Updated: Tue Oct. 05 2010 9:15:43 AM

The Canadian Press

TORONTO — A man has filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of himself and other developmentally disabled people alleging decades of abuse at an Ontario institution he claims was a "prison-like environment."

David McKillop of Gananoque was admitted to the Rideau Region Centre in Smiths Falls in 1955 when he was five, and stayed a ward of the institution until 1972.

He is suing the province of Ontario claiming "punitive damages."

McKillop alleges he was forced to clean floors and toilets with a toothbrush, wear embarrassing nightgowns all day, and says he was violently kicked in the groin by a staff member, which left him unable to have children.

The allegations contained in the statement of claim have not been proven in court.

The Rideau operated from 1951 to March, 2009.

In July, an Ontario Superior Court officially certified a 1 billion dollar class action suit launched by former residents of Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia.