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A “furious” Premier Doug Ford has promised to keep all inmates behind bars after news broke that more than 150 of them were improperly released from jails across Ontario over the last few years.
Ford and Solicitor General Michael Kerzner both admitted that jails and courts have released inmates by mistake.
“I’m getting down to root cause and we aren’t going to let one more person slip out of the door,” Ford said Thursday.
“It’s unheard of. I’m absolutely furious over it, to be honest with you.”
Global News discovered through a freedom-of-information request that 157 inmates were improperly released from the province’s jails between 2021 and 2025. The documents show the majority of mistakes were made at the jails and in court, some were administrative while others were human error.
“They had to pull me off the ceiling when I heard this,” Ford said.
Kerzner said in question period Thursday that every inmate was captured “instantaneously,” though he did not offer any proof when interim Liberal leader John Fraser questioned him about it.
The solicitor general told the legislature the Progressive Conservatives, who came to power in 2018, “inherited a serious problem of neglect” in corrections.
“What we have done is we have made changes administratively,” he said, adding the government also made investments on digitization.
“We’re going to make sure that everybody is held to account.”
The documents show Kerzner was briefed on the matter more than a year ago, but he only publicly pledged to do anything about it on Wednesday.
Despite Ford’s anger, he remains in Kerzner’s corner.
“I can tell you, Michael Kerzner is doing an incredible job,” Ford said. “I told him it’s unacceptable.”
Outside the legislative chamber on Thursday, Fraser said Kerzner should be fired.
“If the solicitor general can’t do his job, then there should be somebody else,” he said.
He reiterated his call for the government to provide evidence they caught every single inmate immediately.
“We’re asking the solicitor general and the premier: prove it, prove it was instantaneous, let us know how it happened, let us know what kind of crimes we’re talking about. Let us know, let the people who are victims of crime, let the public know, let families know what happened,” Fraser said.
Ford noted some of the issues arose because of court mistakes. But Attorney General Doug Downey would not answer to them on Thursday.
After question period, he started to leave through one door but returned back inside after seeing a reporter. He then scrambled out a different door at the other side of the hallway, but was soon met by other reporters, who ran after him.
Downey refused to answer any questions about the role of the justice system in the mistaken release of inmates.
He said he had a meeting and then lunch.
“That’s where I’m spending my time right now,” Downey said.
The province’s jails are bursting and have been overcrowded for years. The situation is getting worse.
A backlogged court system, understaffed jails and longer jail stays for those accused of crimes all contribute to the problem.
The province has said about 80 per cent of inmates at any given time are in a provincial jail awaiting trial and presumptively innocent.
The Canadian Press obtained internal documents that show the province’s long-term plan is to build many more jails and upward of 6,000 new jail beds. Kerzner has said it will cost “billions and billions” of dollars and he will spare no expense.
Critics and opposition parties have said that money would be better spent upstream of correctional facilities, from reducing the court backlog to providing more supportive housing and health care for those dealing with mental health and addiction problems. They say that would, in turn, ease crowding in provincial jails.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2026.
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