The Orcadia Youth Residence just northwest of Yorkton will be converted to an adult corrections facility starting March 31.
The closing of Orcadia and another facility, Yarrow Youth Farm, in Saskatoon is due to declining numbers of youths serving custodial sentences while adult facilities are becoming overcrowded, explained Dennis Cooley, assistant deputy minister of custody supervision and rehabilitation services for the Province.
Transferring youths from Orcadia will free up 39 beds for adult prisoners.
The current population of Orcadia will be transferred to other youth facilities in Saskatoon, Battleford or Prince Albert depending on proximity to each individual’s home area.
There should be no problem accommodating the young offenders as
Cooley attributes the decline in youth custody all across the country to the introduction of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) in 2003, which focused on rehabilitation and gave the courts a much broader range of alternatives to incarceration when dealing with offenders less than 18 years old.
“The YCJA is doing what it’s intended to do as laid out in the Act,” Cooley said.
He also cited success of early intervention programs such as the collaborative HUB approach that seeks to prevent youth in high-risk situations from becoming involved in the justice system in the first place.
He is not sure why there has not been a corresponding reduction in adult incarceration.
“It’s a puzzle and we’re still trying to figure it out,” he said, adding it could be related to Criminal Code amendments such as mandatory minimum sentences and greater restrictions on conditional sentencing.
After the last of the young offenders have been moved from Orcadia at the end of March, the ministry will be retraining the staff with respect to the different legislation and procedures they will be required to work with when dealing with adults.
Cooley recognizes not all staff will be comfortable with switching to adults and said those individuals will be accommodated as much as possible.
“Our commitment is to work with all the staff to find suitable employment within the collective bargaining agreement,” he said.
The first adult prisoners could start arriving at Orcadia as early as late June or early July.
Cooley said these will all be very low-risk inmates who will have to apply and be screened for suitability.
The focus of the facility will be on job-based training, the details of which ministry staff members are still designing.
There has been no announcement yet as to what will happen to Yarrow.
