How many people are imprisoned in Canada?

Canada's prison population is 39,819 people. This figure aggregates all forms of detention counted by the source: sentenced prisoners, pre-trial detainees, and administrative detentions.

What is the incarceration rate in Canada?

Canada's incarceration rate is approximately 98 people per 100,000 population.

How many prisons are there in Canada?

World Prisons indexes 230 individual facilities in Canada. Each entry links to a detail page with contact information, capacity, oversight reports, and known conditions.

All countries

Americas · Northern America

Canada

Q: Does Canada have the death penalty?

Canada's death-penalty status is: abolitionist. Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

High confidence

Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 31 Mar 2024

Fresh · 2mo ago

Federal (sentences ≥2 years) + 13 provincial/territorial systems. Indigenous over-representation is a documented systemic issue.

Compare Canada World Prison Brief page

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

Prison population

39,819

Year: 2024

Rate per 100,000

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

102.2%

Above design capacity

Pre-trial / remand

49.6%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

Foreign nationals

Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology

Conditions risk — across 230 facilities

Average of our computed Conditions Risk Score across the country's facilities. Methodology · Browse highest-risk

—

national average

230 unknown

abolitionist on capital punishment since 1998. Last known execution: 1962.ICCPR-OP2 (death-penalty abolition protocol): signatory

Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

Source: Amnesty International + Cornell Death Penalty Worldwide.

How Canada compares

vs Americas (9) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 98 · region: 534 · global: 214

Occupancy ratethis: 102% · region: 133% · global: 125%

Pre-trial sharethis: 50% · region: 33% · global: 32%

The vertical ticks mark the global (grey) and regional (amber) means. Bars are clipped at the high end for readability.

Prison population over time

Medium

Type

Federal institution

Capacity

—

Held

—

Argyle Township Court House and Jail

Canada

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Atlantic Institution

Canada · Renous

Maximum

Type

Federal institution

Capacity

—

Held

—

Canada

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Blue Mountain Correctional institute

Canada

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bordeaux Prison

Canada

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bowden Institution

Canada · Innisfail

Medium

Type

Federal institution

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bowden Institution Annex

Canada

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bowmanville POW camp

Canada

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bracebridge Jail

Canada

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Brampton Adult Training Centre

Canada

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Brampton Jail

Canada

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Brantford Jail

Canada

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

See all 230 prisons in Canada →

Data completeness

100%

Score based on how many fields are populated. We surface this so you know where the gaps are.

National population: 40,530,0002024
Source-verified: 20 May 2026
Source links: 1 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.

Primary reference
World Prison Brief (ICPS, Birkbeck) — Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research
See /data-sources for our methodology.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: CAN

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA

World Prisons. (2026). Canada — prison statistics. Retrieved July 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/canada

Chicago

"Canada — prison statistics." World Prisons. Accessed July 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/countries/canada.

BibTeX

@misc{worldprisons-canada,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Canada — prison statistics},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/countries/canada},
  urldate = {2026-07-20}
}