Critics say it is “incredible” that the Ford government has overseen the accidental release of more than 150 jail inmates over the past five years, claiming it casts doubt on their promise to be tough on crime.

Internal documents and data obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws show that inmates are routinely released “improperly” from the province’s correctional facilities.

During question period, the Ontario Liberals asked repeatedly about the accidental release — but Premier Doug Ford, Solicitor General Michael Kerzner and Attorney General Doug Downey sidestepped them to talk about crime and bail.

“We asked 11 times — can’t find them? We didn’t get an answer. We didn’t even get an acknowledgment of the problem,” Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser told reporters.

“Imagine you’re the victim of a carjacking or an assault or a robbery or some other crime and you hear that the government let 150 people out, they can’t find them and the government won’t even acknowledge there was a problem.”

After question period, Ontario Premier Doug Ford briefly stopped to promise he was “digging in” to work out what happened.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s unacceptable, and I’m going to get down to the bottom of it,” he told Global News. “We’re building more jails to keep the prisoners inside. I can assure you, it’s not going unnoticed.”

Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the issue stemmed from underinvestment in the province’s jail system, which is operating far above capacity and with increasing staff shortages.

“I think a lot of this is being driven by underinvestment in our criminal justice system,” he said.

“Many people are overworked, they’re overburdened, and when you’re operating in that type of environment, more mistakes are made. The government needs to take accountability for it, but the premier seems to want to dismiss it because it undermines the image he wants to have of being tough on crime.”

Kerzner told reporters after a cabinet meeting that he thought it was “unacceptable” that inmates were being mistakenly released, but could offer little information on what happened.

“I’m going to make sure that we understand exactly what happened,” he told reporters. “I’m not satisfied that one person is released improperly, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”

Kerzner said there were some “really bad people” in jails and said he would work out how some inmates had been released “very soon.”

The documents obtained by Global News show the ministry Kerzner manages tracks several metrics — including how many people have been improperly released, how many were released “in error” and the number of people unlawfully at large in Ontario.

“An improper release of an inmate from a correctional facility or court is unacceptable,” a briefing note prepared for the minister says.

“Improper releases are typically due to administrative or technical/data entry error by any one of the justice sector partners.”

The same document acknowledged that “human error” at Ontario’s over-capacity jails plays a part in improper releases.

Jails tracked 32 improper releases in 2021, 31 in 2022, 25 in 2023 and 30 in 2024 — a total of 118 over four years. The majority were as a result of “institutional issues” rather than mistakes made by the courts.

The government determined 77 were because of “errors or oversight at the institutional level,” 39 were court errors, one was another stakeholder, and one case was thought to be a mistake but actually “determined to be proper.”

The documents don’t reveal what the individuals were charged with and whether or not they had been found guilty by a court, but police are notified when the releases happen and, the government said, “all efforts are made to locate the individual and return them to custody.”

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