Overview
- New freedom‑of‑information data show Ontario’s jails averaged about 130% capacity in October 2025, with sites such as Sudbury (165.7%) and the Milton‑Vanier Centre for Women (164%) far above their designed limits.
- Staffing shortfalls have driven more lockdowns, with ministry figures rising from 1,275 in 2023 to 1,925 in 2024 and 2,082 in 2025, restricting movement and basic services inside facilities.
- Union data point to worsening safety, with inmate‑on‑inmate assaults climbing to 7,307 in 2025 and inmate‑on‑staff assaults reaching 1,249 last year, which officers link to crowding in unchanged physical space.
- Government records also track repeated administrative failures, including 118 improper releases from 2021–2024 and 39 more between January and September 2025, which officials attribute largely to data entry and paperwork errors.
- Premier Doug Ford and Solicitor General Michael Kerzner back a three‑phase plan to add nearly 6,000 beds by 2050, including modular units and projects like the $1.2‑billion Thunder Bay complex, as opponents press for court, bail, housing and treatment fixes given that about 80% of inmates are awaiting trial.