Michael Kerzner

Over 157 inmates were improperly released from Ontario's dangerously overcrowded provincial jails between 2021 and 2025 — six remain at large as of April 2026. Solicitor General Michael Kerzner told the legislature they were all caught "instantaneously." Global News FOI documents proved that was false. Kerzner apologized "unreservedly." At the same Maplehurst facility running at 175% capacity, correctional officers zip-tied 200 inmates in their underwear for two days — and a judge stayed first-degree murder charges as a result.

As Solicitor General, Kerzner is directly responsible for Ontario's provincial correctional system. He was briefed on the improper release pattern in January 2025. He told the legislature at least six times that all improperly released inmates had been caught "instantaneously" — a claim directly contradicted by FOI documents showing inmates had been missing for months. He apologized "unreservedly." As of April 2026, 6 inmates remain at large.

Days after a coroner's inquest into the death of Kevin Mamakwa — a 27-year-old from Kingfisher Lake First Nation who died by suicide in the Thunder Bay District Jail — concluded with 22 recommendations and the jail being called a "death trap," Premier Doug Ford disparaged the province's own new ~$1.2-billion Thunder Bay Correctional Complex as a "fancy-dancey jail," comparing it to "the Four Seasons hotel" and refusing to commit to closing the century-old jail where nine people have died since 2002.

As Solicitor General responsible for corrections, Kerzner is the minister whose ministry the Mamakwa inquest jury's 22 recommendations are directed at — including publicly releasing a plan to decommission the Thunder Bay District Jail within five years of the new Complex opening, mandatory Indigenous cultural training, 24/7 nursing, and minimum out-of-cell time.