In North America, remand is becoming a defining pressure on correctional and detention systems. Growing populations awaiting trial, longer and less predictable lengths of stay, mental health and substance use needs, aging population, contraband risks, and workforce pressures are placing greater demands on facilities that were not always planned for this level of complexity.
The challenge is that remand pressure is not created by corrections alone. Court delays affect how long people remain in custody. Bail policy influences admissions. Transportation and virtual appearances connect detention centers directly to court operations. Policing decisions affect intake, while correctional capacity needs can create pressure across the wider justice ecosystem.
In the first of a three-part series titled ‘Navigating the Justice Ecosystem’, we explore how changing policy and service demands are affecting justice infrastructure. We begin with the growing challenges facing correctional and detention facilities.
The Integrated Justice Ecosystem
Remand makes the interdependence of the justice ecosystem impossible to ignore.
Courts, corrections, and policing may operate as separate agencies, but their infrastructure and operations are closely connected. A delay in one part of the ecosystem can quickly become a capacity, staffing, or security issue somewhere else.
This is changing how governments and the AEC industry must plan for broader justice infrastructure.
For correctional and detention centers, the question is no longer simply how many beds are required. It is how facilities can manage changing populations, unpredictable lengths of stay, secure movement, classification, healthcare, programming, hybrid court appearances, staff support, and evolving policy over decades of operation.
We challenge ourselves to align courts, corrections, and law enforcement facilities to function together over time across the full justice ecosystem. That means thinking beyond a single building to address adaptability and flexibility. It also means collaborating with all levels of government in North America and the UK to make informed decisions and realize the importance of connecting immediate capital and capacity needs with an investment in long-range policy, service delivery, and community priorities.
Connecting Policy to Infrastructure
It is vital for correctional design to respond to policy change without losing sight of long-term reform and infrastructure planning. The remand and pretrial custody challenge is significant in all three regions, but the policy direction is notably different. Canada is tightening bail rules and adding correctional capacity; England is actively changing bail and sentencing rules to reduce remand demand; and the US remains highly fragmented, with states moving in different directions.
Canada’s Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, combined with rising remand pressures and new capital investment, is increasing the need for infrastructure that can absorb near-term capacity demands while supporting broader system change. The recent Canadian reforms introduce stricter bail provisions and tougher sentencing measures, with a particular focus on violent and repeat offending. At the provincial level, Ontario has announced more than $3 billion to expand adult correctional capacity as governments prepare for changing demands. In a recent Canadian Civil Liberties Association study, people on remand accounted for almost 80% of Ontario’s in-custody population. That pressure drives urgent demand for new beds, faster delivery, and more flexible capacity strategies.
The US faces a distinct pretrial detention challenge because custody is managed across thousands of state and local jurisdictions rather than through a single national system. The 2026 Bureau of Justice Statistics reports 68% of people held in local jails were unconvicted, creating high turnover, uncertain lengths of stay, and significant demands on intake, healthcare, classification, court access, and movement. Policy also varies widely, with some states reducing reliance on cash bail while others consider broader detention powers. As a result, correctional planning must respond to very different local legal, operational, and population pressures.
In England, people on remand accounted for about 18% of the prison population in June 2026, down from a 2025 peak as recent bail reforms, electronic monitoring, and increased court capacity seek to reduce unnecessary detention; in Scotland, remand remains higher at roughly 26% of the prison population, with levels closely tied to court throughput and a legal requirement to separate remand and sentenced populations. For infrastructure planning, both systems need facilities that can respond to fluctuating demand through flexible housing, secure movement, court connectivity, healthcare, and adaptable accommodation rather than relying only on fixed increases in bed capacity.
Balancing Long-term Transformation with Short-term Capacity
Justice agencies need permanent facilities designed for durability, rehabilitation, future readiness, and a normalized environment in mind. They also need rapid solutions that can reduce pressure now, without abandoning core principles of safety and dignity.
We help navigate both strategies. Our work in Northern Ontario on the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre & Kenora Jail facility expansions demonstrates how modern planning can deliver restorative, operationally effective environments at speed. These rapid deployment facilities incorporate cultural areas, skills-training and educational opportunities, outdoor courtyards, abundant natural light, and secure but less institutional living environments. They also leverage prefabricated modular construction delivery in a fraction of the time compared with traditional on-site construction, while maintaining quality and coordination.
We also support expedited capacity responses. We’ve assisted agencies and partners with tensile membrane housing solutions at multiple facilities such as Elgin Middlesex and Central East & Central North Correctional Complexes. These projects provide urgently needed relief through dormitory-style accommodation while still integrating programming rooms, video visitation access, outdoor courtyards, and direct supervision principles.
Thunder Bay Correctional Centre & Kenora Jail, Thunder Bay and Kenora, ON
Restorative and Rehabilitation-informed Design
Restorative justice and rehabilitation-informed design are central to contemporary corrections planning. This approach recognizes that correctional environments have an impact on the conduct, health, learning, and readiness for reintegration of people in custody.
Effective correctional environments incorporate programming space, education areas, health and mental health services, Indigenous and spiritual spaces, and outdoor areas for recreation, reflection, and culturally responsive practices. They support direct supervision and create visibility without relying on harsh, institutional conditions that escalate tension. We have advanced these principles on projects including the 464-bed Thunder Bay Correctional Complex, on which we served as leader of the Planning, Design, and Conformance team.
Thunder Bay Correctional Complex, Thunder Bay, ON. Renderings courtesy of Design, Build, Finance, Maintain Architects: Zeidler Architecture / DLR Group
Stressors on the System
In parallel, justice facilities must respond to increasingly complex behavioral and health conditions. Mental illness, trauma, and substance use now inform design requirements across intake, housing, observation, care, and court participation. Vulnerable individuals need safer environments and better monitoring, especially in the first hours after intake. Staff need layouts and technology that strengthen supervision, reduce risk, and support rapid response.
Security threats are also evolving. Contraband enters facilities through increasingly sophisticated methods, including drones. Court operations now depend on secure digital infrastructure to support hybrid proceedings and remote appearances. Justice architecture must therefore combine humane space planning with advanced electronic security, resilient operational systems, and adaptable technology.
Staff-supportive Design
Correctional officers and personnel operate in high-stress conditions that demand physical safety, mental resilience, and technical readiness. If facilities ignore staff experience, they undermine retention, performance, and institutional culture. And there are job-specific conditions to address. For example, while officers routinely spend some time at a target range, the staff who run ballistics training programs are on the range for most of their workday. It’s important for design to optimize safety and acoustic comfort in these specialized work environments.
Staff wellness spaces are equally important. Break rooms, fitness areas, quiet rooms, spiritual spaces, courtyards, and restorative staff amenities improve daily experience and reinforce long-term resilience. These environments strengthen morale, reduce stress, and help organizations attract and keep skilled people.
Correctional systems depend on a well-trained workforce to operate safely and respond to increasingly complex custody and care needs. As facilities expand and remand pressures grow, agencies must recruit, train, and retain staff who can manage to changing operational models. Investment in training facilities and staff environments is therefore becoming an important part of broader correctional infrastructure planning.
Cognizant of this need, we are delivering projects related to officer training facilities, such as the Corrections Centre for Professional Advancement and Training (CCPAT) and the Sir Robert Peel Centre Redevelopment, both in Ontario, with ample training components using new technology, scenario-based training and firing ranges.
From Provision to Partnership
Justice agencies need more than a building designer. They need a partner that understands how policy, operations, technology, security, wellness, and community outcomes intersect. They need a team that can translate complex pressures into clear spatial strategy, deliver across multiple facility types, and maintain a consistent vision from planning through implementation. Planning these facilities as interconnected infrastructure creates more options for governments to respond as policy and demand evolve.
For our team, success depends on extensive consultation with user groups and subject matter experts, along with early collaboration across our integrated team. It also requires a planning approach that identifies risk and tests operational assumptions before they become fixed design decisions.
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