Toronto West Detention Centre

Toronto West Detention Centre

Location	111 Disco Rd, Toronto, Ontario
Status	Operational
Security class	Maximum
Capacity	631
Opened	1970s
Managed by	Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services
Director	Superintendent Tom O'Connell

The Toronto West Detention Centre (also called the West End Detention Centre or simply The West) is a maximum security remand facility located in Rexdale, a community located in the north-west corner of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The facility was known as the Metropolitan Toronto West Detention Centre until Rexdale, as part of the City of Etobicoke, became part of the newly amalgamated City of Toronto in 1998.

With a designed capacity for 631 prisoners,^[1] the Toronto West Detention Centre currently houses adult males who have been remanded into custody while awaiting trial or sentencing, are serving short sentences, or are awaiting transfer to federal or provincial correctional facilities.^[2] Over the years the Toronto West Detention Centre has at times also housed female and juvenile offenders. From October 1997 through January 1999 the facility underwent extensive retrofitting of its security systems using up-to-date technology.^[3] The facility has also housed foreign nationals being detained on security certificates.

In January 2008, staff at the prison staged a walk out in protest of three correctional officers being disciplined for failing to notice actions later seen on security cameras.^[4]

In January 2014 the Toronto South Detention Centre opened to replace Toronto West and the Toronto Jail (Don Jail). While the latter closed on 6 January 2014, Toronto West remains open as of March 2014.

Notable prisoners

• Karla Homolka, Canadian serial killer, co-accused with her then husband Paul Bernardo
• Abdullah Khadr, awaiting extradition, 2004-current.^[5]
• Laurie Bembenek, also known as Bambi Bembenek.
• Karlheinz Schreiber, the German-Canadian businessman who is embroiled in a dispute with former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.;^[6] later extradited to Germany
• Hassan Almrei, a Syrian national, who came to Canada in 1999 on a forged passport and was alleged to have been involved in an al Qaeda forgery ring.^[7]
• Ernst Zündel, was held at Toronto West from 2003 until his 2005 deportation to Germany.

See also

List of correctional facilities in Ontario

References

Coordinates: 43°41′58″N 79°35′53″W / 43.699408°N 79.597959°W / 43.699408; -79.597959