What it really comes down to is the government is trying to save costs by sacrificing our safety.
Like most things Canadian, we half ass it and are shocked when it fails to work.
There's no room at the Inn, unfortunately...
For example:
South West Detention Centre among institutions over capacity
Most of Ontario's institutions were over capacity in 2023, the data shows.
Maplehurst Correction Complex in Milton, Ont., was the most overcrowded last year, with an average inmate population of 1,188 but official capacity for 887 – meaning it was operating at 134 per cent capacity in 2023.
Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre in London, Ont., was a close second at 133 per cent capacity, with an average 471 inmates while having operational capacity for 353.
South West Detention Centre in Windsor, Ont., was operating at 129 per cent capacity, with 337 inmates but space for only 262 people.
Criminal lawyers and corrections officers say the overcrowding in jails has led to several problems, including cramped living conditions for inmates and an increase in assaults on correctional officers.
Inmates are triple bunking in single cells in several institutions, said Chad Oldfield, a corrections spokesman for the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.
Correctional officers are increasingly assaulted, he said, and operational stress injuries and post-traumatic stress for the guards is on the rise.
"We've also lost a number of staff who have died by suicide over the last year," he said. "You've got climbing inmate counts and then you've got staffing shortages, it's just a recipe for disaster."
Correctional officers are third among occupations with approved work-related stress injury claims registered with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board between 2016 and 2022, WSIB data shows. Only police officers and paramedics have more stress injury claims.
