How long can the police hold a person in jail without charges in Canada?

Answer 1

Police can hold prisoners up to 24 hours before it is necessary to bring him/her before a Justice or Judge. At that hearing, it will be necessary to charge that person with an offence if police wish to continue keeping the prisoner on 'remand'.

Also, many considerations are made when deciding whether or not to remand a prisoner. If the charge(s) is serious enough, or if there are enough of them (even when they're not serious) they may hold you.

If there is the potential for the continuation of the offence or the endangerment of the public if they choose to release you then they may hold you.

If you DO NOT GIVE YOUR IDENTITY you may also be held as police can exercise that power and cannot release you without ensuring your identity, your cooperation, and your willingness to attend court on your own recognizance.

So, unless any of those issues arise, you should be released within 24 hours of your arrest.

If you do end up getting remanded for court (held), the police are required by law to schedule you to attend the next most recent court date/time in your given town or any town/city within a reasonable driving distance. The only way that they can schedule you for a court date/time that isn't the next most available slot is by your agreeal, or the order of the Justice / Judge based on exigent circumstances (i.e., no transportation available, local court in holiday time, no room in next most recent court docket).

Generally, unless police are wanting to remand you, they will release you once you're sober, and calm, and your I.D. is known. If you're agreeing to go to court, your ID is known, you are sober, your release would not endanger the public or result in the eminent destruction of evidence, then you should not be held any longer than 24 hours.