Ontario expanding jail capacity by adding 2,500 beds over next decade
· Toronto Sun
The Ontario government is adding 2,500 permanent jail beds over the next 10 years in an effort to ensure the province’s corrections system can keep pace with tougher bail and sentencing laws.
“When violent and repeat offenders break the law, Ontarians expect them to be kept behind bars and not back on our streets,” Solicitor General Michael Kerzner said in a press release.
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“That’s why we’re strengthening bail and making generational investments to increase correctional capacity so there is always room to hold criminals accountable, today and into the future.”
The new jail beds are part of a $3 billion investment that includes building new correctional facilities and expanding existing facilities.
By November 2026, the province said there would be 255 permanent new beds across 12 existing institutions.
The province is also hiring more than 700 new correctional staff, including correctional officers, nurses and critical support workers.
Long-term plan to add thousands of jail beds
The announcement follows a recent Canadian Press report on the province’s plan to add nearly 6,000 jail beds by 2050, which it said would cost taxpayers billions.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford defended the high pricetag last month, stating, “Those billions of dollars is well invested to make sure our communities are safe.”
The report was based on documents obtained by University of Ottawa researchers through freedom-of-information laws that were shared with CP .
The documents also showed that the province’s jails, with about 8,500 beds, were operating with about 2,000 more inmates than their capacity.
Critics of the plan included Opposition Leader Marit Stiles, who said the Ford government’s plan to add jail capacity was not a solution to the issues facing the justice system.
“Our jails right now are deeply overcrowded, and that’s not safe for inmates or for correctional officers,” the NDP leader said, per CP . “I just question why this government never seems to look at any of the upstream solutions around community safety.”