Correctional services
Learn about Ontario’s adult correctional institutions, probation and parole offices, and how we ensure the safety of people placed in the correctional system.
Overview
Ontario’s correctional services establishes, maintains, operates and monitors adult correctional institutions and probation and parole offices.
We provide programs and facilities to help rehabilitate offenders and have jurisdiction over adult offenders who are granted parole by the Ontario Parole Board.
We oversee offenders who are:
- adults awaiting trial or sentencing
- adults held for immigration hearing or deportation
- awaiting transfer to federal institutions to serve sentences of two years or more
- 18 years of age and over who are:
- sentenced to terms of imprisonment of less than two years
- terms of probation of up to three years
- conditional sentences of up to two years
Careers in correctional services
Learn about different jobs in correctional services, how to qualify for a position and find career and volunteer opportunities
Learn about careers in correctional services
Learn about the roles and responsibilities of different careers in correctional services.
Become a correctional officer
Find out how to apply to become a correctional officer and learn about the recruitment and selection process.
Become a probation and parole officer
Learn how to become a probation or parole officer, the eligibility requirements and on the job training.
Correctional officers
Learn about working as a correctional officer in Ontario.
Code of conduct and professionalism
Learn about the behavioural code of conduct and professionalism policy for people working in correctional services.
Volunteer opportunities in correctional services
Learn about volunteer opportunities in correctional services and how you can apply.
Correctional facilities and community corrections
Offenders can be sentenced to serve time in a correctional facility, in their community while being supervised, or both. Get information about correctional facilities in Ontario and community corrections.
Correctional facilities
Learn about the different types of provincial adult correctional facilities in Ontario, where they’re located, visiting hours and contact information.
Visiting policy for adult correctional facilities
Learn about the rules and what to expect when visiting an inmate at a provincial adult correctional facility in Ontario.
Sentences in the criminal justice system
Learn about what happens when an offender is found guilty and the different types of sentences.
Release from custody
Learn about the ways offenders can be released from custody, including parole eligibility.
Locations of probation and parole offices
Find a list of all provincial probation and parole offices located in Ontario, and their opening hours and contact information.
Probation and parole
Learn about probation and parole in Ontario and how offenders are supervised while in the community.
Rehabilitation programs and services for offenders
Learn about programs and services offered to inmates in Ontario’s correctional facilities or offenders who are serving time in the community.
GPS monitoring program
Learn about how GPS monitoring is used to supervise offenders in Ontario.
Victim notification services
Learn about different services to support victims of crime and those who have been affected by an offender, including the rights of victims at parole hearings.
Rates of recidivism in Ontario
Learn about rates of recidivism or re-offending in Ontario.
Education records
Find education records from correctional institutions in Ontario in operation between 1965 and 2021.
Reports and publications
- Independent reviewer’s final report on the Jahn Settlement Agreement
- Jahn Settlement: data on inmates in Ontario
- Corrections in Ontario: Directions for Reform
- Institutional violence in Ontario: Final Report
- Segregation in Ontario, Independent Review of Ontario Corrections – full report is available on request.
Access: Defence teleconference system
How lawyers can book free teleconference appointments with clients at select correctional facilities in Ontario.
Correctional services policies and guidelines
Find correctional services policies and guidelines about human rights, Indigenous spirituality, transgender inmates, inmate classification and telephone communication.
- Inmate classification
- Inmate information guide for adult institutions
- Inmate telephone communication policy
- Indigenous spirituality rights in correctional services
- Transgender inmate management policy
- Correctional services’ human rights plan
- Correctional services’ human rights policy
- Community advisory boards agency accountability
Correctional services research
Academic organizations interested in conducting research on Ontario’s adult correctional services may contact solgenresearch@ontario.ca for more information.