The senior corrections officer targeted in an alleged murder plot that sparked the Project South investigation denied planting a weapon in the cell of an inmate, as he testified Wednesday in response to that inmate’s Charter breach application, which the jail official described as “a further platform to victimize me.”
The allegation comes from current Toronto South Detention Centre inmate Joshua James Malcolm-Evans, who has already pleaded guilty to gun-trafficking charges unrelated to the Project South police corruption and organized crime probe.
Malcolm-Evans’ Charter application argues his rights have been violated by the jail, and he is looking for a shorter sentence or stay of proceedings in his case.
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The senior corrections officer resumed and completed his testimony in the case by Zoom, with all screens behind a temporary wall put up in the courtroom to protect his identity, which is also covered by a publication ban. He first took the stand in Ontario’s Superior Court in Toronto earlier this month.
The cross-examination of the officer by Malcolm-Evans’ lawyer, Sherif Foda, concentrated on a specific incident on May 1, 2025, when a weapon (sharpened piece of glass or plastic) was found in the toilet of the inmate’s dry cell after he refused a strip search. Malcolm-Evans was later criminally charged in connection to the weapon.
“I’m going to suggest the moment [the] officer finds it is right after you’re leaning over there and take your hand off your hip,” said Foda, while reviewing security video of the search.
“You planted a weapon to justify your treatment of Malcolm-Evans, correct?”
The senior corrections officer replied, “absolutely not.” He told the court he was overseeing the search of the cell to make sure it was done properly.
“I am involved,” the senior corrections officer said.
“I could just as easily be sitting in my office behind a computer screen and not making sure things are being done properly to keep the institution safe.”
The officer also acknowledged problems at the jail and in the corrections system, in his testimony, but argued Malcolm-Evans’ affidavit made him out to be responsible for everything wrong with the criminal justice system.
“I’m not sitting here saying that corrections are perfect, that everything that happens in an institution is as it should be,” he said. “I’m not negating there is corruption within corrections, policing and the justice system as a whole.”
In his affidavit, Malcolm-Evans also accused the jail official of overseeing improper strip searches, telling him inmates have no rights and throwing away inmates belongings.
“To this day I am deeply traumatized by my experience,” wrote Malcolm-Evans, who’s been held at the Toronto jail since February 2024.
“I am no longer the same man I was when I entered TSDC. They have broken me.”
The senior corrections officer denied all of the allegations in an affidavit of his own and told the Crown prosecutor he “100 per cent” followed the law in relation to all his dealings with Malcolm-Evans, while testifying earlier this month.
His testimony in this case is the first time the senior corrections officer has spoken publicly since York Regional Police announced details of its sweeping, months-long investigation into corruption and organized crime, which began with the alleged attempt on the officer’s life in June 2025.
Six Toronto police officers, one retired constable and 19 civilians are facing charges in Project South. One other former Toronto police officer pleaded guilty to two charges in the investigation and received a 10-month conditional sentence last week.
In his affidavit, the jail official explains his ongoing concerns for his own safety in the year since the alleged attempts on his life.
“I am concerned about the proximity of what I perceive as a threat by Malcolm-Evans on April 30th, 2025, to the subsequent attempts on my life in June of 2025, potential involvement of organized crime, and a police officer being bribed to leak my home address to those [who] wanted to kill me, because of my work … at Toronto South Detention Centre, where I conducted myself consistently and professionally,” wrote the jail guard in his affidavit.
“Although a year has passed since the incident, it continues to have a profound impact on me and requiring vigilance concerning my safety.”
While investigating that alleged murder plot, York police discovered that Toronto police Const. Timothy Barnhardt had allegedly shared confidential information about the senior correctional officer with a civilian, Brian Da Costa. Police have accused Da Costa of providing that information to others charged in the alleged conspiracy.
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The charges against Barnhardt, who police described as the “genesis” of the investigation, and Da Costa have not been tested in court. Both men remain in custody.
Early this month, a publication ban was partially lifted on an Information to Obtain (ITO) application supporting more than 50 warrants in the Project South police investigation.
The ITO, sworn by a police officer in early February, revealed that an inmate and a correctional officer at TSDC were investigated for potential involvement in the alleged plot to kill the senior corrections officer, but the pair have not been charged in Project South.
Malcolm-Evans is not the inmate subject to investigation in the ITO. His Charter application continues to be argued in Superior Court.
