Skip to main content
Digital Archive Ontario Homepage
Panel controlling all locks in Rexdale's new $15 million jail is tested by Supt. W. L. Barber yesterday. Known officially as the Metropolitan Toronto West Detention Centre it will help ease chronic overcrowding at Toronto (Don) Jail - but my almost doubling its capacity. Officials are facing the challenge of housing 340 inmates in a building designed for 200. The cells will contain two prisoners instead of one.
Panel controlling all locks in Rexdale's new $15 million jail is tested by Supt. W. L. Barber yesterday. Known officially as the Metropolitan Toronto West Detention Centre it will help ease chronic overcrowding at Toronto (Don) Jail - but my almost doubling its capacity. Officials are facing the challenge of housing 340 inmates in a building designed for 200. The cells will contain two prisoners instead of one.

Panel controlling all locks in Rexdale's new $15 million jail is tested by Supt. W. L. Barber yesterday. Known officially as the Metropolitan Toronto West Detention Centre it will help ease chronic overcrowding at Toronto (Don) Jail - but my almost doubling its capacity. Officials are facing the challenge of housing 340 inmates in a building designed for 200. The cells will contain two prisoners instead of one.

Date7/13/1977
Names
(photographer)
Format
Medium
Language
ProvenanceFrom the Toronto Star Archives
CollectionToronto Star Photograph Archive
Usage Rights Copyright (Learn More)
Copyright HolderToronto Star (Firm)
Call Number / Accession NumberTSPA_0125220F
Only bars in metro's new jail are in this large cell in the receiving area where prisoners are kept until transferred to the single cells that look li(...)
Only bars in metro's new jail are in this large cell in the receiving area where prisoners are kept until transferred to the single cells that look li(...)
4/22/1977
Solace in cells: Rev. Sylvia Dunstan, a United Church minister, shares a moment of prayer with an inmate at Whitby Jail. As chaplain to the 2,000 who (...)
Solace in cells: Rev. Sylvia Dunstan, a United Church minister, shares a moment of prayer with an inmate at Whitby Jail. As chaplain to the 2,000 who (...)
8/2/1988
Area where fiv prisoners died in their cells in a fire during an investigation last month. The floor last Dec. 18 is still blackened by soot. Behind the coroner, Dr. A. broken and paint from the charred ceiling. Macdonald, is the rear entrance to the third-floor block, first men in Stratford jail call the area death row, officials said. [Incomplete]
Area where fiv prisoners died in their cells in a fire during an investigation last month. The floor last Dec. 18 is still blackened by soot. Behind the coroner, Dr. A. broken and paint from the charred ceiling. Macdonald, is the rear entrance to the third-floor block, first men in Stratford jail call the area death row, officials said. [Incomplete]
1/6/1977
I find it repugnant that in the 1980s in Ontario we are still housing inmates in cells that are seven feet deep, 32 inches wide and seven feet high, h(...)
I find it repugnant that in the 1980s in Ontario we are still housing inmates in cells that are seven feet deep, 32 inches wide and seven feet high, h(...)
7/9/1983
Metro West Detention Centre with Superintendent John Walter in two different cells/standing in the four unit cell and sitting in the two unit cell-
Metro West Detention Centre with Superintendent John Walter in two different cells/standing in the four unit cell and sitting in the two unit cell-
5/23/1986
Two Toronto juveniles who escaped from the women's cells at Barrie jail, shown here, are sought by police
Two Toronto juveniles who escaped from the women's cells at Barrie jail, shown here, are sought by police
9/8/1947
Cells in the Toronto (Don) Jail were examined by Star reporter Steve Handelman after a prisoner hanged himself
Cells in the Toronto (Don) Jail were examined by Star reporter Steve Handelman after a prisoner hanged himself
11/19/1974
Two Lives: Andrew MacDonald, 31, a stockbroker expecting to earn about $70,000 this year, spends his spare time helping Inmates at the Don jail.
Two Lives: Andrew MacDonald, 31, a stockbroker expecting to earn about $70,000 this year, spends his spare time helping Inmates at the Don jail.
12/23/1990
After seeing films of the re-creation of the Stratford jail fire, Sid Bradley (left), 23, brother of one of the five inmates who died in blaze last De(...)
After seeing films of the re-creation of the Stratford jail fire, Sid Bradley (left), 23, brother of one of the five inmates who died in blaze last De(...)
2/10/1977
Inmates call this death row in the jail at Stratford
Inmates call this death row in the jail at Stratford
1/6/1977
Met fans in van: North Stars player Dino Ciccarelli is released from the Toronto (con) jail after arriving in a police van in which he gave other inmates his autograph
Met fans in van: North Stars player Dino Ciccarelli is released from the Toronto (con) jail after arriving in a police van in which he gave other inmates his autograph
8/24/1988
Toronto's old don jail degrading, if not medieval Jurors urge more creature comforts to make conditions bearable for inmates
Toronto's old don jail degrading, if not medieval Jurors urge more creature comforts to make conditions bearable for inmates
9/30/1974