Jails in Ontario are mistakenly releasing dozens of inmates every year, Global News can reveal, an issue the government internally acknowledges is “unacceptable.”
Between the years 2021 and 2024, data compiled by the Ministry of the Solicitor General shows 118 inmates were released “improperly” through a system managed by the provincial government.
While the government claims the improper cases amount to 0.004 per cent of all releases in 2024, the ministry was concerned enough to appoint a central coordinator to oversee all inmate records.
Despite that appointment in 2023, and a new “easy-to-read” handbook to guide the release of inmates, records show 39 people were “improperly” released between January and September 2025.
The improper releases have raised concerns about staffing and overcrowding in Ontario’s prison system and come at a time when the Ford government is planning a dramatic increase in jail beds.
“This tells me that you have a government that is not in control of the situation; they can’t keep even the headcount clear,” Ontario NDP MPP Krysten Wong-Tam told Global News.
“They have no sense of what the crisis is that is before us in corrections. And clearly, they have no solutions; they have run out of ideas despite the fact that they’ve had eight years to solve the problem.”
The Ministry of the Solicitor General did not reply to questions from Global News on the record, but in a background call insisted the improper releases were a result of various factors that did not include either overcrowding or staffing shortages.
Documents obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws show the government tracks several metrics — including how many people have been improperly released, how many were released “in error” and the number of people unlawfully at large in Ontario.
“An improper release of an inmate from a correctional facility or court is unacceptable,” a briefing note prepared for Solicitor General Michael Kerzner, included in the documents, explains.
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“Improper releases are typically due to administrative or technical/data entry error by any one of the justice sector partners.”
The same document acknowledged that “human error” at Ontario’s over-capacity jails plays a part in improper releases.
Jails tracked 32 improper releases in 2021, 31 in 2022, 25 in 2023 and 30 in 2024 — a total of 118 over four years. The majority were as a result of “institutional issues” rather than mistakes made by the courts.
The government determined 77 were because of “errors or oversight at the institutional level,” 39 were court errors, one was another stakeholder, and one case was thought to be a mistake but actually “determined to be proper.”
The documents don’t reveal what the individuals were charged with and whether or not they had been found guilty by a court, but police are notified when the releases happen and, the government said, “all efforts are made to locate the individual and return them to custody.”
Data disclosed through the same freedom of information request also offered insights into where improper releases are taking place — and how many inmates are “unlawfully at large.”
A spreadsheet showing information from January to September 2025 said seven of 39 improper releases reported during that period were at Maplehurst Correctional Complex.
The first improper release last year recorded by the government came on Jan. 13 at the that facility.
Elsewhere, 69 people were considered to be unlawfully at large over the same period. Nineteen of them were attributed to the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre, 13 to the Central East Correctional Centre and another 12 to the Toronto South Detention Centre.
Howard Sapers, the executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said mistakes were excusable — but regularly improper releases suggested a broader problem in the system.
“When you have systemic error based on people that aren’t prepared to do their job well because they haven’t had the training or they haven’t been mentored properly, or having policies that are outdated, using information systems that are cumbersome … it’s really fixable,” he said.
“We can do a better job of collecting and sharing information. We can invest more in our informatics and technology.”
The improper releases come as Ontario plans to build thousands of new jail beds in response to overcrowding inside its existing facilities.
Data from October 2025 shows jails are at an average of 130 per cent capacity across Ontario, with some reaching figures north of 160 per cent. At the same time, lockdowns as a result of staffing shortages are increasing.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters on Tuesday his government would continue building new jails, but did not address questions about the current capacity issues.
“My number one concern is making sure we protect the correctional service officers that are in there. I’m not building Four Seasons hotels for criminals that should be in jail,” he said.
“We’ll continue adding cells to keep the bad people in jail where they belong.”
Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the releases showed the government’s campaign to convince Ottawa to change bail laws was hollow.
“If we’re releasing the wrong people from jail and possibly putting criminals out on the street … that is wrong,” he said.
“I don’t understand why the premier always points the finger at other people instead of looking in the mirror and fixing the court delays that we have in Ontario.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.