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Inmates refuse meals to protest Innes Rd. jail conditions

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Inedible food, no time in the outside yard, overcrowded cells and no access to religious or self-help programs.

It's a long list of complaints from inmates at the Innes Road jail, and it's prompted what some prisoners are calling a "hunger strike."

Muhamad Alhasi told the Sun on Wednesday that he and other inmates in the maximum-security wing -- he says dozens -- began to refuse meals Tuesday.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services disputed the term "hunger strike." He acknowledged that some inmates at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre are refusing meals, but said most are still eating food that is available for purchase through the canteen service -- things such as chocolate bars, cookies and chips.

"Our health-care staff will be monitoring any inmates that continue to refuse meals to ensure they are in good health," said spokesman Brent Ross.

Whatever the exact details, the complaint and allegations offer a rare glimpse inside a notorious jail that's repeatedly fallen under scrutiny for the conditions faced by its inmates.

The problems of those behind bars draw little sympathy from many who say time behind bars is supposed to be tough. But advocates and the jail guards' union have been regularly been raising concerns. Between April and November, 222 complaints about the jail were sent to the Office of the Ombudsman of Ontario.

Alhasi has been convicted of robbery in the past and is currently awaiting trial for assault causing bodily harm.

He said the "straw that broke the camel's back" for inmates, at least most recently, was when two areas, or "ranges," were shut down for construction, forcing three people to a cell for what inmates were told would be two months.

That was back in the summer.

Some of the problems are more presssing than others, he said.

"Our yard time is a big deal," he said. "We've gotten yard maybe twice a month since I came back from a transfer at the end of August."

According to the John Howard Society of Ontario, a national prisoner-advocacy organization, inmates should receive 20 minutes of yard time, or fresh air, a day.

"They have nothing for us. We put a sock in a toilet paper roll to play football out there when we get the chance. They don't have a pull-up bar, dip bar, nothing," Alhasi said.

As for the food, going on a hunger strike means they aren't missing much, according to Alhasi.

Defence lawyer Michael Spratt said he spoke to one inmate, a 40-year-old man who claimed he had lost 30 pounds in two weeks, and called the food "stale, rotten."

"I've seen a tooth in a meal," Alhasi said. "All the food is re-cooked and re-heated and loses a lot of its nutrients."

Items available for purchase in the canteen lack nutritional value, he said.

Clothes are washed, at best, twice a week, Alhasi said, claiming his own blanket hasn't been washed or changed in five months.

Because of frequent lockdowns due to staffing shortages, service groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, as well as religious groups, rarely get the chance to go into the jail.

"Almost every Sunday is a lockdown," Alhasi said.

Even without lockdowns, communication with lawyers, family and friends has become difficult as inmates have a hard time getting access to phones. Alhasi said the confidential phone line inmates use to have conversations with their lawyers rarely works.

"That's something we see a big problem with," Spratt said. "It takes, on good days, up to two weeks to schedule a short meeting with your client. It's hard to keep them fully involved with their defence which is a charter right that we have."

Tyjah Smith, who made headlines for the recorded beatdown of an OC Transpo bus passenger in September, also spoke to the Sun from the jail Wednesday. He complained that inmates are put into segregation units because of lack of staff.

"I've been put in seg for four or five days. No shower," he said. "It's very bad right now."

"We're not trying to do anything violent, just a peaceful protest."

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