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. 

Canadian prisoners are requesting to end their lives by assisted suicide at a fast-growing rate despite the state banning capital punishment since 1976

Correctional Service of Canada, run by Commissioner Anne Kelly (pictured), has seen an increase in state-sanctioned suicide following the legalization of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)

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.'