Black people 11% of federal prisoners, CSC data shows

OTTAWA – Black people made up 11 per cent of Canada’s federal in-custody population in 2025-26, up from nine per cent four years earlier, according to Correctional Service of Canada research published this year. Black people were 4.3 per cent of the country’s population in the 2021 Census.

The figures come into focus as the Office of the Correctional Investigator tabled its 53rd annual report in Parliament on Oct. 26. The watchdog’s news release called for a public action plan to address persistent gaps in federal corrections. A summary of the release did not single out Black prisoners among its priority areas.

Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), the federal prison agency, did mention them in its response the same day. Commissioner Talal Dakalbab said the service is advancing “targeted strategies for Black offenders and individuals serving life sentences.” The statement did not describe those strategies.

The most detailed official portrait is a CSC research brief dated May 8, 2026, which profiles Black people serving indeterminate sentences, a category that includes life terms. It uses a snapshot from Oct. 26, 2025.

The brief found Black people made up 12 per cent of the indeterminately sentenced population, up from 11 per cent in 2021-22. Their number in that group rose from 389 to 458 over five years. In the community, Black people accounted for nine per cent of the overall supervised population, up from eight per cent, and five per cent of those serving indeterminate sentences, or 112 people.

Most were held in two regions: 45 per cent in Ontario, notably at Collins Bay, Beaver Creek and Warkworth institutions, and 25 per cent in Quebec. About 98 per cent were in men’s institutions.

The brief compared the 458 Black people with the 3,264 people of all other racial groups serving indeterminate sentences. The Black group was younger, with an average age of 41 compared with 50, and had served less time, an average of 10.4 years compared with 15.5. Some 27 per cent had served more than 15 years, compared with 43 per cent of the other group.

Differences also showed up in how CSC classifies people. Twenty-eight per cent of the Black group were held at maximum security, compared with 18 per cent of the others. Thirteen per cent were at minimum security, compared with 20 per cent. CSC rated 75 per cent of the Black group as having low reintegration potential, compared with 65 per cent, and 94 per cent as high static risk, compared with 87 per cent.

The brief also shows that 38 per cent of the Black group carried a first-degree murder flag, compared with 26 per cent of the others, a difference that bears on sentence structure and parole eligibility. Forty-five per cent of the Black group had reached day parole eligibility, compared with 59 per cent. The brief reports the differences but does not say what causes them.

The correctional investigator has raised the issue before. In an earlier statement marking 10 years since its landmark investigation, the office said the situation for Black people in federal penitentiaries had not improved.

Canada News Media has not yet been able to review the full 2025-26 annual report’s treatment of Black prisoners, if any, and will update this story once it has. CSC’s published statement acknowledged that progress on corrections reform has been uneven.

The numbers sit alongside other recent findings on Black Canadians and the justice system. Canada News Media has reported that Toronto police charged Black people at 3.9 times the white rate, that a tribunal found Sûreté du Québec officers racially profiled a Black driver, and that hate crimes against Black people rose six per cent to 873 in 2024. For earlier chapters in the history of Black communities and state power, see the story of Africville.

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