Experience Class Actions Chisholm v Ontario

Chisholm v Ontario

June 16, 2025

Maplehurst Collective Reprisal Class Action

What this class action is about

Goldblatt Partners LLP and Posner Craig Stein LLP have commenced a class action lawsuit against the Government of Ontario seeking $30 million in damages caused by the unlawful conduct and wrongful acts carried out by prison authorities against inmates at Maplehurst Correctional Complex (“Maplehurst”) on December 22 to 24, 2023.

The lawsuit alleges that on December 22 to 24, 2023, at the direction and behest of Maplehurst’s Superintendent and other management staff, the Institutional Crisis Intervention Team carried out a coordinated operation targeting all of the approximately 192 inmates in Unit 8 of the institution. The majority of these inmates were awaiting trial and were presumed innocent. The coordinated operation was collective reprisal and collective punishment for an assault by an inmate on a guard on December 20, 2023.

Jamarey Chisholm, who was an inmate at Maplehurst in December 2023, is the proposed representative plaintiff in the class action. The plaintiff alleges, on behalf of all class members, that the coordinated operation included unlawful cell-by-cell strip searches of the entire unit, systematic assaults, wrenching the wrists of the inmates using zip ties, pepper-spraying and beating inmates inside their cells, and other rights deprivations. The living conditions within Unit 8 were also made inhospitable. Inmates were deprived of clothing, bedding, toilet paper, medical treatment and other necessities for upwards of two days. The temperature on Unit 8 was lowered to extreme cold levels by turning on the exhaust fans allowing in the outdoor winter air, while inmates were deprived of clothes in their cells.

The lawsuit claims that the unlawful mass strip search, systematic assault and collective punishment carried out by prison authorities at Maplehurst breached section 7 (the right to life, liberty and security of the person), section 8 (the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure), and section 12 (the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The lawsuit also claims that the unlawful conduct and wrongful acts committed by prison authorities constituted misfeasance in public office, negligence, and a breach of the fiduciary duties owed to inmates.

The proposed class is:

Inmates of Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, Ontario who were present in Unit 8 on December 22, December 23 and/or December 24, 2023

“Inmates” are inmates as defined in the Ministry of Correctional Services Act, R.S.O. 1990, C.M.22

Read the statement of claim here.

If you think you may be a class member or you have information that may be relevant for the case, please contact Tara Sheppard at Goldblatt Partners.

The plaintiff is represented by GP’s Louis Century and Geetha Philipupillai and Posner Craig Stein’s Gabriel Gross-Stein.

Media inquiries may be directed to Louis Century or Gabriel Gross-Stein.