Agencies worry over girls' jail plans

Some local agencies working with troubled youth are themselves troubled by the plan to axe the girls' jail at Prince George Youth Containment Centre.

The Urban Aboriginal Justice Society held a board meeting to address the surprise announcement made last week by the provincial government.

The provincial Elizabeth Fry Society stood beside the government during the announcement that Burnaby would now be the only home for jailed girls, but the Prince George branch has publicly denounced the plan.

The Crooked Path organization works one-on-one with young people in trouble with the law, or at risk of it. Manager Bob Sandbach called the transport of all current inmates to Burnaby, and no more program in Prince George, sickening.

"When the girls are in there, the underlying reason is usually poverty, and this just makes it harder," Sandbach said.

"I think the families involved, only one per cent of them can afford to travel. We are kind of the centre of the north, so depending on where they come from in the region, for them to travel here is not always possible but at least it is realistic. This, Burnaby, it isn't right. There's no way families can stay connected."

Morgan Jamieson, the executive director of the Urban Aboriginal Justice Society, said the $2.5 million the government claims to be saving with the closure may be lost in other areas of the provincial budget, including the long-term costs if youth who could have been

rehabilitated end up involved in crime.

Particularly vulnerable are young mothers who will now be cut off from their children, while they are in jail, said Jamieson. She was also concerned for those not convicted of any crimes.

"You could be on remand [the time you are held while waiting for a trial] for weeks or months and that will be all done down in Burnaby now, only to be brought back to Prince George for trial and perhaps found to be innocent. But in the meantime harm has been done to them by severing connections with their family, supports, community."

She also lamented the lack of community-based outreach that a number of agencies do in B.C. jails.

Sandbach said jail was no place for a kid, and he had two daughters go through the system.

"It has been my experience that they are more receptive to small groups and one-on-one," said Sandbach.

"The kids I work with, and with [daughter Celine Cadieux], I know they don't like crowds. They won't open up. Until you get to the root, it is hard to have any kind of change for the better, and they won't bring that out to you in groups of any bigger than two.

"One-on-one they will, even two together, but once you get to three you start to lose 'em."

Jamieson said a centralized model was tried once before. It was called the Willingdon School for Girls and was broken up in favour of the current regional model, she said.