The centralization of jailed girls in B.C. has directly affected the sentence handed one young offender by a Prince George judge.
The girl - identified in court documents only as BLF due to her age - was set to be sentenced on March 20. At 15, she was already convicted of past offenses and she was back before a judge for a typical thing among young offenders, she breached the set of rules set out for her by the first judge. Breaching those supervision orders are often what lands a youth in jail, rather than the original offense.
BLF's lawyer and Crown counsel made a joint submission suggesting 30 days of jail and 15 days of community supervision be added to her sentence.
However, Prince George Provincial Court judge Darrell O'Bryne felt compelled to hold off his final decision due to the closure of the female section of Prince George Youth Containment Centre in favour of a provincewide plan to consolidate all incarcerated girls of B.C. at a single facility in Burnaby.
"Given BLF's previous history, and her blatant disregard for court-ordered curfews, this joint submission appears to be entirely appropriate," wrote O'Byrne in his decision on the matter. "However, when I inquired of counsel where BLF would serve her time in custody, I was advised [that] there would no longer be a female youth containment facility here in Prince George due to the closure of the only facility in the north for female youths. Accordingly, if I accepted the joint submission, BLF would be transported to Burnaby to serve her sentence. I found this result to be unacceptable and adjourned the sentencing so that I could consider what would be a more appropriate sentence."
O'Byrne saw in BLF a child who was actively resistant to the rules of family and group homes who had attempted over recent years to steer her onto positive paths. She had live a life of abuse, neglect, violence and dysfunction since early childhood.
"In short, she is exactly the vulnerable young First Nations female who needs structure and consistent rules," said O'Byrne. "Further, removing her from her community and family supports is exactly the opposite of what should be occurring to her. Even if the hope of reuniting BLF with her family is fraught with difficulties, that plan is far preferable to taking her out of Prince George for 'budgetary reasons.'"
O'Byrne also pointed a finger of question at the Ministry of Children and Family Development, the department behind the centralization plan.
"One has to wonder," the judge said, "about a provincial youth justice system withdrawing facilities from northern youth, especially given the principles set out in the preamble of the Youth Criminal Justice Act."
That passage talked of a system that "commands respect" and "fosters responsibility" through meaningful consequences that, whenever possible, steers away from jail as a course of action unless the youths' crimes are violent.
"It is inconceivable to me that those charged with overseeing the care of these young women could possibly believe that it is in their best interests to be sentenced to a term of custody that would see them removed from their northern communities and transported south," O'Byrne said. "I find carrying out that sentence would be completely disproportionate to the offenses committed."
Thus, the judge let her go with time served and placed her in the care of a local contact person who, it was hoped by the local probation office, be suitable for ongoing supervision.
