KITCHENER - A former Kitchener neurologist who's facing 34 charges for sex crimes was allegedly assaulted while in jail.

Jeffrey Scott Sloka has been in custody at Maplehurst Detention Centre since Tuesday.

On Thursday, Sloka's defence asked for more security measures for his client because of an alleged altercation that happened the day before.

"I think there is certainly an institutional obligation to a safe environment, realizing of course that it's a challenge to do that 100 per cent of the time," explains Joan Nandlal with the John Howard Society.

Defence lawyer Ari Goldkind isn't directly involved in this case, but says this isn't uncommon.

"We hear it time and time again from our client, that they are threatened or they are in jeopardy," he says.

"It is the job of the detention centre to keep them safe, as much as people probably don't want them to be kept safe."

During a court appearance Friday, Sloka had noticeable injuries. His lawyer told the court that he has a fractured nose, bruising and swelling on his face.

Now, the defence is asking for additional security measures to be put in place.

"Maplehurst would know that this person is at great risk of being beaten up or hurt," Goldkind says.

"Hopefully Maplehurst took the steps to protect him and something unpredictable happened."

Sloka's lawyer didn't want to comment to CTV News.

The province says there were about 9,000 inmates in custody at Maplehurst in 2018. In the same time period, there were more than 550 reports of inmate-on-inmate assaults.

The province says it won't comment on the specifics of this case.

Sloka is due back in court on Monday for a bail hearing.