Thunder Bay District Jail being evacuated due to mechanical failure

The Thunder Bay District Jail is being evacuated as repairs to the facility's heating system are completed.

"Due to an unexpected mechanical failure in the jail's heating system, we have taken immediate action to move all inmates to alternate secure facilities where they will be held until normal operations at Thunder Bay Jail resume," the Ministry of the Solicitor General confirmed on Wednesday.

No timeline for repairs was provided.

Anthony Rojik, a corrections officer at the jail and president of Ontario Public Service Employees Union Local 737, said the heating system failure happened on Monday.

"Right now, we're working on our electric backups," he said. "We don't want to rely solely on one system for complete inmate safety, so we're evacuating the population for their own safety."

Rojik said the evacuation will likely take a few days to complete.

He said there are challenges due to the fact that all correctional institutions in Ontario are overcrowded.

"We're putting that extra strain on other institutions," Rojik said. "That's the only challenge we're actually running into at this point."

Rojik said the union is working with stakeholders, including the province and contractors, "to come up with a solution to the problem and get the problem fixed as quickly as possible."

The Thunder Bay District Jail will be 100 years old in 2026. Construction on the new Thunder Bay Correctional Complex, which will replace the jail and the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre, is currently underway.

The $1.2-billion complex is expected to open in November 2026.