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

The Ontario government has awarded a construction contract to convert Sudbury's Cecil Facer Youth Centre into a 50-bed correctional facility for adult women — a project originally slated for completion in 2025, but now delayed until 2028.

In a Thursday news release, the province said the repurposed detention centre will "give frontline staff the space they need to do their jobs safely." 

"In addition to new beds, the expanded facilities will offer enhanced rehabilitation programs, including literacy, job skills and technology training," reads the release. 

Construction is expected to begin in 2026 and wrap up two years later. The overhaul is part of Ontario's broader $180-million plan to expand capacity and improve safety at correctional institutions in Thorold, Milton and Sudbury.

"Our government is taking decisive action to protect Ontario and keep dangerous and repeat offenders off our streets," said Solicitor General Michael Kerzner in the release.

"By expanding correctional facilities and bringing new beds online faster, we are strengthening our ability to hold criminals accountable and ensure that inmates serve their sentences in secure, modern spaces."

Bird Construction Inc., the company awarded the contract, previously led similar expansions at jails in Kenora and Thunder Bay. The work will use modular construction techniques to speed up timelines and improve efficiency, the province said.

"Ontario is modernizing its procurement processes and using innovative construction methods to help speed up the delivery of essential infrastructure," said Infrastructure Minister Kinga Surma in a release.

The new women's jail in Sudbury is one of three expansions meant to add 150 new beds across Ontario. Since 2024, the province says it has added 110 adult beds, with 665 more expected by the end of 2026.

A change of plans with no explanation 

The Ministry of the Solicitor General did not respond to CBC's questions about why the original timeline — which had called for the women's facility in Sudbury to open in 2025 — has been pushed back by three years or where current detainees will be relocated. 

The Cecil Facer Youth Centre currently houses young males between the ages of 12 and 17, but has been underutilized in recent years. In 2023, staff told CBC News the facility, built for 16 inmates, was running only 12 beds due to staffing shortages.

Sudbury MPP Jaime West said he found out about the announcement in the Thursday press release, called the lack of communication from the province "frustrating" and that it lacked proper consultation. 

"The province in the past, when they had pushed out the project, they had promised stakeholders like John Howard, Elizabeth Fry and Northern Youth Services that they consult with them, and there was no consultation. I know these groups are still eager to speak with the minister and ministry," West said. 

In the past, union leaders at Cecil Facer criticized the lack of communication from the province and the transferring of the young people at the facility farther away from their families, likely to detention centres in either Sault Ste. Marie or Brampton. 

West believes the province should have either built a new women's facility and kept Cecil Facer dedicated to youth, or build a new youth facility and turn the existing building into a facility for women.

He argues Greater Sudbury has plenty of land and opportunities for development, and that the goal should be to ensure both youth and women have appropriate, locally accessible facilities that support their rehabilitation and maintain family connections.

"I'm in favour of the jobs [the new facility] creates. But thinking our youth will be successful with fewer supports locally in Sudbury doesn't make any sense to me," he said.

West said he feels the Ford government is trying to minimize the negative impacts this project could have by not addressing what will happen to youth or correctional officers currently working at Cecil Facer. 

"I think that that's the part that the government doesn't want to talk about, is that we're not really helping youth in Sudbury be successful. We're not helping families of those youth stay in touch and help them to be successful in the way that we expect," he said.