The Act granted judges the power to order the incarceration of women in Ontario for various reasons such as public intoxication, and morals crimes.
It also granted judges the power to order the placement of girls who were deemed uncontrollable or 'incorrigible' into reform facilities.
The 1939 amendment changed the terms of transfer from an industrial refuge from those "unmanageable or incorrigible" to any inmate to a "common gaol" or the Mercer Reformatory.
One prominent institution was the Andrew Mercer Reformatory for Women in Toronto, which had as one department the Industrial Refuge for Girls.
[10] Roman Catholic women were sent to the "Good Shepherd" in Sudbury, and juveniles were sent to the Galt reform school.