Northern Ontario jails among the most overcrowded in the province, new data shows

Jails in northern Ontario are facing some of the worst overcrowding pressures in the province, with population data showing dramatic increases since 2019.

Frontline workers and inmates are warning the conditions inside many facilities are increasingly unsafe.

Through freedom of information requests, CBC News obtained data from the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General representing jail population and operational capacity for Jan. 1, 2019, to July 1, 2025.

Based on the ministry's most recent data, covering January to June 2025, here's the average occupancy rate for jails in northern Ontario:

CBC has reached out to the Ministry of the Solicitor General for comment but did not receive a response before deadline.

On the average night in 2019, the Algoma Treatment and Remand Centre in Sault Ste. Marie had a handful of empty beds. 

The ministry's latest data, covering January 2024 to June 2025, shows that the small, mixed-gender facility has consistently required about 40 people to sleep on the floor.

Josh Miller, a correctional officer and the union president for workers there, says the overcrowding is evident and impacts every aspect of daily operations. 

“We have 155 beds, that's actual places for inmates to sleep. As of today, our count this morning was 210. So that means we're about 135 per cent over capacity and it's been that way for at least a year,” Miller said. 

Inmates are being housed in spaces that are not designed to be living units like multi-purpose rooms and video call suites he explained, adding that means a mattress on the floor without access to washroom facilities. 

“We're responsible on the frontline for delivering basic services. Everything from health care, to feeding, to visits, to professional visits, to fresh air, to hopefully some form of programming,” Miller said. 

“When you're operating at 135 per cent capacity, the time in your day just becomes exceptionally limited. All of the things that you would like to do tend to get usurped by the things you have to do.”

He said the Sault Ste. Marie jail was designed to serve 270 meals a day, but staff now prepare 600, without additional support.

Miller, who has been working as a jail guard in northern Ontario for over 27 years, said there are also signs of rising violence inside, which he feels is directly tied to overcrowding.