Ombudsman sounds alarm about 'growing state of crisis' in Ontario jails

CBC

25-06-2025

Ontario's ombudsman is raising alarm about a "growing state of crisis" in provincial jails, saying in his annual report released on Wednesday that urgent reform is needed.
Paul Dubé said his office responded to 6,870 cases about correctional facilities in the fiscal year 2024-2025, an increase of 55 per cent from the previous fiscal year. Cases involve both complaints and inquiries.
"While much of our work addresses concerns around service delivery, many of the issues that we encounter go far beyond mere inefficiencies. They raise profound questions about fundamental human rights," Dubé told reporters at Queen's Park.
"Nowhere is this more evident than in Ontario's correctional system, which is frankly in a growing state of crisis."
Dubé said many of the complaints stemmed from "severe, entrenched" problems. These include:
Overcrowding, including three inmates in cells made for two.
Frequent lockdowns.
Inadequate health care.
Indigenous inmates with no access to a native inmate liaison officer.
Inmates with mental health issues being placed in segregation, something that is "not supposed to happen."
Dubé said his staff visited 12 correctional facilities across Ontario in the past year, including Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton, Ont., and is in regular contact with senior managers of the facilities and Ontario's Ministry of the Solicitor General to draw attention to problems.
He also said he has launched an investigation into the province's response to a two-day incident at Maplehurst in December 2023, in which "many inmates were so poorly treated that they have had the charges against them reduced or even dismissed by judges." In that incident, inmates were ordered to strip to their underwear and to sit facing a wall with their wrists zip-tied.
'People housed in broom closets and former pantries'
The investigation will look at how the Ministry of the Solicitor General handled the incident and what it is doing to prevent such an incident from happening again.
"Overall, the conditions that we are seeing and hearing about in the correctional system not only fail to meet the basic expectations of fairness and dignity, but in some cases actively undermine the very principles of justice and human rights that we are committed to protecting," Dubé said.
"This is a challenge that requires urgent attention and a long term commitment to meaningful reform."
Dubé said there is both overcrowding and staff shortages in correctional facilities, and he has noticed that conditions have deteriorated in the past few years.
"We're finding people housed in broom closets and former pantries and stuff. The system has deteriorated and it's in crisis," he said.
Dubé said the problem should matter to all Ontario residents and that poor treatment and conditions are leading to reduced sentences or charges stayed. He noted that many of those held in Ontario jails have not been convicted of any crime but are awaiting trial.
"They are brothers, fathers and sons, but they're also our neighbours. It's in our interest for those people not to come out more broken than when they went in and to be rehabilitated as much as possible," he said. "It should matter to all of us what goes on there."
'Treating people worse than animals,' lawyer says
Kevin Egan, a lawyer in London, Ont., who has represented inmates across the province at inquests, said multiple inquests have made recommendations to the government on changes and that the problems are not new.
"Unfortunately, it seems to me that the problem lies with the government in not really having an interest in fixing the problems, of which they have been well aware of for more than a decade," Egan said. "It's a complete failure."
Egan said the violence in jails occurs on almost on a daily basis. He said conditions are deplorable.
"Every waking moment, you're afraid that somebody's going to assault you, whether it's a fellow prisoner or a correctional officer," he said.
Egan said jails are intended to punish people and to keep the community safe, but also to rehabilitate inmates. Inmates should not be deprived of their human dignity, he said.
"Let's call it what it is. It's treating people worse than animals because they may have run afoul of the law," Egan said.
The Ministry of the Solicitor General's office did not respond to a request for comment about the report.
Ontario NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam, who represents Toronto Centre, said the report is not surprising and the government is familiar with the issues raised in it.
"This government has had an ample warning," Wong-Tam said. "They have been advised. They have been warned. And they are hearing the same things we are hearing. The only major difference is that they won't fix it and they won't even speak to the matter."
Wong-Tam said the courts and correctional systems needs to be better funded to improve conditions.
"They can build more jails, but if you can't get a case through trial, you'll be building jails upon jails and those are still people who are legally presumed innocent," Wong-Tam said.
According to Dubé, his office also saw a huge increase in complaints about young people in detention and custody. Cases about youth justice centres, which his staff visited to meet young detainees and hear their concerns, more than doubled in 2024-2025, to a record 423 from 202 the previous year.
Overall, the ombudsman received 30,675 cases, including complaints and inquiries, in the fiscal year 2024-2025, which was a 30-year high.
According to his report, the most complained-about organization was Tribunals Ontario with 1,237 cases, including 971 about the Landlord and Tenant Board.