When reporter Brendan Kennedy chased a tip that jail guards at Maplehurst Correctional Complex had meted out violent, unjustified punishment to nearly 200 inmates, he was met with fierce resistance.

The Ontario government stonewalled, refusing to disclose anything about the incident, and the correctional officers’ union tried to discredit his initial reports. But Kennedy tenaciously pursued his legal and correctional sources and learned there was a video of the incident. It had been played during the trial of one of the inmates.

Kennedy went to court to argue for the exhibit’s release, and the provincial government opposed the Toronto Star’s application, fighting against the public’s right to know.

Justice Colette Good ruled in the newspaper’s favour. She ordered the release of surveillance camera footage showing the shocking treatment of inmates at Maplehurst, and was blunt about the public interest: “The media and the public have a right to watch these videos where this government institution and its members are breaking the law by abusing the very prisoners they have a duty of care to protect,” she said, reading her decision in a Brantford courtroom.

Calling it a “significant government scandal,” Justice Good said the jail and those responsible for the abuse “need to be held fully to account for their significant wrongdoings in the public eye.”

Without Kennedy’s relentless digging, gaining the trust of sources, and legal advocacy for disclosure, it’s highly unlikely this story would have come to light.

Kennedy’s first story about what happened at Maplehurst was based primarily on prisoners’ accounts, and it appeared in August 2024. When he learned about the video, he began to track these inmates’ criminal cases. Defence lawyers revealed that many were seeking to have their clients’ charges stayed or their sentences reduced on the grounds that their Charter rights had been violated. That strategy paid off.

Kennedy discovered the explosive video had been filed as an exhibit in a courthouse in Brantford. After the Star published it in March 2025, Kennedy built momentum, breaking story after story, each with new, shocking revelations about abuses of power. He revealed that jail officials tried to cover up what they had done by falsifying records, potentially destroying evidence, and lying to investigators. He discovered that Winston Wong, the senior official who ordered the crackdown, called it “Wong-tanamo Bay.” Wong also helped organize a celebratory photo of jail staffers, lined up and posing like members of a championship sports team.

Through a court order, Kennedy also obtained the ministry’s internal, secret reports about the incident. They revealed the Ministry of Correctional Services launched its investigation into what happened at Maplehurst only after Kennedy asked the government questions.

Dozens of inmates received reduced sentences due to the riot squad’s misconduct. One judge made the stunning decision to dismiss first-degree murder charges against three men because of the abuse they had suffered, and the jail’s systemic lack of honesty and accountability.

Ontario’s Ombudsman announced that his office was launching its own investigation into the Ministry’s response to the incident.

Meanwhile, Solicitor General Michael Kerzner still has not made a public statement about what happened at Maplehurst. He has refused all interview requests and would not answer any specific questions, even in writing. To this day, the provincial government has failed to provide Canadians with information about this abuse of power.

In her ruling, Justice Good described the media as “the eyes and ears of the public,” reminding us they “hold our public institutions accountable for their misdeeds.” Kennedy’s reporting did exactly that.