Ontario correctional facilities operating at 130% capacity as overcrowding worsens | Globalnews.ca
Ontario’s jails are running vastly above capacity, according to new data, which shows the oversubscribed corrections system is in a worse place than it was just two years ago.
New documents obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws reveal Ontario’s correctional facilities are operating at an average of 130 per cent full, with just five of the 25 facilities on the list reporting less than 100 per cent occupancy.
The data — which refers to occupancy statistics from October 2025 — shows some parts of Ontario are struggling more than others.
The Sudbury Jail, for example, was at 165.7 per cent capacity, while the Milton-Vanier Centre for Women was at 164 per cent. Occupancy at the South West Detention Centre sat at 158.4 per cent
The Maplehurst Correctional Complex, with 1,525 inmates, was at 137 per cent.
“The corrections facilities are in crisis today,” Ontario NDP MPP Krysten Wong-Tam told Global News. “It’s not a matter of whether or not we need to wait until they’re 200 per cent over capacity. We’re already at this breaking point.”
The institutions tracked hold people accused of a crime but not out on bail, as well as those serving sentences of two years less a day.
According to the documents, Ontario records the capacity of 25 separate institutions. One was operating at 77 per cent capacity — the only facility to report inmate totals lower than 91 per cent.
Eighty per cent of the institutions tracked were operating over capacity, many by massive margins.
The data shows a marked increase on September 2023, when figures obtained by The Canadian Press put province-wide capacity at 113 per cent. Two years later, Ontario’s jails are 15 per cent further over their planned capacity.
Maplehurst, which is the subject of an investigation by the province’s Ombudsman, had 1,188 inmates in a facility designed for 887 back in 2023. As of 2025, the government listed its operational capacity at 1,112 — with 1,550-plus inmates crammed inside.
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The overcrowding at Ontario’s jails has partly contributed to a system where experts worry contraband, including drugs, “flows like gravy,” and lockdowns are increasingly regular.
The same data from The Canadian Press found that roughly 80 per cent of all inmates at Ontario’s jails were awaiting trial — and therefore innocent under the country’s legal system.
Howard Sapers, the executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said Ontario’s jails have been “dangerously overcrowded” for decades.
“More than 70 out of every 100 people who are sleeping in an Ontario jail cell tonight haven’t been convicted of an offence,” he said. “This lays waste to the principle of the presumption of innocence. It also lays waste to the argument we have a catch and release system and that our bail is too lenient.”
A spokesperson for the solicitor general’s office did not address questions about how jail capacity continues to worsen, why the province was unprepared for new inmates or how many people are released early as a result of capacity issues.
“Across the province, we are adding over 1,400 new beds in corrections facilities, hiring 2,500 new staff and investing $3 billion to update corrections infrastructure to ensure dangerous criminals are never released due to a lack of space in adult correctional institutions,” they wrote, before referencing the former Liberal government’s pre-2018 policies.
The province has added at least 267 new beds since 2018, yet capacity issues have still worsened.
“Our government continues to explore new ways to bring more capacity to our corrections facilities faster, and will be unveiling additional expansions in the coming months,” the spokesperson added.
The province is in the midst of a new infrastructure build, planning to add 1,000 new beds to its portfolio, including through modular buildings and conversions, to speed up the process.
Ontario Liberal MPP Karen McCrimmon said the system was in dire condition.
“After eight years, the out-of-touch Ford Conservative Government has left Ontario with a corrections system in crisis,” she wrote in a statement.
“This is what happens when a government gets its priorities wrong. Instead of strengthening essential public services, they’ve allowed the justice system to become dangerously overstretched.”
The government has faced growing questions about its correctional facilities, as it leans into tough-on-crime rhetoric and issues within the system grow.
A high-profile incident at Maplehurst, where inmates were stripped down to their boxer shorts and forced to sit on the floor facing the wall, with their wrists zip-tied together, drew particular attention.
Previously, the Toronto Star released security footage relating to the event, including correctional officers dressed in tactical gear patrolling as inmates sat on the floor.
The ombudsman’s office said it had received 60 complaints about the incident, including from some directly involved. They also said several inmates have had their sentences reduced because of the incident.
The auditor general also previously found that some of Ontario’s jails are operating at 150 per cent capacity, pointing out that the majority of inmates are awaiting trial and have not been found guilty.
Last year, the ombudsman urgently called on the government to take action.
“Ontario’s correctional system is in urgent need of meaningful, systemic reform — not only to relieve pressure on overcrowded facilities and burned-out staff, but to realign the system with its rehabilitative purpose,” he wrote.
“This is a matter of public safety, human rights, and basic decency. We cannot afford to ignore it any longer.”
— with files from The Canadian Press
