Human rights-based data collection for inmates in restrictive confinement

The ministry is committed to publicly releasing annual data on the Open Data Catalogue regarding its use of restrictive confinement for all inmates in Ontario’s adult correctional system, excluding those on unscheduled lockdowns. This report is for the one-year period from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, which aligns with the government’s fiscal year.

For the purpose of public reporting, the ministry defines restrictive confinement as any type of confinement that is more restrictive than general population confinement, but less restrictive than segregation. Under this definition, the ministry is reporting any case where an inmate was held in a unit regularly scheduled to be locked down for 17 hours or more per day. This timeframe is considered more restrictive than that of the general population based on an assessment of provincewide lockdown times. Regularly scheduled lockdowns are daily, routine times, where movement out of a cell is restricted, such as during mealtimes and overnight.

Data releases include the following:

• the duration of time each inmate spent in restrictive confinement, including total days over the last year
• the number of inmates who had a suicide risk or suicide watch alert

Demographic information entered through the ministry’s Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS) is largely self-reported and may change over time. OTIS displays the most recent details for an inmate and maintains a record of information previously entered in the system.

The data posted is disaggregated based on:

• inmates with mental health alerts
• gender
• facility/institution
• region
• race
• age
• religion or spiritual affiliation

Disclosure on data collection method

To collect the information required, a report was generated through OTIS to identify any inmates who were held in a unit that was regularly locked down for 17 hours or more per day.

OTIS is an electronic database used to track inmates under the supervision of the ministry and includes demographic, institutional housing and placement history. Information is entered into OTIS manually and, due to technological limitations, may be recorded through other means and transferred into OTIS later.

As an inmate’s housing location may change from day to day, restrictive confinement data was extracted for each day within the reporting period to improve accuracy. Due to current data collection limitations, it is not possible to track either the number of times or the number of consecutive days spent in restrictive confinement at the inmate level. The ministry recognizes the importance of tracking restrictive confinement at the inmate level and continues to explore alternative strategies to track inmate movement in and out of cell.

The data captured in this report excludes any cases where an inmate was held in a unit that was regularly locked down for 17 hours or more but was considered to meet segregation conditions based on the information recorded in the inmate’s file.

The report generated for this release captures the most recent demographic information that was on file for inmates who were held in a unit that was locked down for 17 hours or more.

OTIS records inmates’ gender as either “male” or “female”. When an inmate identifies as transgender, this information will be included in OTIS through a flag and the gender field will reflect the inmate’s preferred gender identity, which may change over time.

The information on race and religion or spiritual affiliation extracted from OTIS is aligned with the Anti-Racism Data Standards (ARDS). Data is also collected on Indigenous identity, ethnic origin, race and religion in order to align with the ARDS under the Anti-Racism Act, 2017.

The identification of inmates with mental health concerns is based on the presence of a mental health alert that is recorded in OTIS. Mental health alerts do not necessarily indicate a confirmed mental health diagnosis. However, they signal the presence of potential mental health concerns.

Serious mental illness alerts are also included in the list of mental health alerts in OTIS. The identification of an inmate requiring a serious mental illness alert is made when one of the following occurs:

• a regulated health professional who is qualified to make diagnoses within their clinical scope considers the inmate to be experiencing at least one disorder as identified in Ontario Regulation (O. Reg.) 778
• an institutional staff member has determined that an inmate is experiencing at least one of a list of symptoms outlined in O. Reg. 778

All mental health alerts, including serious mental illness alerts, are required to be verified by healthcare staff. These alerts must be assessed and verified in OTIS within 48 hours of the alert being entered. To capture the potential presence of a mental health concern, the data for this release includes both verified and unverified mental health alerts present on the inmate’s file for each day where they were held in a unit that was locked down for 17 hours or more.

Review of all inmates in restrictive confinement between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026

Inmates with an intermittent sentence have been included in the data. An intermittent sentence is a custodial sentence that is served during specific recurring days and times, rather than all at once. As a result, the total population and number of inmates who were housed in a unit that was locked down for 17 hours or more per day includes cases where an inmate was flagged as having an intermittent sentence.

There were 27,495 (59.5%) unique inmates who spent at least one day in a unit that was regularly locked down for 17 hours or more per day between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026, out of a total of 46,234 inmates in custody. Of the 27,495 inmates included in the review, 3,510 self-identified as female and 23,985 self-identified as male. These numbers include 283 inmates who self-identified as transgender during this period. Transgender inmates are captured in the dataset based on a flag in OTIS indicating Transgender.

An inmate’s custodial location information may change over time. As the data on restrictive confinement was generated for each day within the reporting period, the location reflects information on file for the most recent day where an inmate was held in a unit that was locked down for 17 hours or more per day.

Duration of time spent in restrictive confinement

Across all regions, the aggregate length of time an inmate was in restrictive confinement ranged from a minimum of one day to a maximum of 365 days. The median, or mid-point, number of days aggregately spent in restrictive confinement was twelve days. The most frequent, or mode, aggregate length of time an inmate was in restrictive confinement was one day for all inmates.

Mental health alerts

A mental health alert is recorded in an inmate’s file by facility staff including correctional, medical and clinical staff, if the inmate:

• discloses a history of mental illness
• is showing signs of, or has disclosed thoughts about self-harm or suicide
• is demonstrating behaviour that may suggest a mental illness

The ministry’s policy requires an initial mental health screening to be completed within 48 hours of an inmate being admitted to an institution. All active mental health alerts are required to be verified by healthcare staff within 48 hours of the alert being entered into OTIS. If an inmate screens positive for a possible mental health condition, they are further assessed by healthcare professionals and may be referred to a psychiatrist or physician. Additionally, inmates are also reassessed for mental healthcare needs at least once every six months of continuous custody. Healthcare staff are required to add mental health alerts, verify new and existing mental health alerts and expire inactive alerts as appropriate throughout an inmate’s stay in custody.

Of the 27,495 inmates included in the review, 7,578 (27.6%) had a mental health alert on file at least once while subject to restrictive confinement (41.3% of females and 25.6% of males). In comparison, among the overall custodial population during the reporting period, 40.8% of females and 24.2% of males had an active mental health alert on file. The data includes all inmates who had a mental health alert present at any point between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.

Suicide risk alerts

A suicide risk alert is recorded in an inmate’s file when they require enhanced supervision or if they are at risk of posing harm to themselves. Suicide risk alerts are broken down into the following categories:

• enhanced supervision
• previous suicide attempt(s)
• suicide watch

Of the 27,495 inmates covered in the review, 5,108 (18.6%) had a suicide risk alert recorded in their file (21.3% of females and 18.2% of males). In comparison, among the overall custodial population, 19% of females and 18.1% of males had a suicide risk alert on file at any point during the reporting period. The data includes all inmates who had a suicide risk alert present at any point between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.

Suicide watch alerts

A suicide watch is a type of suicide risk alert and indicates when an inmate requires increased supervision due to a high risk of suicide or self-harm. Of the inmates included in the review, 2,850 (10.4%) were on suicide watch while in restrictive confinement (9.2% of females and 10.5% of males). In comparison, in the overall custodial population, 6.8% of females and 10.6% of males had suicide watch alerts on file during the reporting period. The data includes all inmates who had a suicide watch alert present at any point between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026.

For all inmates with suicide watch alerts, ministry policy requires that an assessment, monitoring, and documenting process including frequent in-person checks occur at least once every 10 minutes. Between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m., correctional staff are required to interact verbally with the inmate on an hourly basis.

Demographics

Demographic factors were extracted as they were recorded in OTIS for each day that an inmate was held in a unit that was scheduled to be locked down for 17 hours or more.

In cases where an inmate reported more than one race or religious affiliation, these inmates have been included in the categories of “more than one reported race category” or “more than one reported religious or spiritual affiliation”.

Age

The average age amongst all inmates who were in restrictive confinement at the start of the reporting period was 35 years old.

Race

Of the 27,495 inmates covered in the review, 10,977 (39.9%) self-identified as White, 3,565 (13.0%) as Black, 2,680 (9.8%) as Indigenous, 746 (2.7%) as South Asian, 729 (2.7%) as Middle Eastern, 535 (2.0%) as East/Southeast Asian, and 374 (1.4%) as Latino. A further 344 (1.3%) inmates self-identified as another race category, while 1,451 (5.3%) self-identified with more than one reported race category. Race information was unknown or not reported for 6,094 (22.2%) inmates.

Religion or spiritual affiliation

There were 6,908 (25.1%) inmates who self-identified as having no religion, and 4,619 (16.8%) self-identified as being Christian. There were 1,344 (4.9%) inmates who self-identified as Muslim and 1,069 (3.9%) who self-identified as having Indigenous spirituality. Of the remaining inmates, self-identified religions included 382 (1.4%) Sikh, 186 (0.7%) Hindu, 94 (0.3%) Jewish, and 85 (0.3%) Buddhist. There were 721 (2.6%) inmates who self-identified with another religious or spiritual affiliation. A total of 2,010 (7.3%) inmates self-identified with more than one religious or spiritual affiliation. There were 10,077 (36.7%) inmates who did not report a religion or spirituality, or it was unknown.