Canada is letting prisoners die by assisted suicide nearly 50 years after banning capital punishment, according to newly released data. 

In 2025, 12 prisoners requested to die by euthanasia, according to an Order Paper response confirmed by the Correctional Service of Canada. Only one person did so, according to the data recorded as of September that was first reported by Juno News.

Since 2018, at least 15 inmates have ended their lives through medical assistance in dying, according to the report released earlier this month. 

The agency, which is run by Commissioner Anne Kelly, has seen an increase in state-sanctioned suicide following the legalization of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). 

The process, which was legalized in the liberal government in 2016 under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, allows people with terminal illnesses to end their lives, but over the years guidelines have expanded to include non-terminal conditions, creating a big point of contention. 

Since MAiD became legalized, 67 federal inmates have applied for the procedure. 

The updated data comes as the country still abides by its ban on capital punishment, which was abolished in 1976 for civilian crimes. 

In 1998, Canada officially removed capital punishment from military law. Instead, the government replaced with with a life sentence for murder. 

The statistics did not specify the sex of the inmates, where exactly the deaths occurred, or their specific requests why they wanted to die. 

The report also did not specify if the prisoners' deaths were under Track 1 MAiD cases, which involve people whose natural deaths, like cancer and heart disease, or Track 2 MAiD cases, meaning their deaths were not imminent. 

According to the report, four inmates each died in 2024 and 2022 by assisted suicide. 

One person died by that method in 2023, 2021, 2020, and 2019. Two prisoners died by it in 2018, and zero did so in 2016 and 2017, per the data. 

Of the 15 inmates who received MAiD, 14 of them underwent procedures at external facilities, the report detailed. Just one of them 'received it within a correctional institution at their own request.'

The choice to voluntarily end your life has caused a major uproar across not just Canada. Some who are in favor of medically-assisted dying think the laws in Canada are too lax and that it should only be available to terminally-ill people in the final stages of their lives. 

In recent years, mental illnesses have been brought up as a way to be approved for the procedure, but people with them are not yet eligible for MAiD. 

Clair Brosseau, a successful Canadian actress, recently shared that she will die by assisted suicide because she cannot overcome her battle with manic depression. 

The 48-year-old was diagnosed with the condition when she was 14-years-old after she went on a drug, alcohol, and sex-filled spree. 

Brosseau would later be identified as having anxiety, chronic suicidal ideation, an eating disorder, a personality disorder, substance abuse disorder, PTSD, and a slew of other mental health conditions. 

She attempted suicide multiple times and has been treated by psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors across North America, she revealed in an open letter published to her Substack earlier this year.

Brosseau, who has neither a partner nor children, decided in 2021 that she would apply for euthanasia under the MAid program. But plans to enact it for people suffering from chronic mental illness keep being pushed back and it will not be available for at least another year. 

She is now suing the Canadian government for the right to die by assisted suicide because patients whose chronic illnesses are solely mental health-related, however, are not yet eligible for the controversial procedure. 

The mental health exclusion was set to end in March 2023, but has been delayed twice, meaning that Brosseau may not have access to MAiD until 2027. She is now taking legal action and has filed a complaint with the Ontario Superior Court alleging genuine rights violations. 

According to an August report by The Atlantic, euthanasia rates are so high that doctors who provide it can't keep up. 

Since the MAiD program began, around 90,000 Canadians have died by assisted suicide. In 2024, 16,499 residents died from euthanasia. 

Official statistics for 2025 have not yet been released. 

Only a select number of US states allow assisted dying to adult patients who are mentally competent and terminally ill, including Washington State, Montana, Vermont, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Jersey, Maine, New Mexico, as well as the nation's capital, Washington D.C.