1/20/2012 6:00:17 PM
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Joesph clayton
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family member / significant other
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williamjc@hotmail.ca
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I did nothing wrong. I was put in a institution for people with intellectual disability. I was 12 years old. I when to the mission ward and then two weeks later, I was put in a ward with twenty- five patients. Men who were eighteen-thirty years old. Can you
imagine the fear a 12 year old kid would have looking at all these giants. The doors were always locked and you get up every morning and your bed has to be made right. If it is not made right the staff would strip your bed. If I did not get up at six o'clock in the
morning they would throw water on you. Then you line up to get your pills and then we all line up and walk down the hall with our towels around our waist, our washcloth and soap in our hand.
The staff would make us bend over to see if we were clean and if not they would put us in a cold shower room. one of the men took a wet towel and hit me with it. I would have cuts on my butt and legs. This happened a couple of times. I was ''gang raped'' in the shower. At night some patients would attack me when I was sleeping. I would wake up they would have sex with me. They would say to me if you tell the staff, I will kill you. I was scared. Every night different men would do this to me. The word would be passed around. They called me ''spongy'' and so everyone would know who to get. This went on for six years. I asked myself, what did I do wrong? It was like I was locked up in a prison. I was put there against my will.
I remember when I did something wrong I was put in a room. the staff locked the door. They called this the side room. You sit down on a cold floor and you are naked. Some men would look in the window. It was a very small window and they would make fun of me. I just sat in the corner and cried because I was afraid and scared. Also, if I did something wrong, the staff would put my head in a toilet bowl. They would put me in a corner and make me kneel for two or three hours. if I were really bad I would have to wear a night dress and mop the floor-it wasn't just an ordinary floor- it was a mile of floor down the hallways.
We had to stand in line to go to our meals and if we moved, one of the patients would punch you in the side. I moved once and after that never again. You learn to stay in line. There was always lots of fighting and stealing. Once a patient flipped out and attacked me with scissors. I was cut but not too bad. I was terrified. Another time a patient took a pillow and tried to smother me, but I fought back. someone threw a hanger at me and broke one of my teeth. my job was to clean the poop out of the dirty linens. It was disgusting work and I did not like doing it. There were many others who were abused in the institution, too numerous to recall. Most are dead. Very few are actually still living. Those who are dead, their secrets live with them. I am still alive and I am sharing my story for them and for me. To this day I am still feeling the effects of the abuse I have suffered there. My recovery has been slow because for years I did not want to talk about it. I'm now on the road of recovery. It is moving slowly for me but at least it's moving forward. part of my recovery involves being able to make a difference in today's society, change the way people see others with a disability and encourage those who have been abused to speak up and start the healing process.
I live in Sharbot lake, Ontario. I survivor of Rideau Regional Centre, a government operated institution for persons with an intellectual disability that closed in 2009. I'm active member of community living Ontario's Deinstitutionalization working group and my personal goal is to speak about my experiences of institutional life. I addresses conferences, seminars, classrooms and other gathering. A narrator in a film the R word. thank you
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My cousin was actualy doing time in this prison back in the 1990's. I was young when I heard the news of him passing away in there. He passed away in 1999. I belive there was a riot or somthing during this year, as well. I was wondering if anyone may have heard about this?. "Challis"
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I was imprisoned in the 80s, I was the only young-offender in Warkworth at that time. After in-take at millhaven it was decided that Warkworth would best suit the situation.I had committed the crime when i was 14 yrs old, and was convicted of the crime 1 month after my 17th birth-day.I was looking at a 10-year sentence. I arrived at Warkworth weighing 125lbs, i was to find out they did not have a size 26 waist in prison garbs, i beleive they were greens.The prison staff along with the inmates felt equally out of place having me there as i did being there......
Needless to say with no prior warm-up of reform schools or what-ever, being placed in an adult correction facility and be expected to get along and survive for at least 7 yrs, in hopes of getting an early release was going to be an up hill battle, adult facilities are geared for men who have for the most part been through their developmental experiences in society and the available programs there reflected this, in 1986 prison programs were not designed ( as perhaps they are today ) with teenagers in mind.
through an intense routine of eating and weight lifting, i managed to hold my own.
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Prison was a dark time of my life. I was young (24) stupid and thought I pretended I was tough. I wasnt. It was all in my mind. Did my intake at the Haven and got into some major trouble with a guard who really didnt do anything wrong. It was my fault. Went straight from there to KP which was a hell hole but I learned up quick. I didnt end up hating the syestem, I hated myself and what I had become. Kept clean and after 14 months got transferred to the Bay which was heaven compared to KP. There was trouble and shit every day of some sort but I just avoided it when I could. I was lucky in that I had a pretty good education behind me and was able to help others with letters, reading etc.
I learned to not blame society, the system or the guards for the fact that I was in prison. It was MY fault. I heard all the stories of woe, heard the hate, felt the hate etc from most around me. The reality?...they were all in prison because they screwed up!! I made some friends in prison and some I have to this day. And not one of them has returned to prison. Its all about attitude and realising that you screwed up! Do the time and get over it. And don't go back. Prison is not the place to be!
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I found that warkworth was not too bad. The staff were polite, never hit me hard on searches, I always got my mail, and raquet ball! All you gotta do is follow the rules and time is easy. But others were not as blessed. There were stabbings and pipings and suicides. It can be a dark place. If an inmate truly wants to change then go see the Chaplains, they have the real answsers. I got my parole, thank GOD.
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I spent 12 years 6 months at Wallyworld, and this place is the worst paranoid prison you will ever come across. I mean at one time it used to be a good place but there are so many sex offenders at this place you would believe, half the place is PC. the really big issue is the thefts that go on in this place. let's say you have your 30 days in which to get your property brought in from you family, well in doing so the guards that run the A&D have lighter fingers than most of the inmates, and most stuff goes missing out of there than you can ever believe, some stuff that went missing were generators on wheels, food off trucks from storage outside the fence, and inmates were blamed.
I worked in A&D, and I saw shit piles of stuff go missing, oh sure they told me if I ever said anything, I would never get out, but I am out and am completely off parole and I will tell all you guys I have sent this same letter to the correctional Investigitor and the Toronto Sun, The Globe and Mail, so even if my letter here doesn't open up this story, the prison won't be able to hide the facts. I kept a note book on what was stolen and by whom and when it happened, because many of the guards cost me so much time from their dishonesty and theft.
I was sent to prison for stealing, only to go to prison to find out that those people holding were stealing from me.
I believe the staff at this prison are will steal what they can, when they can, and get away with it.
Working in A&D is only one of the ways things got sent out, IE: an inmate has to send out a laptop computer because they are not allowed, so it's packaged up, and the inmate's money is taken out of his account, but many times the mailing address were not of that inmate's requested address, much of the property was sent to a PO BOX in Campbellford, Ontario, I learned this after about 3 years working in A&D. One guy who was a teacher in the electronics repair would be sending out stuff on a daily basis, and this guy was really bad, he'd tell the inmates their stuff was broken, but it wasn't, after awhile I was sent to Pittsburg, I work on a farm and it was great, till I saw the same stuff going down there. For example, Pittsburg does the beef for all the prisons in Ontario, much of that beef was sold to prison guards for next to nothing prices. In the spring when they had the maple shack running 300 gallons of maple syrup would go missing, and the inmates were always to blame - sides of beef and 300 gallons, no freaking way could the inmates make stuff go missing.
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mini golf, squash courts, strawberry socials, horeshoe pits, baseball diamonds (including visiting teams from outside the joint), pool tables, extensive weight pits, punching bags, cultural celebrations, top notch health care, well manicured common areas, 5 star menu, educational and vocational programming, dorm style living units, courteous staff, availabiltity and use of microwaves, fridges, exotic canteen items including pornography and daily newspapers, hobbycraft, excellent sattelite T.V. packages, access to computers, various programming, support from countless inmate advocacy groups, an endless supply of condoms and hygeine products, needle exchanges and bleach kits, deluxe conjugal visitation cottages, and more alcohol and street drugs at almost street prices... if one weren't "burdened" with heterosexulaity, (which many of the clientelle are not) you can see why federal offenders are begging to get in there and then sueing the pants off Canadian Taxpayers every time they put out an eye for being too shit-all stupid to wear eye goggles while playing sports.. the only thing missing is the kiddie pool (and by looking at the offender profile of the joint, that is a good thing)
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I spent a few years at Wally World in the 1980s.
I met some great people, some life long friends.
The two Billys of 10 block were top notch and made me laugh (they'll know who they are if they're still alive).
Since then I haven't done any crime!
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I was at Warkworth for a short time back in the 70s. I went to school for grade 9. After you get out of Wally World it's easy. Just stay out of trouble and let us deal with the talk. You need a little support, friends, and work when you get out of wally world. And about talk I was at Whitby Mental Health Centre for a couple of years. So don't say bad things about my time done and same back to ya. Fact is, I'd put my hand out and shake your hand, my friend. And like I say to you, just stay out of trouble and you will survive. I remember one time in wally world we were all outside late listening to people playing the guitar and the guard had to come out and get us all. It was ok, we were all feeling pretty good, and nobody was charged or anything over our little sing song.
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i just spent 7 years of my life locked up, and for most of it i was in max. I was transferred to "Wally World" for 15 months before getting kicked out for being too aggressive towards guards and offenders. But truth be told, that was the best 15 months of all my prison time throughout my life! I met some good people - cons and c.o's. - and that's messed up to say. But I'm my own man now so it doesn't matter. Anyways thanks to those c.o's that made my stay easier for me. What's up all the 8 block crew! sunshine sue, princess d curtis!
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"wallyworld" is this prisons nick name.
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In 1990, short stay, about 18 months. After spending a year in reception at Millhaven I saw a murder that happened there. I found the experience life-changing, my old self died behind the fence and inside the madness. Six months in a halfway house and almost 2 years to find a good job. As it is hard to beleive, I am still at the same job afer 15 years. My secret to staying "clean" on the street for so long is I almost died and (a good woman) my wife, whom I dated at the half-way house. I also want to thank the Hells Angels for having my back in Warkworth. Got sick with food poison, 3 quarter size infections in my lower stomach. My inmate committee helped keep in 9 block on "op" instead of the medical ward. I lost 100 pounds and took almost 10 years to gain the weight back that I lost. Everything that I have today, step-daughter, my two grand kids and my private thoughts are because of my time in the "pen".
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Gangs
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