Overcrowding at Niagara jail reaches 6-year peak, with 40% more inmates since 2019

Overcrowding at the Niagara Detention Centre (NDC) reached its highest levels since 2019 in the first half of 2025 — with an occupancy rate of 136 per cent, according to data analyzed by CBC News.

The data, obtained through freedom of information requests to Ontario’s Ministry of the Solicitor General, breaks down jail populations and lockdowns held in 24 provincial institutions in operation between January 2019 and July 2025.

In 2019, with an average jail population of 215 prisoners, the NDC’s occupancy rate was at 97 per cent. In the first six months of 2025, it had an average population of 302 prisoners, or around 40 per cent more than in 2019. The facility has 240 operational beds.

Those numbers are concerning to Angela Case, the mother of a 22-year-old who was detained in the jail in Thorold, Ont., back in 2018. Her son Jordan Case died while in jail after an overdose in his cell, according to his autopsy.

Case said she learned about jail conditions through the inquest into her son's death and says overcrowding was an issue at the NDC even before 2019.

During the inquest, which was held in early 2025, Case was given access to review photos and footage of the cell Jordan shared with another inmate.

“There are really thin mattresses on the floor,” Case said, describing the cell as built for one person with one concrete bed, which she says was forcibly taken by his cellmate. “[Jordan] had two mattresses on top of each other and his bed was on the floor.”

Dave Haine, correctional officer and union president representing NDC correctional workers, said staff have also been struggling with the impact of overcrowding.

“Prior to COVID, we — at the time — thought we were stretched to our limits,” Haine told CBC News.

“I would almost call it Tetris,” he said about correctional officers constantly moving inmates around to fit the number of operational beds at the Niagara jail.

“With the influx of programming that the [Ministry of the Solicitor General] is continually pushing forward … we have not been provided any extra resources to make that programming successful.”

“It does cause significant staff burnout,” Haine said, as NDC staff struggle to provide the ministry and inmates the programming they want as the number of detainees increases.

According to Haine, the NDC employs about 93 full-time and 60 contract correctional officers. Although some were hired part-time, he says they’ve been mostly working full-time hours.

“Our building was built in 1973,” said Haine. “As a result, the logistics of our building make it very difficult to make all these programs fit within what our building can handle.”