I would like to follow up Barb Kane’s letter of August 6th, “put trouble makers in jail”, with some comments and observations having worked within the criminal justice system in Prince George for over 30 years. I agree that many individuals are not being held accountable for their actions as the criteria has escalated for prosecutors to go forward with charges and for Judges to invoke a jail sentence when there is a conviction; often mental health and/or addictions issues are cited as mitigating factors. In that light, I would like to focus on the youth justice system and in particular, the Prince George Youth Custody Centre (PGYCC) where I spent the last 10 years of my career as the Director.
First, a bit of history. In 2003 the Youth Criminal Justice Act replaced the Young Offenders Act. (Federal Legislation) This new Act made it more onerous on prosecutors and Judges to impose a custodial sentence on young offenders (those under 18 yrs. of age). This resulted in a dramatic reduction of youth sentenced to jail across Canada and, in BC , the number of youth custody centres was reduced from seven to the current two (Burnaby & Prince George). In BC, the provincial average number of youths serving jail sentences on any given day has dropped from 400 to now less than 50. My understanding is that PGYCC has consistently had less than 12 youth in that facility at any given time and there have been days when there were no youth at all in our local youth jail. (Yes, it’s true!) Yet it seems it is business as usual at this Ministry of Children & Family Development (MCFD) 60-bed facility when this community is struggling for treatment and program options for its vulnerable population.
Requests from local advocacy groups for MCFD to re-purpose PGYCC have been ignored and the Ministry of Mental Health & Addictions’ political response has been to advise of how much provincial money they have dedicated to mental health/addiction programs. Yet we have no substance misuse treatment facilities for women in the north, very limited services for those with mental health issues and a frustrating unhoused population problem in our city. Having a virtually empty youth jail in this community when it could be better utilized to address some obvious systemic problems seems ludicrous if not downright embarrassing. With minimal youth to manage at PGYCC, some staff have expressed being uncomfortable collecting their pay checks.
Where is the Provincial Government’s obligation to work with its local partners who are trying to provide services? (Northern Health, City of Prince George, non-profit Societies and others). Why is the Ministry of Children & Family Development not being held accountable for the gross underutilization of the tax dollar paid PGYCC? It is time to put pressure on relevant Provincial Government bureaucrats to start listening and for local politicians to make some noise. Then, perhaps we can make a dent in minimizing the number of “trouble makers” on local streets.
Stan Hyatt
Prince George
