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Ontario’s New Democrats demand action on jail inquest recommendations after 8 overdose deaths

Emergency crews arrived at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre on Monday afternoon to find a man in medical distress.
Emergency crews arrived at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre on Monday afternoon to find a man in medical distress. Don Mitchell / Global News

Ontario’s New Democrats want to know when the government will respond to 62 recommendations from an inquest into eight overdose deaths at the Barton Street jail.

Hamilton East-Stoney Creek MPP Paul Miller raised the issue during question period in the Legislature on Wednesday.

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Miller says it’s been 10 months since the recommendations were released and the problem has “sadly continued.”

Miller notes that another inmate died of an overdose this week, less than 24 hours after crosses were placed outside the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre by families and friends of 15 people who have died at the jail since 2012.

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Solicitor general Sylvia Jones says the Doug Ford government has already started taking action on what she calls a “societal problem” by giving “additional tools” to corrections officers.

Jones adds that the government needs help from experts who can stop illicit drugs from entering the jails.

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