From The Canadian Press

May 15, 2009 Allison Jones And Keith Leslie, THE CANADIAN PRESS
The Canadian Press, 2009

TORONTO - Several judges across Ontario are slamming jail guards for delays in getting prisoners to courthouses, which they say has stalled trials and hearings, and the government has referred the issue to the province's labour relations board.
A bail hearing Friday in Brampton, Ont., for a veteran Ontario Provincial Police officer accused of corruption and fraud was delayed more than two hours because Sgt. Michael Rutigliano was the last prisoner brought to the court.
"I'm not sure what message was being sent," Ontario Court justice of the peace Neil Burgess said when the hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. got underway at 11:45 a.m.
Burgess said it was "reprehensible" and an "ongoing problem" that prisoner transfers are often delayed until noon.
"Something has to be done," he said. "We are confronted with this every single day."
Crown attorney Richard Peck replied that he would bring the matter to the attention of the attorney general's office.
There have been delays out of Maplehurst Correctional Complex and the Elgin Middlesex Detention centre near London, Ont., said Laura Blondeau, a spokeswoman for Correctional Services Minister Rick Bartolucci.
Prisoners making appearances at courts in several different regions are held at those detention centres.
In Kitchener, Ont., several judges have voiced concerns about the delays, including one judge who warned this week he would free prisoners on bail if guards didn't start bringing them on time for court appearances.
Justice James Ramsay called it a "sham" and threatened to throw guards in jail for "deliberately interfering with the administration of justice."
He ordered Maplehurst superintendent Doug Dalgleish to appear before him to explain the delays, and Dalgleish said the dispute stems from issues about overtime.
Blondeau said the government is aware of concerns expressed by judges about delays caused by a work-to-rule campaign by corrections officers.
"We are very well aware of the delays and we agree that it is unacceptable," she said.
"At this point, senior ministry officials have referred the matter to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, who will make a determination whether there's been illegal strike action.
"The government and the union signed a collective agreement a couple months ago, at which time both sides agreed that the employer would take measures to curtail what both sides agreed was excessive overtime."
Both the government and the union said they would not resolve matters through the media, but Ontario Public Service Employees Union spokesman Don Ford said his members are not engaged in an illegal strike.
"We don't have a work-to-rule campaign instituted, not from central union," he said.
"There's been issues for quite some time with regards to overcrowding of inmates, how the inmates are processed (and) the amount of staff we have to do it."
Ontario's 5,500 corrections officers were severely criticized by Auditor General James McCarter for taking an average of 32 sick days each year.
At the end of January, corrections workers voted 89 per cent in favour of strike action, mostly due to a government proposal that would have restricted sick time. However, in March members voted 84 per cent in favour of a four-year contract.

-With files from the Waterloo Region Record