Premier Doug Ford said anyone who threatens correctional officers should “sit in a hole,” urging judges to treat as harshly as possible the men arrested in Project South for allegedly plotting to murder a jail official.
“These guys who go after our officers they deserve to sit in a hole for, God knows, three years, maybe the message will get out. How dare you try to go after one of our correctional service officers. I have zero tolerance,” said Ford, who was speaking at an announcement regarding a planned new correctional facility in Brockville.
The sweeping Project South investigation led to the arrests of seven Toronto Police officers and one retired constable. Officers are accused of leaking information from databases to alleged criminals, leading to shootings, extortion and a failed murder plot against an official at the Toronto South Detention Centre.
One man and two boys, aged 16 and 17, are accused of casing that official’s house over a 36-hour period before they were arrested in a dramatic takedown by York Regional Police.
“So it’s up to the judges to, again, as this goes in front of the courts to put down the hardest sentence they possibly can,” Ford said.
Solicitor General Michael Kerzner echoed Ford’s comments, saying the provincial government takes the issue of jail officials being targeted “very seriously.”
“We’re here today because this is another reaffirmation as to how we keep Ontario safe,” Kerzner said. “By putting more money into corrections and by sending a message that if anybody thinks they can break the law but we don’t have room for them, we do.”
The Star previously reported that an inmate at Toronto South threatened the official — whose identity is protected by a publication ban — inside the jail, saying he knew the neighbourhood the manager lived in. Three weeks later, the alleged hitmen, masked and armed with a handgun, showed up at the manager’s home.
Surveillance video captures the moment the men crash into a marked car sitting in the manager’s driveway and are chased then caught by waiting York officers.
As officers investigated the alleged attempted hit, they discovered a Toronto police officer, Const. Timothy Barnhardt, had searched the manager’s information in a police-accessible database, police say. That information was then passed to Barnhardt’s alleged co-conspirator in Project South, accused drug trafficker Brian Da Costa, who then disseminated it, police allege.
None of the allegations against those charged in Project South have been tested in court.
Repeated attempts by the Star to seek comment from the Ministry of the Solicitor General, beginning in February and as recently as last week, have been unsuccessful.
Now more than a month since the results of the probe were first announced, spokesperson Brent Ross has said only that he cannot comment on personnel matters and that the ministry will not speak to matters while they remain before the courts.
Questions about the alleged murder plot, as well as another staff member charged in connection to the unlawful search of an inmate in the jail’s database, have gone unanswered.
Ford’s comments on Monday were part of a broader invective that slammed “bleeding heart” judges for allowing “crazy lunatics” to roam the streets, during which he defended his call to the federal government to legalize pepper spray for personal use.
Ford accused some provincial judges — who are appointed and follow the federal Criminal Code and other legislation in their decision making — of releasing offenders due to overcrowding and violations of their Charter rights.
“I’m not pounding on judges, because there’s lots of great judges, but there’s some terrible ones out there, bleeding heart judges that constantly let people out and they always use an excuse,” Ford said. “It may not be safe in this one jail or, you know, it’s overcrowded, so we’re going to let these criminals go out and have a merry old time.”
He said the province is working to expand the number of beds available in custody. He also said the province aims to start “live streaming” bail hearings to increase accountability.
The Ontario Court of Justice, which handles the majority of bail hearings in the province, already streams many bail hearings. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, courts across the province have operated hybrid hearings.
This past summer, the court restricted public access to online proceedings due to disruptions made in virtual court, referred to as ”Zoom bombings.”
With files from Robert Benzie and Abby O’Brien
