More Than 6,700 COVID-19 Cases Linked to Canadian Carceral Institutions in Year 1 of Pandemic

* Updated: 11 March 2021 at 6:25pm EST *

OVERALL

Prisoners = 4,971

Staff = 1,649

Contractors = 7 

Undisclosed = 86

Total = 6,713

Canadian Jurisdictions with Reported COVID-19 Cases 
Linked to their Carceral Institutions as of 10 March 2021 

Federal | Correctional Service Canada = 1,975 (1,409 prisoners | 566 staff)

Federal | Canadian Border Services Agency = 6 (4 prisoners | 1 staff | 1 contractor)

Nova Scotia = 1 (1 prisoner | 0 staff)

New Brunswick = 2 (0 prisoners | 2 staff)

Quebec = 818 (529 prisoners | 289 staff) 

Ontario = 1,256 (974 prisoners | 278 staff | 4 contractors)

Manitoba = 585 (466 prisoners | 119 staff)

Saskatchewan = 590 (454 prisoners | 136 staff)

Alberta = 1,303 (1,006 prisoners | 209 staff | 2 contractors | 86 undisclosed)

British Columbia = 177 (128 prisoners | 49 staff)

Canadian Jurisdictions without Reported COVID-19 Cases 
Linked to their Provincial-Territorial Jails and Prisons as of 10 March 2021 
Newfoundland and Labrador
Prince Edward Island

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.