More Than 5,300 COVID-19 Cases Linked to Canadian Carceral Institutions by End of January 2021

* Updated: 5 February 2021 at 11:10am (figures remain pre-February 2021) *

OVERALL

Prisoners = 4,125

Staff = 1,232

Contractors = 6 

Total = 5,363

Canadian Jurisdictions with Reported COVID-19 Cases 
Linked to their Carceral Institutions as of 31 January 2021 

Federal | Correctional Service Canada = 1,537 (1,241 prisoners | 296 staff)

Nova Scotia = 1 (1 prisoner | 0 staff)

Quebec = 525 (292 prisoners | 233 staff) 

Ontario = 820 (597 prisoners | 219 staff | 4 contractors)

Manitoba = 572 (454 prisoners | 118 staff)

Saskatchewan = 538 (426 prisoners | 112 staff)

Alberta = 1,217 (1,006 prisoners | 209 staff | 2 contractors)

British Columbia = 153 (108 prisoners | 45 staff)

Canadian Jurisdictions without Reported COVID-19 Cases 
Linked to their Provincial-Territorial Jails and Prisons as of 31 January 2021 
Newfoundland and Labrador
Prince Edward Island

New Brunswick

Nunavut
Northwest Territories
Yukon

NOTE ON METHOD

The preliminary findings presented above were compiled from figures included media reports and publicly available government data sets. Due to the quality of the data available, it is possible that there fewer or additional laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 linked to prisoners and/or staff of Canadian carceral institutions than those compiled above as many jurisdictions do not report both types of cases online on a pro-active basis like the Ministère de la Sécurité publique du Québec and  Manitoba Corrections. Correctional Service Canada and the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General release prisoner COVID-19 case figures on a regular basis through tables accessible through a single web link, but not those of their institutional staff. All other Canadian human caging authorities do not make such data sets available online, including the Saskatchewan Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety and the Alberta Correctional Services Division that have had several large outbreaks linked to their provincial jails and prisons, as well as the Nova Scotia Correctional Services Division and British Columbia Corrections that have had fewer outbreaks linked to their provincial sites of confinement. Researchers, journalists, policymakers and practitioners using the data presented above are invited to contact justin.piche@uottawa.ca should they find any errors or have any questions. 

RESEARCH PROJECT AND FUNDING 

The preliminary findings above were compiled as part of the "COVID-19: Investigating Canada's Carceral Response to the Coronavirus through the Prison Pandemic Partnership" (principal investigator: Kevin Walby, PhD - uWinnipeg | co-investigator: Justin Piché, PhD - uOttawa | partner organization: Canadian Civil Liberties Association) project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The partnership project is housed within the Centre for Access to Information and Justice at the University of Winnipeg.