Ontario’s overcrowded jails are being forced to lockdown inmates more regularly because they don’t have the staff required, according to new data, as correctional officers complain about dangerous conditions.

New information, obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws, shows the vast majority of the province’s correctional facilities are operating with far more inmates than they were designed for, as well as growing staffing problems.

Figures from the Ministry of the Solicitor General show that, in 2023, an Ontario jail was forced to lockdown its inmates some 1,275 times because there weren’t enough staff on shift.

That number spiked by more than 50 per cent to 1,925 in 2024. Last year, it increased again to 2,082.

The figures don’t specify how long the lockdowns took place for. They also don’t break down whether the entire facility, or just a portion, was locked down.

Ontario Liberal MPP Lucille Collard said overcrowding in jails was leading to more incidents, placing pressure on staff and making it harder to recruit officers.

“If you put people in close proximity like that, people will go crazy,” she said.

“So there’s a rise of violence and disruption, and that’s followed by lockdowns because there’s not enough staff to contain them. It’s a rotating thing that makes everything worse.”

Data shared with Global News by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union confirms violence inside the province’s jails is on the rise too.

The number of inmate-on-inmate assaults has risen from 2,880 in 2015 to 7,307 in 2025. Inmate-on-staff assaults are up from 545 in 2017 (when the data began) to 1,249 last year.

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Over the past few years, the pace of assaults has increased. In 2022, there were 856 assaults on staff, rising to 957 in 2023, 953 in 2024 and then past 1,000 last year.

Adam Cygler, a member of the ministry employee relations committee for OPSEU, the union representing corrections workers, said overcrowding in jails makes them more dangerous to work in.

“We’ve seen an explosive increase in the number of violent incidents within correctional institutions in Ontario,” he said. “A lot of that is we have the same physical space, and we’re cramming more people into it.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Solicitor General said they recognized the “unique challenges faced by correctional staff, who are regularly exposed to difficult situations that can impact their mental health.”

They said they were adding “targeted supports and training” for correctional staff, including “resiliency and mindfulness training” and a peer support program.

As the government has squeezed more and more inmates into single cells, the number of officers has not risen enough, Cygle indicated.

“Staffing resources haven’t really increased in order to keep up with the additional, temporary beds that have been put in place,” he explained. “In a unit where previously there were 40 inmates housed, now there’s sometimes 60 or 70 inmates housed and there’s no additional staff that’s been provided there.”

Cygle said the union has seen workers forced to take time away due to physical or mental injury. Roughly one in five correctional officers quits within their first year, Cygler added.

Solicitor General Michael Kerzner appeared to reject the notion that jails are operating far over capacity when he spoke to reporters on Monday.

“I don’t know where you’re getting your facts from,” he said, referring to occupancy data Global News obtained from the government using freedom of information laws.

“We will spare no expense to make sure that we will continue to invest, we will be transparent. When I said that we’re going to bring over 1,000 new beds online in the shortest of term, we said exactly where we would do it.”

Kerzner said he would also look to increase capacity by relying on modular units to expand jails —adding 300 new beds to some jails through temporary structures.

Since 2018, the government has added 267 new beds in Ontario, but jails have jumped in the last two years alone from 113 per cent occupancy to 130 per cent.

Figures from October 2025 show some jails are substantially higher than even the elevated average.

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.

Howard Sapers, the executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said poor conditions inside jails were costing the taxpayer millions.

“I can’t even count how much money every provincial and territorial government and the federal government spends every year settling lawsuits because of the terrible conditions of confinement, the dangerous conditions of confinement,” he said.

“The wrongful death lawsuits. Lawsuits about being locked down and denied access to physicians or to medication.”

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