By Wendy Lee, Local 575, InSolidarity Committee
Ontario’s front-line correctional workers didn’t cause the crisis in corrections, but they are suffering terribly because of it. Despite the fact OPSEU/SEFPO members have been courageously trying to flag and fix the crisis for decades, they continue to endure not just an incredibly dangerous workplace, but also frequent blame and recrimination from their bosses and the public.
The Ombudsman of Ontario is currently investigating the chronic overcrowding and lack of safety in the province’s correctional facilities, in part because of an incident at Maplehurst during which front-line workers on the Institutional Crisis Intervention Team were deployed following an unprovoked, severe assault on a correctional officer.
As with other investigations and studies, the Ombudsman has an opportunity to finally start fixing the problems that should now be of no surprise to anybody.
Look back 10 years, and you’ll find correctional workers speaking out clearly and dramatically:
- 2016 InSolidarity: I am a correctional officer. I have had to lock my co-workers in with murderers and gang members who were trying to escape and riot, so I could protect the public. I have seen co-workers attacked and assaulted too many times to count. I have lost co-workers to suicide, disease, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
- 2016 InSolidarity: “The conditions inside the Thunder Bay jail are even worse than I ever imagined,” said the OPSEU/SEFPO President after touring in the facility in 2016. At his side was Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs. Built for 62 inmates, the facility now warehouses as many as 120 or more at any given time.
- “We’ve been asking the province for a new jail since 2002,” the mayor told reporters and a crowd of more than 50 correctional officers and supporters huddled together in minus-15-degree temperatures. “And in all that time nothing has happened.”
- And in this media release from December 2025, OPSEU/SEFPO members are saying the exact same things, as though no time has passed:
- “Jails are tense places. When you pack people into a space made for half the number of people actually living there, tensions go up. As tensions go up, violence increases.”
- “The truth is that we don’t really have any space. We don’t have anywhere to put people. It really does highlight what we have been ringing the alarm bells on. It’s highlighting a system that’s at a breaking point, right? We’re in crisis.”
The Ontario Ombudsman’s role is to make sure we are all treated fairly by our public services, and that our rights are respected, even those of us who have been jailed. We all have a right to dignity and respect.
The focus of this investigation cannot and should not be too narrow.
It must also acknowledge the long-term and well-documented crisis in corrections caused by decades of underfunding and neglect. All the policies and procedures in place for numerous years need to be carefully examined and diligently reviewed if we are to truly make a significant impact moving forward and not just take a “band aid” approach. Long-lasting change is never a quick fix.
Report after report – but where are improvements?
It should come as no surprise that there are many reports and cited examples in the media that highlight the issues correctional institutions face every day:
- Navigating Challenges in Ontario’s Correctional Services: Transforming the Future – Justice Trends Magazine
- Deaths in correctional facilities demand systemic response, former investigator says – CBC News
- Overcrowding in Ontario jails puts mental strain on correctional officers – Canadian Occupational Safety
- Major problems in Ontario jails and courts – The John Howard Society of Canada
- Judges Blast Ontario’s Neglect in Prison Conditions – Ricochet
- Nearly 80% of people in Ontario jails awaiting bail or trial, new report finds – CBC News
There are also a number of videos and audio footage on this topic:
- Jails top Ontario’s ombudsman complaint list – CHCH News
- Global News: Contraband in Ontario’s jails ‘flows like gravy’ as capacity concerns grow
- CBC: Ontario jails set to hit overcrowding record as bail reform looms, data shows
- CBC Sudbury: Northern Ontario jail staff raise alarms over pay gaps, contract hiring and mental health
- CBC Sudbury: Northern Ontario jails among the most overcrowded in the province, new data shows
- CBC Sudbury: Northern Ontario jail staff raise alarms over pay gaps, contract hiring and mental health
- CBC National: Investigation finds Ontario jails overcrowded with big increase in women prisoners
- One Mop. Endless Uses – APTN
- Unprecedented footage from inside an Ontario penitentiary – CTV News
So what can we hope to change in the corrections institutions and system?
Perhaps we need to address the following questions in current and future investigations:
- Are we asking the “right” and relevant questions to seek improvements? Asking questions that don’t lead to immediate action can make us feel good, but perhaps not really serve the purpose(s) required.
- Are we talking to the “right” people or does there need to be broader spectrum of individuals being interviewed? When the continuum and distribution of those asked for feedback is not broad, then the data collected may end up being skewed.
- How is the collected information going to be utilized, analyzed and presented? Clearly, it’s no longer adequate, sufficient, tolerable or competent to issue study after study, report after report. Investment of funds, knowledge and expertise is now needed to tackle and address the identified needs and concerns.
- It appears that immediate action needs to be taken. Inmates, front line staff, management, task forces and all stakeholders need immediate changes in addition to short term, medium term and long-term milestones.
As the Ombudsman’s Office investigates, all stakeholders can only hope that fundamental questions be asked and answered. Without this, another study is just another study, a report is just another report.
As the general public is an outsider looking in, we need to ensure that those who live the experience, work in the experience, manage the experience, and have a stake in the experience all participate in a fulsome discussion and dialogue. Otherwise, it’s going to be way too easy to cast the first stone, lay blame and shame in the guise of public “accountability”.
It takes much more courage and resilience to ask the questions where we might not be comfortable or like the answers. It takes bravery to address the lack-ofs in a very broken system.
The question for all of us now is, are we prepared to put the hard work in – at each and every layer of this complex issue– to make meaningful and everlasting improvements in the corrections institutions and system as a whole?