Nearly 12,000 COVID-19 Cases Linked to Canadian Carceral Institutions by the End of December 2021

* Updated 18 January 2022 at 1:20pm ET *

OVERALL

Prisoners = 8,906 (10 deaths reported)

Staff = 3,038 (1 death reported)

Contractors = 6 

Unknown = 11

Total = 11,961

Canadian Jurisdictions with Reported COVID-19 Cases 
Linked to their Carceral Institutions as of the end of December 2021  

Federal | Correctional Service Canada = 2,621 (1,768 prisoners | 853 staff) 

Newfoundland and Labrador = 0

Prince Edward Island = 1 (1 prisoner | 0 staff)

Nova Scotia = 38 (37 prisoners | 1 staff)

New Brunswick = 48 (30 prisoners | 8 staff | 10 unknown)

Quebec = 1,749 (1,081 prisoners | 668 staff) 

Ontario = 2,863 (2,250 prisoners | 609 staff | 4 contractors)

Manitoba = 710 (532 prisoners | 178 staff)

Saskatchewan = 1,177 (924 prisoners | 253 staff)

Alberta = 2,454 (2,033 prisoners | 419 staff | 2 contractors)

British Columbia = 278 (229 prisoners | 49 staff)

Nunavut = 14 (14 prisoners | 0 staff)

Northwest Territories = 1 (0 prisoners | 0 staff | 1 unknown)

Yukon = 7 (7 prisoners | 0 staff)

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 are additional laboratory confirmed cases of COVID-19 linked to prisoners and/or staff of Canadian carceral institutions than those compiled above as many state bodies do not report both types of cases online on a pro-active basis like Manitoba Corrections and the Ministère de la Sécurité publique du Québec. 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 proactively disclose such data sets 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, the Corrections Branch of the New Brunswick Department of Public Safety, Prince Edward Island Community and Correctional Services, British Columbia Corrections, Nunavut Corrections, Northwest Territories Corrections Service, and Yukon Corrections that have had fewer total cases linked to their provincial or territorial 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.