For Immediate Release
People detained at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre (OCDC) are currently experiencing overcrowded conditions.
16 April, 2025 – Unceded territories of the Algonquin Anishinaabe, Ottawa.
People incarcerated at the OCDC are currently being subjected to increasingly deplorable conditions of confinement due to overcrowding issues caused by the swelling number of people on remand. The unbearable situation affects the majority of OCDC prisoners, including women. Detainees are triple bunked to allow maximum security protected custody (PC) in the jail where cells were originally designed to house two prisoners each. The PC population now spills over into the areas reserved for the general population (GP) where this ballooning is in turn exacerbated by the endemic issue of overcrowding. Maximum security GP are now forced to relocate in the jail to make room for PC prisoners. They are now also confined 3 to a cell. However, these are cells built in the 1970s to house one person each as GP prisoners currently occupy the oldest part of the aging jail. OCDC women’s quarters are also bursting at the seams. Jail officials are directing the overflow of women to male segregation areas forcing them to live in these isolated spaces next to men. The current situation is unbearable and leads to increased locked downs, cancelled visitations, and adverse psychological effects on prisoners. Officials are warning detainees about the looming possibility of quadruple bunking if the current rates of detention persevere.
“I have no criminal record and I’m being held under egregious conditions I’m experiencing as punishment. How can we allow a system that punishes people who are legally innocent and awaiting their day in court?” Haybe Aden, OCDC pretrial detainee.
“I have been coming to OCDC for 27 years. I have never seen the conditions of this jail being so bad. It’s the worse it has ever been. We have less access to fresh air, less visitation, less time by ourselves, less time to talk to our loved ones, etc. Something needs to change.” Anonymous OCDC detainee.
“The current situation is bad, but a lot of the issues are long standing. The conditions under which we are held are harsh. We rarely get yard. They lock us in cells that don’t have windows for sometimes 24 hours a day, making it hard for us to discern time. The air circulation system is horrible, breathing becomes difficult especially for older folks and people with respiratory problems. The ventilation system is so bad and inadequate for triple bunking that condensation forms on the cell walls”. Anonymous OCDC detainee.
“The rate of people on pretrial detention in Ontario jails and prisons has reached a historic peak and it’s the highest in the country. Conservative populist politicians and their armies of minion pundits cling to sensationalist cases to misinform the public and sway voters into believing Canada has a catch and release policy while the on the ground reality points to the contrary. Jails filled to the brim with legally innocent people despite overall stable crime rates unequivocally evidence this discrepancy. The conservatives effort to advance an effective and ultra costly tough on crime agenda is more about gaining votes than reifying safe communities. Don’t get me wrong the liberals are no better. Even following the controversial ascent of bill 75 into force, the purportedly largest bail reform in over three decades, issues around bail have exacerbated including growing pretrial populations and systemic abandonment. This bail reform is not accompanied by robust plans to support vulnerable and criminalized individuals. The liberals are merely setting us up for failure.” Souheil Benslimane OCDC pretrial detainee.
Media Contact(s):
Rachel Fayter (she/her)
Jeffrey Bradley (he/him)