A 16-year-old hanged himself last month at a Toronto youth detention centre currently under attack for high levels of violence, grim physical conditions and slack supervision.
The young man -- David Meffe -- was the sixth young person to die in an Ontario-run institution since 1996.
Before that, there had been no deaths since 1977.
"That is one per year since 1996, so I'm very concerned," said Judy Finlay, chief advocate in the Office of Children and Family Service Advocacy.
"It speaks to our concern about the lack of supervision."
The facility where Mr. Meffe committed suicide -- Toronto Youth Assessment Centre -- was raked over the coals several days ago by Ontario Court Judge Brian Weagant.
Judge Weagant said staff at the centre showed appalling disregard for the health of young people in their care, and that peer-to-peer violence and intimidation run rampant there.
He made the comments while sentencing a teenager who had been repeatedly beaten during his 10 days at the centre in an ordeal Judge Weagant compared to the novel Lord of the Flies.
Security Minister Bob Runciman ordered an investigation into what is happening at the centre after Judge Weagant ruled that the attacks suffered by the 17-year-old entitled him to an absolute discharge on several counts of mischief and theft from cars.
"I can't talk about the investigation but the judge raised these issues and concerns so they are going to be looked into," Mr. Runciman said in an interview.
He noted, "The child advocate was in there just recently and we haven't heard anything. If there was a real problem, she would have let us know immediately. That's her responsibility."
Mr. Runciman added, "I'm not saying the judge's concerns don't have merit. We're going to investigate and find out if they did."
He told the legislature, "Many of the youth who show up at this centre have behaviour problems. They are not happy to be there. They're often quite violent."
The five young people who have died since 1996 included one who was beaten to death, one who hanged himself, two who died while under restraint and one who died from complications involving his medication.
Sources in the youth-justice field said yesterday that Mr. Meffe's death has been kept under wraps largely because his parents are extremely distressed.
While Jim Cairns, Ontario's deputy coroner, was reluctant to discuss the identity of the dead teenager last night, he confirmed that police are actively investigating the death.
Dr. Cairns said that inquests are mandatory when an individual dies in custody and one will be announced when the police have wrapped up their queries.
Ms. Finlay -- whose agency has the authority to enter youth facilities at any time -- said she will be conducting a full review of TYAC in early December in light of the suicide. It will be a "formal review" in which her staff interview every detainee in the centre, which can hold 146, she said.
Ms. Finlay said the institution has far too many people in its care and the arrangement of the cell blocks makes supervision difficult.
"There are two dorms with very limited supervision -- especially at night. They have put in surveillance cameras at our request. But if somebody isn't watching them, they're not much use."
TYAC also lacks programs or recreational facilities, she said.
A great many of the detainees live in fear, Ms. Finlay said, but they are even more afraid of asking to be moved into segregated areas, thereby making themselves special targets of gangs or the most aggressive youths.