THUNDER BAY – According to the NDP, Infrastructure Ontario has placed an indefinite delay on construction of the new Thunder Bay Correctional Complex.
First announced by the previous government, the Ontario Conservatives under Premier Doug Ford last April promised to replace the overcrowded Thunder Bay District Jail and Thunder Bay Correctional Centre with a new 325-bed facility.
In a release issued on Friday by the NDP, the party says the request for proposal was initially supposed to be issued last spring. An update from Infrastructure Ontario now lists the project, with its estimated $200 million to $499-million price tag, as to be determined.
Timelines for the Ottawa Correctional Complex are also listed as to be determined.
“The safety and security problems at the Thunder Bay Jail and the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre are serious,” said Judith Monteith-Farrell, NDP MPP for Thunder Bay-Atikokan, in the release.
“The previous Liberal government neglected this problem for years, and now the Ford government is doing the same. It’s not safe for our community, for the corrections staff, and for inmates to have the government to keep ignoring the issue of dangerously outdated corrections facilities.”
In March 2018 the province, under a Liberal government, issued a request for qualifications to be allowed to bid on the project
Dougall Media has reached out to the province for comment.
