FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“Ottawa’s youth detention centre is a warehouse of horrors”, “shut it down”, and “build communities, not cages” researchers and advocates urge the province
June 4, 2025 (Ottawa / Algonquin Territory) – A newly released summary of serious occurrence reports from December 2019 to 2024 reveals a disturbing pattern of institutional violence at the William E. Hay Centre, a youth detention facility in Ottawa. The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services summary documents hundreds of incidents over the five-year period, including the frequent use of physical restraints by staff on underage boys.
The urgency of addressing rampant abuse within youth detention facilities is further underscored by the case of a former youth justice worker who worked with imprisoned youth at the William E. Hay Centre and recently pleaded guilty to a multitude of charges stemming from a series of incidents — including secretly filming ten boys during strip searches and in the showers — that occurred in 2022 and 2023. His case drew significant attention, highlighting concerns about the safeguarding of youth in institutional settings. Records obtained through a Freedom of Information request by Criminalization and Punishment Education Project researcher and advocate Elizabeth Venczel reveal other recurring instances of harm endured by imprisoned youth, ranging from abuse and mistreatment by staff members to assaults by peers and other injurious behaviours. These findings suggest a broader pattern of systemic issues within youth detention centres that warrants immediate attention and reform, both at the provincial and federal level.
While the William E. Hay Centre is officially described online by its operator – the Youth Services Bureau (YSB) – as “a 32-bed residential facility serving male youth in secure detention (pre-trial) and secure custody (post-trial)”, which “provides a series of educational options and life skills training that give youth the knowledge and practical skills they need in everyday life”, Venczel states: “the fact of the matter is that Ottawa’s provincial youth detention centre is a warehouse of horrors”. A doctoral student in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa with a focus on youth criminalization and punishment in Canada, Venczel adds: “YSB claims to be providing incarcerated boys with ‘the incentive they need to get their lives back on track’, but how can youth in conflict with the law do so while they’re pushed further to the margins of society and locked-up in a human caging site that exposes them to vast amounts of harm?” She concludes that “the situation not only puts the safety of imprisoned youth at risk, but also undermines the collective well-being of our communities that they will eventually exit custody to return to”.
Maia Wenger, an organizer with CPEP and the Ottawa Transformative Justice Collective, states: “The federal Youth Criminal Justice Act became law in 2003 with several goals, including reducing the exposure of kids to imprisonment and its associated negative impacts on their well-being. Consequently, it’s critical that all levels of government understand that when we invest in criminalizing instead of supporting youth, we’re heightening their risk of exposure to the horrors of imprisonment. These horrors are clearly on display in places like the William E. Hay Centre, and each of them needs to be shut down”. Wenger suggests, “Instead of once again turning to penal reform, we should actualize justice in the lives of our young people through upstream investments that meet their basic needs and prevent them from becoming another punitive injustice system statistic. We need to build communities, not cages”.
Reflecting on the 1,106 serious occurrence reports from the William E. Hay Centre documented over the last five years, Alexandria Bonney from Prisoner Legal Supports (PLS) notes: “these incidents are likely just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the harms of imprisonment faced by kids in Ontario’s youth detention centres. Justice requires truth. We urge all those concerned about Charter and children’s rights to support our efforts to obtain serious occurrence reports for all kids jails across the province using Freedom of Information requests and other means”. In the face of these ongoing challenges, youth at the William E. Hay Centre and their families are not alone. They can access free, confidential legal support by calling PLS at 613-894-4357.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Elizabeth Venczel
Doctoral Student, Criminology, uOttawa | Member, CPEP
evenc045@uottawa.ca
Alexandria Bonney, LLB
Co-Director, Prisoner Legal Supports
ottawa.prison.law@gmail.com
