The perception of many residents in the South Okanagan that prisoners released from the Okanagan Correctional Centre (OCC) - and any other prison in British Columbia - roam free on the streets of the cities and towns where these facilities are located is simply false, says the warden of the OCC.
Steve Di Castri, who has been the warden at OCC since it opened almost two years ago, made a brief presentation to the large crowd that attended a community crime forum at the Oliver Community Hall Tuesday evening.
Di Castri, who has worked in corrections for his entire adult life, said he thought it was important that he show up to answer questions from members of the public at the forum, which attracted a crowd of more thn 400 Oliver and area residents concerned about the growing crime problem in the community and across the region.
A member of the audience told Di Castri that it’s her belief that prisoners released from the OCC are brought to Penticton and the Greyhound bus station and then shipped to their home community and she was worried what might happen with Greyhound suspending operations across all of western Canada in October.
“Currently, an inmate has to go back to their court of origin,” he said. “We don’t just let them out in Oliver. If they live in Oliver, we let them out if someone comes and picks them up … away they go.
“If they live in Penticton, we get them to Penticton. We don’t let them out in Oliver unless they have a ride by a family (member), then they can go. If they’re up in Trail, we get them to the bus in Penticton … they get on the bus. We pay for that bus ticket, not just to get them to the bus, but to get them home … where they live basically.”
If there isn’t bus service to a particular community, there are jail staff who will drive released inmates to their home community, he said.
“We take them back to their community. We don’t just let them out,” he said.
If a newly-released inmate insists he or she doesn’t want to get on the bus to travel back to their home community, there is basically nothing OCC staff can do as they are considered free under Canadian law, said Di Castri, noting this doesn’t happen very often.
“Most of them do go home, but some of them choose not to,” he said. “We never release into the community unless it’s with a person or family member that’s picked them up or we take them to their home,” he said.
When Greyhound does suspend service, OCC staff know they are going to be driving more released inmates back to their home communities and they’re prepared for that, he said.
The majority of inmates about to be released make arrangements with their family members to be picked up at the front gate when they are released, he said.
“I just want you to know we don’t release them out the door,” he said.
There are currently 350 prisoners at the OCC, with room for roughly 30 more to meet full capacity, and while there currently are enough correctional officers to handle this number of prisoners, recruiting new officers has proved difficult, he said.
“Recruitment is difficult in the Oliver area, but we’re slowly chipping away at it,” he said. “Our class sizes (for correctional officers) went from 24 to about six.”
Every prisoner has a “case manager” and that manager formulates a sentence plan for the prisoner and offers addiction counselling, essential skills training for things like opening a bank account and other life skills. They also offer training in the prison’s wood shop, metal shop and multi-purpose shop as skills trades are offered to increase employment opportunities once they are released, he said.
“All of them have a plan for their time with us,” he said.
For more information on the Okanagan Correctional Centre, click here.
