Contraband is moving through Ontario’s jails with alarming ease, according to newly obtained reports that reveal a correctional system overwhelmed by overcrowding, drug smuggling, violence, and chronic understaffing. Internal documents reviewed by Global News show everything from fentanyl and cocaine to weapons and cellphone chargers being routinely intercepted in facilities across the province.
One incident from late September 2023 illustrates how easily illicit goods can slip past security. Correctional officers at the Fort Frances Jail discovered four tennis balls wrapped with electrical tape that had been tossed over the jail fence. Inside were cigarette packs, Android and Apple charging cables, and a leafy green substance believed to be marijuana. A facility-wide search followed, turning up a portable charger, more cigarettes, and a lighter — but no cellphone.
Hundreds of pages of contraband reports from 2023 tell a similar story across Ontario’s correctional system, painting a picture of jails struggling to control the flow of banned items while coping with a population well beyond intended capacity. Drugs found include 40 grams of methamphetamine seized at Kenora Jail, 25 grams of fentanyl discovered at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, cocaine at Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre, and diluted morphine and MDMA at other facilities. In one case, guards discovered a bulge in an inmate’s sock; inside was roughly $12,000 worth of cocaine and fentanyl.
Despite these finds, there are signs officers may only be scratching the surface. At Niagara Detention Centre, guards found “remnants of fentanyl” on various wrappers inside a cell, and in another instance, an officer witnessed an inmate snorting a white powder.
Experts say this steady flow of contraband is a predictable outcome of a correctional system under immense strain. “It’s a broken system and the current government lacks the will to even try to repair it,” said Norman Taylor, who helped lead a major report into deaths in Ontario jails. “We’ve got jails so crowded people are sleeping three to a two-bed cell, programs are cancelled, access to health care is limited — about the only thing that works well is contraband. Somehow that flows like gravy.”
Over the past decade, toxic drug overdoses have been one of the leading causes of inmate deaths in Ontario. An expert panel reviewing 186 deaths between 2014 and 2021 found almost 40 per cent were linked to toxic drugs, while another 24 per cent were suicides. The panel found a lack of transparency, accountability, and meaningful efforts to protect both inmates and staff.
Meanwhile, violence inside the facilities has surged. Incidents of inmates assaulting staff have jumped from 545 in 2017 to 953 in 2024 — a 75 per cent increase. Broader inmate-on-staff violence, including attempted assaults and threats, also rose significantly. According to the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, stretched-thin staff face a growing “margin of error” in detecting and intercepting contraband.
“We’ve been dealing with an opioid epidemic for years,” said OPSEU’s Chad Oldfield. “We’ve been advocating for better protection, better detection tools, better ways to respond to overdoses.” He said the crisis is made worse by extreme overcrowding: “We’re experiencing probably the worst overcapacity issues we’ve ever seen. We just don’t have enough beds in Ontario.”
As recently as June, Ontario’s Ombudsman warned that the province’s jails were in a “growing crisis,” with a staggering rise in complaints and systemic issues in need of urgent reform. He stressed that overcrowding, staff burnout, and deteriorating conditions threaten both public safety and human rights.
The provincial government maintains that contraband is “unacceptable and not tolerated,” and says new tools are being rolled out, including enhanced searches, scanners, and a pilot program for drone-detection technology to stop airborne contraband drops. Body scanners, metal detectors, and canine units are also in use, and plans are underway to add more than 1,000 new jail beds.
Still, critics say progress is painfully slow. Two years after delivering his recommendations, Taylor sees little meaningful change. “They’re not even trying — that’s all I can see,” he said. “If this was any other aspect of human enterprise, people would be fired for the intransigence at moving forward.”