Matthew, a youth in custody, discovered that his belongings had been misplaced when he had to quickly leave his unit. The missing items included his personal hygiene products and family pictures. Matthew told centre staff about his missing belongings, but he called us when he did not believe centre staff were looking into his concern.

We reviewed the centre’s records and spoke with a centre official who told us that Matthew’s belongings had been thrown out during cleaning. Our investigation determined that centre staff had not taken steps to address that Matthew’s belongings had indeed been lost.

The centre arranged for replacement personal hygiene products to be provided to Matthew and agreed to speak with him about his lost family pictures. When we followed up, Matthew had reported that he was satisfied his concerns were resolved as a result of steps the centre took to respond to our investigation.