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Province planning expansion of Ontario jails

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Ontario is creating more space in its correctional facilities.

The Ford government is committing $3 billion to add more than 25-hundred permanent beds over the next decade.

Solicitor General Michael Kerzner says it prepares facilities for changes to bail and sentencing laws.

“We have been making investments with great clarity, transparency and focus so that Ontarians can rest assured knowing that if you break the law, we will have room for you in our jails and that Ontarians can trust our government to protect them and to keep them safe,” says Kerzner.

Some of the expansions are already underway, including work at the Thunder Bay Correctional Complex, expected to be completed by the end of this year or early 2027.

The province is also reviewing jails in Brantford and Walkerton that were closed by the former Liberal government to determine the possibility of them reopening.

Kerzner says with the expansion plans, Ontario’s facilities will have a combined capacity of 13,153 spaces.

To accommodate more prisoners, more staff will be added.

“As announced in the 2026 budget, our government is hiring 700 additional correctional staff, including correctional officers, community correctional staff, nurses, and critical support workers,” says Kerzner.

“This investment will further strengthen safety in our institutions and ensure frontline workers have the support they need.”

Jail Cell Door

Premier to investigate premature release of prison inmates

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Ontario’s Solicitor General says they are taking action following news that some inmates have been released from jail in error.

Global News identified through freedom-of-information requests that 150 people were mistakenly released from jails since 2021.

Speaking at Queen’s Park, Solicitor General Michael Kerzner says all were returned to jail shortly afterward.

“The Deputy Solicitor General for Corrections reaffirmed this. . . that if there was an improper release, those people are immediately re-apprehended and put back in jail, where they belong,” Kerzner says.

He says they have also taken steps to avoid similar occurrences.

“We’ve made investments to make sure that we’ve benefited from the digitalization with the Ministry of the Attorney General to make sure it doesn’t happen. We’re going to make sure that everybody is held to account,” says the Minister.

The Premier calls their release unacceptable and intends to find out why it happened in the first place.

“They had to pull me off the ceiling when I heard this,” says Ford.

“We’re going to find out what happened. We’re gonna go to root cause, and we’re gonna make sure not one single inmate, not one gets out that door.”

Ford refused to place blame on his Solicitor General, stating that it is the Deputy Minister who is responsible for overseeing correctional services.

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Jail Guard Makes First Court Appearance

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A corrections officer at the Thunder Bay District Jail has been released on bail.

38-year-old Andy Jason Saindon of Thunder Bay made his first appearance in court Thursday.

Saindon has been formally charged of breach of trust along with drug trafficking.

Police launched an investigation in April that focused on a suspect who was possibly using their position as a prison guard to bring contraband into the jail for profit.

After searching a locker they discovered what they suspect to be drugs along with $20,000 cash.

Police also found contents which were packaged in a way that they could be concealed during body searches.

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Corrections Officer Faces Multiple Charges

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An employee of the Thunder Bay District Jail is facing criminal charges.

Police say the 38-year-old man was arrested following an ongoing investigation involving breach of trust.

He has been charged with possessing cocaine, ecstasy, tobacco and cannabis for the purposes of trafficking.

He is also facing a charge of breach of trust.

The name of the individual will not be released until after he appears in court.

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OPP In Kenora Looking For Jail Visitor

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Provincial Police are looking for an unknown Indigenous man who visited the Kenora jail, supplied inmates with packages, and quickly ran away.

OPP say the unexpected visit happened Sunday morning around 11 o’clock.

The person is described as 5’8, skinny and was wearing black pants with a white stripe down the pant leg.

He was also wearing a maroon sweater, white shoes, a black hat with a white visor and a black COVID-19 mask over his faces.

The man was last seen headed West on foot on River Drive

Anyone with information is asked to contact OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or (807)548-5534.

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Murder Suspect Back In Custody

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The suspect who was accidentally released from the Thunder Bay District Jail last night has been caught.

Police say Kareem Zedan, who is from southern Ontario, was picked up in the Intercity area Thursday afternoon.

A spokesperson for the provincial Ministry of the Solicitor General says the inmate was released from the Thunder Bay Jail in error.

Kristy Denette says “any improper release of an inmate is unacceptable and the ministry takes these matters very seriously. Police were immediately notified.”

Zedan was arrested in Thunder Bay on March 24, charged with two counts of first-degree murder in Brantford.

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Union Official Says ‘No Delay’ For New Thunder Bay Jail

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It appears Ontario New Democrats may have jumped the gun on declaring an “indefinite delay” on building a new jail in Thunder Bay.

Shawn Bradshaw is the Ontario Public Service Employees Union representative for local corrections workers and confirms “there’s no delay.”

“I’ve been assured by the executive director of the corrections portfolio that they’re still committed to the project and it’s still moving forward through designs of the RFP (request for proposals) process,” says Bradshaw.

The OPSEU official believes it was an administrative issue on the website which caused the confusion.

Last week the Ontario NDP declared an” indefinite delay” in the construction of the jail based on information they saw on an Infrastructure Ontario web page.

Bradshaw indicates he is hosting meetings which have been gathering input on the next stages of planning for a new facility.

The Ford government has already committed itself to build the new 325-bed complex, which would combine the current Thunder Bay District Jail on MacDougall Street and the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre out on Highway 61.

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Jail Needs Under The Microscope

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The chief commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission wants the Ford government to reduce overcrowding at jails in Kenora and Thunder Bay.

Renu Mandhane told pre-budget consultations that relief is needed right away.

“When you have that many people in a facility, staff are kind of pushed to the brink so they are often taking leaves and it’s very hard to provide any form of rehabilitation or health care.”

Mandhane says relief doesn’t have to necessarily come from building new jails, noting the government can work on developing non-institutionalized forms of pre-trial detention.

The mental health needs of inmates is also a top priority for Mandhane.

She says following a visit to the Kenora jail, she found 90% of the population had identified mental health and addictions issues, mostly relating to First Nations inmates.

During a stop to the Thunder Bay facility with Nishnawbe Aski Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, she found out a psychiatrist visits the jail about twice a month.

She indicates with 150 people being incarcerated any given night there are many “with complex mental health needs.”

Mandhane is also asking for more training for corrections workers and an evaluation of staffing levels.

She notes “These are all things that can be done without investment in infrastructure or legislation. They are ideally things that can be done quickly and I think that there is a cost attached to them but we are paying already for our failures in the system.”