City will not pursue a $540,000 upgrade to five holding cells at the Prince George RCMP detachment.
The project was one of four additions considered for addition to the city's 2011-2015 capital plan on Monday. According to city adminstration, the earliest the cell upgrades could be complete is January, 2012. The new RCMP detachment being constructed by the city at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Victoria Street is expected to be complete by June, 2013.
"We're being asked to consider a retrofit of over half a million dollars for a very short period of time," coun. Dave Wilbur said. "I know we have to do something to risk manage. [But] I'm very opposed to that."
The five cells -- male and female drunk tanks, male and female suicide watch cells and youth cell -- have been slated for safety improvements since 2003.
Wilbur said the drunk tanks, officially known as sobering cells, should be the responsibility of a civilian health organization, not the police. That recomendation came from the 2007 coroner's inquest into the death of Frank Joesph Paul in Vancouver.
In 2008 and 2010 the RCMP called on the city to address the safety concerns with the cells.
On June 26, 2008 Cheryl Anne Bouey died while in custody in Prince George. Security video shown during a coroner's inquest into her death showed Bouey hanging herself from a cell door using the drawstring from her pants.
The inquest found the out-dated design of the cells in the detachment were a contributing factor in her death.
City manager of public safety and civic facilities Rob Whitwham said the 2011 operating budget includes additional funding for guards in the holding cells.
"In terms of risk-managing, the prisoner-to-guard ratio was reduced," Whitwham said. "[But] obviously having a cellblock that meets new standards is idea."
City council did include projects to convert Second Avenue and Fourth Avenue to two-way traffic; a proposal to pave the Tyner Boulevard Trail from Ospika Boulevard to UNBC; and street improvements for Fourth Avenue downtown to the capital plan. However those projects are currently unfunded.
The majority of the 2011 capital plan was approved by council in November.
