Ontario is hiring more corrections staff, including officers, nurses, psychologists and segregation managers in an attempt to address issues with solitary confinement and inmates with mental-health challenges.

The dedicated segregation managers will work at institutions with higher segregation rates to try to reduce the use of isolation and help inmates who have been in solitary transition back to the general population.

"This is a first step towards implementing dedicated segregation teams across the system," said Correctional Services Minister David Orazietti.

The announcement comes shortly before federal correctional investigator Howard Sapers is set to officially lead an Ontario review into the use of segregation. Orazietti said he didn't want to pre-judge what Sapers will recommend, but this is work that could be done in the meantime.

"That's something that I've said all along, that we would not be sitting on our hands while Mr. Sapers does his work," he said. "I have the utmost respect for Mr. Sapers' expertise, what he brings to our ministry and the province, and I'm very much looking forward to the work that he's going to do, but in the meantime, there are a number of issues that we believe that we can move forward with."

In total, the province is hiring 239 staff for its 26 adult correctional facilities, including 24 correctional officers, which are in addition to a previous commitment to hire 2,000 officers over the next three years. The hires also include correctional supervisors, nurses, mental-health nurses, psychologists, recreational staff, chaplains, librarians and administrators.

Thursday's announcement comes with a $33-million price tag, with about $14.8 million for capital work, such as retrofitting and repurposing common rooms, upgrading doors and repainting.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents correctional staff, called the announcement a positive start.

"I have to give credit where credit is due," president Smokey Thomas said in a statement. "I congratulate Minister David Orazietti for listening to the concerns of the front line. These supports, particularly the new hires to support inmates with special needs, are very welcome."

However, Thomas said the system is not short of managers, and the resources that are going to hiring 46 new managers would be better directed toward even more front-line staff.

To support inmates with mental-health issues, the province is also looking to hire release-from-custody workers to help offenders reintegrate into the community and mental-health court support workers.

Ontario will fund pilot programs in Toronto and Hamilton to provide specialty psychiatric beds for inmates whose mental-health needs are too complex for general hospitals.

"This is critically important work, particularly when it comes to ending the tragic cycle of people with mental-health challenges revolving in and out of correctional facilities," said Health Minister Eric Hoskins.

"We have to understand that it's a deeply rooted systemic problem and it will take a major system transformation for lasting change to happen."

The province is also adding six "safe bed" sites over the next two years. They provide emergency housing for people in a mental-health crisis to help them avoid incarceration.