Ford Government Quietly Removed the Building Code's Minimum Sleeping Space for Jail Inmates

A minimum sleeping area is one of the few measurable floors on how much space a person held in a provincial jail must have. According to the Toronto Star, the province has removed the requirement of at least 4.7 square metres of sleeping area per person in adult correctional facilities from the building code, with no explanation in the brief description of the change that was circulated to building-industry stakeholders.

The change lands in a system the Star's own data showed was operating at 123 per cent of capacity, with some jails more than 30 per cent over. Triple-bunking, when three inmates share a cell designed for two, is already common in some jails, and the Star reports it currently happens in a makeshift fashion, with one inmate sleeping on a mattress on the floor with their head or feet abutting the toilet. Critics told the Star they fear the province is planning to make it a permanent fixture.

The government has not said whether that is the plan. Solicitor General Michael Kerzner and housing minister Rob Flack declined to be interviewed, and the province did not answer a question about whether it intends to make triple-bunking standard practice. A spokesperson for Kerzner pointed to a $3 billion investment in jail capacity "as part of the government's plan to strengthen the bail system and keep dangerous offenders behind bars," and said the code change is meant "to optimize space within existing and new provincial adult correctional facilities."

Judges have repeatedly criticized the practice the change makes easier. The Star reports triple-bunking is routinely decried by judges as unduly harsh and inhumane and has led to reduced sentences as a kind of compensation, which means overcrowding already carries a cost in the justice system itself.

Shakir Rahim, director of the criminal justice program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, warned that shrinking inmates' personal space will lead to more conflict and a further deterioration of their physical and mental health, and that "if there are no minimum standards... people are going to come out with more problems than they had going in." He pointed to last year's invasive group A streptococcal outbreak, which killed two inmates at Maplehurst Correctional Complex, as the kind of event that could become more common. The Star also reports that violence between inmates and against guards has increased as jails have become more crowded, according to data it obtained last year.

The code change follows a May 2026 announcement that the province would add more than 2,500 beds to provincial jails over the next decade, including through "bed optimization," which the government described as installing permanent beds and the required furniture and equipment. Global News reported in April, from freedom-of-information documents, that the province was planning to permanently add third bunks to 25 cells at the Quinte Detention Centre, according to the Star's account of that reporting.