Heightened COVID-19 measures in the Ontario Region

December 17, 2020 –Kingston, Ontario – Correctional Service Canada

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is taking heightened COVID-19 measures in its Ontario Region institutions and community correctional centres (CCCs).

In the interest of the health and safety of the public, our employees, inmates, and their families, CSC has temporarily suspended in person visits at all of its Ontario Institutions and CCCs as of December 16, 2020.

This decision will limit comings and goings from its facilities. It follows extensive consultation with public health officials and will be reassessed on an ongoing basis.

All sites across the country, including Ontario, have implemented extensive health and safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These include wearing masks, physical distancing, hand hygiene, active health screening of anyone entering an institution, and increased cleaning and disinfecting. In addition, CSC has conducted infection prevention and control reviews at all of its institutions and built its own contact tracing capacity.  

CSC has also expanded its testing of employees and offenders, as part of its comprehensive testing strategy. This includes increased testing of staff and offenders in communities with higher levels of community transmission.

This is an evolving situation and we continue to work with public health authorities to monitor the situation and take additional actions, as needed.

CSC is committed to reducing the risks of COVID-19 in all of its operations and is working with its public health partners and unions to keep everyone safe.  

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Quick facts

• There are seven federal correctional institutions and two CCCs in Ontario.
• Due to the fact that visits are temporarily suspended in the Ontario region, other options are available to inmates to connect with their family and support networks such as video visitation or telephone.
• CSC has a proactive contact tracing protocol, which begins at the onset of symptoms rather than waiting for a positive test result. To date, CSC has trained over 250 staff to conduct contact tracing.
• CSC provides its own health care to inmates and has dedicated health care professionals in its institutions, including nurses and physicians, who closely monitor the health of inmates.
• A risk management framework and mitigation strategies, developed in collaboration with public health, labour partners and stakeholders, are in place to monitor activities. CSC is ready to adapt its operations at any time.