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By Nicolaas van Rijn Toronto Star Staff Reporter
Scores of inmates being held on immigration warrants at the Millbrook Correctional Centre near Peterborough are on a hunger strike to protest Canada's immigration system.
About 60 inmates are participating in the strike, which began on Saturday, said Mansour Ahani, who has been in custody on an immigration warrant for the past 7 1/2 years.
Ahani, who helped organize the protest, said it was sparked by the death Friday of 50-year-old Nguyen Cao Son, a Vietnamese man who had been under a removal order from Canada.
``We have lots of questions, and lots of things to ask,'' Ahani said yesterday. ``Hopefully we'll get results.
``The main problem is the immigration system and the behaviour of the correctional staff.''
Inmates allege Son, who was found dead in his cell Friday, was beaten by guards in the days preceding his death.
One inmate, Ahani said, saw Son ``full of blood'' and being carried to a segregation cell before his death.
Prison officials have so far only said that Son was found unresponsive in his cell shortly before noon Friday, and did not respond to attempts to resuscitate him. He was pronounced dead soon after.
An inquest, as required by law, will be called into Son's death, which is being investigated by police and the provincial coroner's office.
Julia Noonan, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Correctional Services, confirmed yesterday that a number of inmates in the maximum security institution's 1 Wing and and 4 Wing - both immigration detention units - have been refusing meals since Saturday.
``A number of them refused dinner (Saturday) and meals (yesterday),'' Noonan said. ``So what we've done is alerted our medical staff to monitor the situation, monitor the health of the inmates and continue to offer them meals and ensure that their health isn't in danger.''
Noonan said she's been unable to confirm allegations that Son was involved in a confrontation with guards.
``I didn't have any reports of any such incident occurring,'' she said.
Reprinted under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law.
This page created August 21,2000
