The provincial justice minister announced March 24 that one of two youth jails in the south will be closing permanently this July and more resources shifted to Northern Manitoba, which is where the majority of incarcerated youth are from.
Agassiz Youth Centre in Portage la Prairie, which is currently only at about 30 per cent capacity, will shut down July 22, Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen announced. Approximately 100 Justice Department staff who work there will be offered employment in other areas and the land it occupies may become the site of a previously announced new hospital for the city. Youth currently housed at Agassiz will be transferred to the Manitoba Youth Centre in Winnipeg, which has been below 50 per cent capacity for the past five years.
Over the past decade, Goertzen said, youth incarceration has gone down nearly 75 per cent in Manitoba, from more than 300 youth in custody in 2012 to fewer than 90 today, mainly due to the federal Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Meanwhile, in the north, there are no youth jails and no transitional facilities, meaning incarcerated young offenders from the region have to complete their entire sentences at Agassiz or MYC, though a transitional phase before they return to the community is better for reducing reoffending and re-incarceration.
“We have many jurisdictions in Manitoba, and certainly in the north, which are really in need of justice services,” said Goertzen, noting that the “vast majority” of youth in custody are from Northern Manitoba.
The justice minister is set to make an announcement about increasing capacity for northern youth offenders March 25 in Winnipeg, alongside Thompson Mayor Colleen Smook and Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee.
“We’ve been working with First Nations partners and other partners over several months, really, in terms of what that might look like,” said Goertzen, noting that open custody models provide better opportunities for young offenders to transition back into their communities gradually and have access to appropriate and culturally relevant services.
The Manitoba Government and General Employees Union, which represents jail guards and other staff at Agassiz, told the Canadian Press it was not consulted about the closure.
“This will impact youth incarcerated there and it will eliminate over a hundred good-paying jobs which support Manitoba families in the community,” said union president Kyle Ross.
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs acting grand chief Eric Redhead said closing the youth jail and enabling youth sentenced to custody to spend at least part of it closer to their home communities is not a complete solution to the many problems that lead to Indigenous youth being overrepresented in Manitoba’s legal and correctional system.
“The AMC is in a process of developing our own justice and law centre that would be grounded in our understanding of traditional laws that promote diversion and restorative justice as a response to conflict,” he said.
