Nearly 270 people have died in Canadian provincial jails over the past five years. Two-thirds of them were legally innocent.
The high number of deaths among prisoners awaiting trial, compiled by Reuters from data provided by provincial governments, is the result of some of the world’s toughest bail practices that have led to overcrowding in jails, according to lawyers, prison officers and prisoner rights advocates.
While the growing population of prisoners awaiting trial has been well documented, the disproportionate death toll in provincial jails has not.
Canada’s jailhouse secret: legally innocent inmates are dying in prison
QueerAnarchism 