriate contact and conduct with inmates is the third rail of misconduct inside the corrections world but it is especially egregious when it involves youth. The McMurtry Centre houses both male and female youth — aged 12 to 17 — who are before the courts or serving sentences.
After the formal findings are released, it will be followed by penalties and punishment if warranted. While there has been no viewing of the report, sources say, word is there has been no evidence of sexual relations on the premises with staff or inmates proven beyond a reasonable doubt and that at least two of the seven will be permitted to go back to work.
“Some may have been caught in a guilt by association situation,” said a source.
It’s unclear what the investigation will unearth about the other five. Whatever it is, left behind since they were suspended in 2022 is a toxic, mistrustful and shaken staff — many of whom will not be welcoming anybody back with open arms. There is a huge moral problem there.
“The happiest day people had was when they were suspended,” said the source.
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Many of these same staff members were the ones who outed the seven and were whistleblowers to management.
Some of the professional people who have worked in corrections for decades were unhappy with some of the hirings in recent years — indicating normal background checks and criteria were replaced with “politically correct” hiring practices.
Mostly the concern surrounded some of the affiliations the new staff allegedly had with known criminal players.
“Some of their peers felt they were the girlfriends of gang members,” said one insider. “They should never have been hired.”
The Ministry of Child and Youth Services Ministry has indicated it is aware of the questions.
“We take all matters related to our workplace and those in our care very seriously. The ministry’s priority continues to be the safety and well-being of youth in our facilities, as well as our staff,” the Ministry said. “We are unable to comment on individual employee matters.”
OPSEU, the union that represents the guards, declined to comment.
The Sun has so far not been able to reach Fullerton for comment, but sources close to her — in Ottawa and Toronto — maintain this probe is not connected to her sudden departure.
Meanwhile, time will tell what the probe uncovers or is unable to prove. But criminals attempting bring in associates to work in jails is not new.
“They are always trying to get their own people inside. It’s the job of those hiring to stop them, that is the issue.”
Along with many other aspects of the case, the findings of the investigation are expected to show how that process did or didn’t occur in up to seven hirings.
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