Imprisonment for debt (Upper Canada)

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A series of parliamentary reports describe the scope of the problem of debt in Upper Canada; as early as 1827, the eleven district jails in the province had a capacity of 298 cells, of which 264 were occupied, 159 by debtors. In the Home District, 379 of 943 prisoners between 1833 and 1835 were being held for debt.^[1] Over the province as a whole, 48% or 2304 of 4726 prisoners were being held in jail for debt in 1836.^[2] The number of debtors jailed was the result of both widespread poverty, and the small amounts for which debtors could be indefinitely detained.