ShareThisBy KIRK MAKIN
Monday, October 30, 2006
Something smelled foul about the case of Regina v. Savane Jones, but it wasn't the quality of the evidence.
It was Jones.
In an unusual ruling, Justice Casey Hill of the Ontario Superior Court took the administrators of Maplehurst Correctional Complex to task for depriving Jones of a shower and a hot meal following his return every day from his sexual-assault trial.
To expect a defendant to be at his best when he is hungry and smells rank works against everything from simple logic to United Nations Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Hill said.
"There is no reasonable excuse for the failure of the correctional authorities to permit Savane Jones to shave and shower daily when it was known he was appearing in court," the judge said. "That failure delayed the trial, inconvenienced jurors and others, and put a fair trial at risk."
Jones, 23, was convicted by a jury last month. However, Hill issued a written response Friday to a mid-trial defense application for a stay of proceedings based on Jones's alleged mistreatment by jail authorities.
Hill said neither his court nor any other, particularly "in the systematically under-resourced courts in Peel (region)," has the luxury of routinely taking time to investigate the hygiene and dietary requirements of inmates.
"That said, the courts will not surrender control of the court process to a custodial institution whose function it is to serve the justice system, not pervert its fair operation."
Jones's lawyer, Terrance Robinson, said in an interview that the massive complex in Milton, just west of Toronto, is so understaffed that inmates leaving or returning from court dates cannot be processed quickly enough for them to get proper meals and showers. (His client was given a sandwich and juice for supper and a similar meal for breakfast.)
Robinson said that appearing in front of a jury looking dirty and dishevelled is no laughing matter.
"If you are not able to shower every day, you are going to feel and look dirty. Your personal body odor is going to be in effect. And if you haven't shaved, you look ragged. You're going to look like a criminal. (Jurors) make their own decisions based on how someone smells and appears to them."
He said the problem will persist until the jail is adequately staffed.
"It will happen every day and continue to happen every day. I think they need literally hundreds more on staff. ... However, the threat of a stay did force the Crown to step in and do something in this case."
Meanwhile, Hill warned Maplehurst administrators to pull up their socks.
"Current events in the Peel courthouse strongly point toward Mr. Jones's circumstances not being a 'one-off' problem," he said. "If a pattern of neglect on the part of the relevant custodial institution emerges, other measures may well become necessary to protect the integrity of ongoing criminal proceedings in this courthouse."
