I live in NYC and I heard that someone I know is locked up, but I don't know why or for how long. I tried Googling, but I couldn't find where to look the info up. I don't know very many people in Toronto anymore.
It's not like America where you can google an inmate and see if he's there. All that is confidential.
What you can do, which I've done a few times, is call Maplehurst and be like "Hi, I wanted to send a money order for my friend, but I'm not positive if he's still there. Can you confirm? I don't want to go through the trouble of sending a money order if he's not there" and they'll tell you