Ontario’s jails are in a “growing crisis,” according to the province’s ombudsman, who is urging a rapid and meaningful overhaul of the correctional system.

In his annual report, Ombudsman Paul Dubé said his office had received a “staggering” increase in complaints related to correctional facilities — up 55 per cent on the previous year to 6,870.

Investigators for the ombudsman visited jails in Ontario over the past year, and the conditions they observed concerned them, according to the report.

At various facilities, they said they were met with overcrowding and growing tensions between inmates and staff, who are increasingly burned out.

“This is not just a legal and policy failure, it is a moral one,” Dubé wrote in his report. “If left unaddressed, the consequences will continue to reverberate through our courts, our communities and our collective conscience.”

The Ford government has placed an increased rhetorical emphasis on bail reform and increasing jail sentences, rolling out a plan to build more jails.

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Existing facilities, however, are overcrowded and over-capacity. The auditor general found some of Ontario’s jails are operating at 150 per cent capacity, pointing out that the majority of inmates are awaiting trial and have not been found guilty.

An incident at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton sparked greater scrutiny of the system. Inmates were stripped ot their underwear and forced to sit facing a wall with their wrists tied.

Ontario Liberal MPP Karen McCrimmon said she was concerned by the conditions at the correctional complex.

“The situation at Maplehurst is entirely unacceptable, but as the Ontario Ombudsman lays out, chaos is never far in correctional facilities that are overcapacity and understaffed,” she said in a statement.

“The sorry state of Ontario’s jails is a recipe for disaster.”

The issues in jails spill out across the justice system, the ombudsman’s report argues.

“Violations of inmate rights’ are not just internal matters — they are undermining the administration of justice itself,” Dubé wrote. “Courts have reduced sentences and granted early parole due to unlawful treatment behind bars. Some inmates have applied to have their charges – even murder charges – stayed.”

Ontario NDP Kristyn Wong-Tam said the government should address the issue of funding.

“Making sure we fund the courts so it runs smoothly and efficiently, making sure we fund corrections so that we can reduce the overcrowding,” they said.

“All of that is going to make a huge difference in actually reducing the tension, the violence and the horrible conditions that we are seeing right now.”

A spokesperson for the Solicitor General’s office said they “will review the ombudsman’s report.”

The ombudsman concluded jails were in dire need of attention from the government.

“Ontario’s correctional system is in urgent need of meaningful, systemic reform — not only to relieve pressure on overcrowded facilities and burned-out staff, but to realign the system with its rehabilitative purpose,” he wrote. :

“This is a matter of public safety, human rights, and basic decency. We cannot afford to ignore it any longer.”

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