The Ontario Court of Appeal says "bureaucracy and funding" are why a Guelph man remains in a Hamilton psychiatric hospital six years after a review board determined he was fit to live in the community provided he was given appropriate support.
Wesley Shortt, 40, remains at the facility not because he needs to, but because of provincial “bureaucratic and fiscal roadblocks,” an appeals court judge has ruled.
Shortt, who has severe physical and intellectual disabilities, has been in St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton since 2007 after being found not criminally responsible with respect to charges of uttering death threats against his father and breach of probation.
Since “at least” 2014 the Ontario Review Board (ORB), which annually reviews cases of those found not criminally responsible, has ruled that while Shortt could not be completely discharged, he could and should be released to a community living situation with appropriate support.
But Shortt remains in hospital because the province can’t find him a place to live where he would get that appropriate support.
In fact the hospital can't even find out where Shortt is on the waiting list.
The three-person Ontario Court of Appeal ruled earlier this month that the province has to work with the hospital to come up with a solution and find Shortt an appropriate placement by the end of 2020.
The province, says Shortt, should have pay for whatever support he needs in order to make his supported release happen.
It agreed with Shortt that his continued detention was a violation of his right to liberty.
In the written ruling, Justice James MacPherson wrote that it was “bureaucratic and fiscal roadblocks outside of the Hospital’s control” that were keeping Shortt detained.
“Mr. Shortt is eligible to live in a community residential setting if appropriate supports are provided. If this happens, his detention in forensic custody would not be necessary for public safety,” wrote MacPherson.
“I have concluded that Mr. Shortt’s (Charter of Rights) right to liberty has been violated in a way that is not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.”
In November of 2006 the then-26-year-old Shortt threatened to kill his father during an argument.
He was arrested and at the conclusion of his trial was declared not criminally responsible. He has been in hospital since then.
Family membes who could offer support in the community– his father, mother, sister and uncle – have all passed away while he has been in hospital, the ruling notes.
The court decision points out that Shortt’s social worker at the hospital has worked diligently to find a place for him in the community through the Developmental Services of Ontario Residential Placement program under the auspices of the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, but has had no success.
The ruling also notes that the hospital says Shortt’s continued detention at the hospital “has caused Mr. Shortt to regress" and engage in “primitive coping mechanisms.”
The appeal ruling ordered that at the upcoming annual review of Shortt’s case in November, the province should be ready to address the precise location where Shortt can be placed by the end of 2020, provided the hospital agrees.
“Mr. Shortt has been languishing in the Hospital and his condition is starting to deteriorate, a development that stands as the antithesis to one of the ultimate purposes of the NCR (not criminally responsible) scheme, to work safely toward the reintegration of NCR accused back into society,” MacPherson’s written ruling said.
