Super jail tour

The new “super jail” in the west end of Toronto is complete and will be taking inmates by the end of the month. Before they arrived, the media had a chance to check out the facility. So we sent our Sean Leathong to have a look at what life will be like as an inmate.

The Toronto South Detention Centre is an impressively large facility that offers state of the art equipment, but after this weekend, you don’t want to be there.

Most who see this place have found the wrong side of the law, but for a short while the new Toronto South Detention Centre, *can* be seen, you just need a tour guide

“My name is Steven Small, I’m the Assistant Deputy Minister with the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.”

Steven Small shows us how 1,650 inmates will soon live. You won’t see any bars here, and though it is new, it won’t be pleasant. When and inmate first arrives, they come here where life as a private citizen ends.

“The property is removed from each inmate and placed in a secure holding area.”

They are then searched and processed before being placed in their living area. The cells are small and it’s 2 to a room.

And this is your typical inmate living area, they can house as many as 40 on this block as you can see there’s some common area around here and a small exercise area.”

The Ministry of Community Safety is encouraging the public to come and see the facility. So if you would like to see for yourself they are offering tours Friday through Sunday running between 9am and 4 pm.