Ontario plans to add several hundred more beds and guards to deal with overflowing prisons, Ontario Solicitor General Micheal Kerzner said on Monday.
The 630 beds and 200 correctional staff members will be added to the province’s correctional system to aid in the safety of inmates, Kerzner said.
"We’re expanding and building facilities that will help front-line staff to do their jobs safely and effectively while increasing capacity to keep violent and repeat offenders off our streets," Kerzner said at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC) in London, Ont.
This announcement came weeks following an inquest into the deaths of eight EMDC inmates from June 2017 to March 2021.
Kerzner looked to the Liberal government and blamed them for these deaths.
“Well you know what, when you look back, when the Liberals were in office, they brought the correctional system; they brought public safety to its knees,” Kerzner said.
Data by The Canadian Press showed the majority of Ontario’s jails are at overcapacity, creating unsafe living conditions, a rise in violent acts, and drug overdoses.
The data obtained by freedom-of-information laws showed that as of Sept. 30, 2023, there were an average of 8,889 inmates in Ontario jails, surpassing the 7,848-person limit.
This influx of inmates resulted in jails operating at 113 per cent capacity, The Canadian Press reported.
The Ontario government said 81 per cent of jail’s populations are inmates awaiting trial, meaning that many of those experiencing mental turmoil, violence, and discomfort are, technically, innocent.
While inmates experience many issues due to overpopulation, they are not the only ones experiencing mental and physical stress, according to the union representing correctional officers.
Correctional officers are continuously assaulted, producing a rise in operational stress injuries and post-traumatic stress disorders, with suicide rates among correctional officers growing, said the union.
Chad Oldfield, an Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) representative and correctional officer, said there is a need for expansion and hopes that it will provide staff with the proper tools while lessening violent acts against staff.
"This is definitely going to help give the staff on the front lines some additional tools that they need in order to do their jobs and to do them safely," Oldfield said. "Hopefully this will also help mitigate some of the violence against staff issues we are seeing regularly now."
Kerzner said this expansion will help as jail capacities increase.
“Our government is taking action to make one of the most significant correctional capacity increases in our province in many years,” Kerzner said.
Ontario is building a 345-bed jail in Thunder Bay, Ont., set to replace the current jail, doubling its capacity, and costing $1.2 billion, and an additional 235-bed facility in Kemptville, Ont. which has been met with opposition from locals as it would result in a loss of farmland.
Additionally, Ontario will reopen the Regional Intermittent Centre in London, Ont. and the Toronto Intermittent Centre at the Toronto South Detention Centre.
Both centres were used for those serving weekend stays for minor crimes but were closed in 2021 as inmates utilized GPS monitoring systems.
Ontario notes that the centres will re-open by 2026 and house minimum and medium-risk inmates.
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