Sudbury youth jail to be repurposed as women's correctional facility by 2028

Faith Greco · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 17, 2025 4:15 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

The Ontario authorities has awarded a operation declaration to person Sudbury's Cecil Facer Youth Centre into a 50-bed correctional installation for big women — a task primitively slated for completion successful 2025, but present delayed until 2028.

In a Thursday quality release, the state said the repurposed detention centre volition "give frontline unit the abstraction they request to bash their jobs safely." 

"In summation to caller beds, the expanded facilities volition connection enhanced rehabilitation programs, including literacy, occupation skills and exertion training," reads the release. 

Construction is expected to statesman successful 2026 and wrapper up 2 years later. The overhaul is portion of Ontario's broader $180-million program to grow capableness and amended information astatine correctional institutions successful Thorold, Milton and Sudbury.

"Our authorities is taking decisive enactment to support Ontario and support unsafe and repetition offenders disconnected our streets," said Solicitor General Michael Kerzner successful the release.

"By expanding correctional facilities and bringing caller beds online faster, we are strengthening our quality to clasp criminals accountable and guarantee that inmates service their sentences successful secure, modern spaces."

Bird Construction Inc., the institution awarded the contract, antecedently led akin expansions astatine jails successful Kenora and Thunder Bay. The enactment volition usage modular operation techniques to velocity up timelines and amended efficiency, the state said.

"Ontario is modernizing its procurement processes and utilizing innovative operation methods to assistance velocity up the transportation of indispensable infrastructure," said Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma in a release.

The caller women's jail in Sudbury is 1 of 3 expansions meant to adhd 150 caller beds crossed Ontario. Since 2024, the state says it has added 110 big beds, with 665 much expected by the extremity of 2026.

A alteration of plans with nary explanation 

The Ministry of the Solicitor General did not respond to CBC's questions astir wherefore the archetypal timeline — which had called for the women's installation successful Sudbury to unfastened successful 2025 — has been pushed backmost by 3 years oregon wherever existent detainees volition beryllium relocated. 

The Cecil Facer Youth Centre presently houses young males betwixt the ages of 12 and 17, but has been underutilized successful caller years. In 2023, unit told CBC News the facility, built for 16 inmates, was moving lone 12 beds owed to staffing shortages.

Sudbury MPP Jaime West said helium recovered retired astir the announcement successful the Thursday property release, called the deficiency of connection from the state "frustrating" and that it lacked due consultation. 

"The state successful the past, erstwhile they had pushed retired the project, they had promised stakeholders similar John Howard, Elizabeth Fry and Northern Youth Services that they consult with them, and determination was nary consultation. I cognize these groups are inactive anxious to talk with the curate and ministry," West said. 

In the past, national leaders astatine Cecil Facer criticized the deficiency of connection from the state and the transferring of the young radical astatine the installation farther distant from their families, apt to detention centres successful either Sault Ste. Marie oregon Brampton. 

West believes the state should person either built a caller women's installation and kept Cecil Facer dedicated to youth, oregon physique a caller younker installation and crook the existing gathering into a installation for women.

He argues Greater Sudbury has plentifulness of onshore and opportunities for development, and that the extremity should beryllium to guarantee some younker and women person appropriate, locally accessible facilities that enactment their rehabilitation and support household connections.

"I'm successful favour of the jobs [the caller facility] creates. But thinking our younker volition beryllium palmy with less supports locally successful Sudbury doesn't marque immoderate consciousness to me," helium said.

West said helium feels the Ford government is trying to minimize the antagonistic impacts this task could person by not addressing what volition hap to younker oregon correctional officers presently moving astatine Cecil Facer. 

"I deliberation that that's the portion that the authorities doesn't privation to speech about, is that we're not truly helping younker successful Sudbury beryllium successful. We're not helping families of those younker enactment successful interaction and assistance them to beryllium palmy successful the mode that we expect," helium said.