Peace and Blessings Everyone
One of the Toronto18 guys is being unfairly treated in the jail. I am not going to refer to the Charter of Rights and Freedom here. I am just going to ask everyone this. Is this the humane thing to do to someone who is praying…It does not matter if Steve is really a criminal or if he is innocent. Prayer is a very sacred and personal act. Whoever is praying should be given a clean area to pray and should be given enough privacy. Putting Steve in a segregation cell just because he covered the toilet seat is so ridiculous, its beyond insanity…..
Steve has been punished simply for covering the toilet in his cell, while offering his prayers.
The guys are detained in very small cells and, as a result, are forced to pray next to the toilet, something that would cause concern to people of all faiths. Therefore, prior to praying, they usually draw a bed sheet across the toilet.Steve did the same yesterday (Sunday). However, this time around, a guard slammed the door to his cell and ordered him to remove the sheet. Steve was unable to break his prayer right away since he was in the middle of it. The guard barged into Steve’s cell to remove the sheet and dragged him to the segregation cell for disobeying orders. This cell has faeces on the wall, the stench of urine, and is commonly used to detain troublesome or mentally challenged inmates. Steve will spend the next ten days in these conditions.
A lawyer representing one of the 11 remaining Toronto bomb plot suspects arrested on terror-related charges in June 2006 says his client has been roughed up in prison.
Michael Moon said his client, Stephen Chand, was taking a shower at Maplehurst provincial jail in Milton west of Toronto. When he tried to rinse soap from his hair, Moon said, a guard smashed Chand’s face into a wall, then dragged him naked along a hallway by his hair and threw him into a bare cell smeared with feces and smelling of urine.
The lawyer is demanding that surveillance videos of the incident be released by the Ontario government, though internal investigations at the facility found no wrongdoing by guards.
“These videos capture everything that goes on on the range,” Moon said, “If he [Chand] did anything wrong, it will be shown on the video. If what he says is accurate, that will be shown.”
Moon also says that when another inmate complained about the treatment of Chand, he too was thrown into the bare cell, known as the hole.
A spokesman for the Ontario government had no comment because the case is before the court. But he added that provincial corrections officials were committed to the just and humane treatment of inmates.
CBC’s Margo Kelly said there have been several allegations of verbal and physical abuse from the suspects arrested in a series of police raids in the summer of 2006.
These allegations are emerging as cases against several former suspects collapsed in recent months, Kelly said.
The first trial arising from the case began in March with publication bans on some of the evidence to be presented in court. The Crown has also opted to go directly to trial for some of the suspects, skipping a preliminary hearing.
Read the rest of the article here.
Kindly write or talk to the Superintendant Tom O Connel of MapleHurst Correctional Institute, demanding that Steve be removed from the segregation cell and all the inmates (whether Muslim or not) are provided with a clean and well-kept room for prayers. And if you hesitate to write this email, ask yourself how would you feel if you were punished for covering the toilet seat while praying…
Here is some relevant information, Toronto18.com posted.
To(Campaign to CALL and EMAIL Wednesday, Thursday & Friday (May 7,8 & 9, 2008)
Superintendant at Maplehurst Correctional Services
Superintendant Tom O’Connell
MapleHurst Correctional Complex
Milton, Ontario
905-878-8141
fax 905-878-5363If you email the Superintendent, please CC the Minister of Correctional Services, at: rbartolucci.mpp@liberal.ola.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, at dlevac.mpp@liberal.ola.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it AND ynaqvi.mpp@liberal.ola.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
If you CALL the Superintendent, please also call the Minister Rick Bartolucci (416-325-0408), and two Parliamentary Assistants; Yasir Naqvi (613-722-6414) and Dave Levac (416-325-4925)
Please note that we also will hold a rally on May 14 to protest the conditions the guys have been detained in. More information on this is available on www.toronto18.com.
Talking Points:
1-Freedom of religious belief and practice is a fundamental right of all Canadians under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and of all Ontarians under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
2-The rights of Muslim inmates are violated by the failure to provide appropriate and clean space for prayer purposes.
3-In particular, forcing detainees to pray next to a toilet and punishing them for taking remedial steps, is conduct that would shock the conscience of Canadians.
4-The recent punishment and segregation of Steve Chand for covering the toilet with a sheet while praying, and for failing to break his prayer immediately when ordered to remove it, offends basic norms of decency and human rights.
5-Respecting the religious rights of inmates is binding upon all government detention facilities under the Charter and the Ontario Human Rights Code.
6-In light of the foregoing, I demand that Steve Chand be released immediately from enforced segregation, that the religious beliefs and practices of all inmates be respected, and that adequate and clean space be provided for prayer purposes.
