More inmates waiting for trials filling Manitoba jails

Manitoba's jails are bursting at the seams and prisoners waiting for court dates are responsible for the largest increases, a provincial committee heard Monday morning.

Deputy Minister JulieFredericksontold a committee ofMLAsthis morning that the pressure in the jail system is largely in the remand side of the population.

Those prisoners are waiting in custody to move through the court system and have yet to be tried or sentenced. Theyrepresent 70 per cent of the total population of Manitoba's corrections system.

Senior bureaucrats were grilled Monday on how to better manage Manitoba's prison population. The number of inmates has risen sharply in the past six months. The current population is just over 2,500.

It's a problem Manitoba Corrections has been grappling with for some time.

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Winnipeg's Remand Centre can hold approximately 289 minimum, medium and maximum security risk adult males and females,according to the Manitoba Corrections website. There are currently 351 people in custody at the facility.

Five inmates have died this year while in the Remand Centre.

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The total number of people in custody or serving time in all Manitoba jails has risen by 150 in the past six months and 100 since June.

Frederickson told the committeeit is up to the courts, prosecutors and judges to move prisoners on remandthrough the system. She saidefforts are being made to provide a system-wide change.

The department began a process it calls "delivery" in 2014.

"This creates a 'whole systems'approach to improve the timeliness and effectiveness of the entire criminal justice system by differentiating cases as quickly as possible, using restorative justice where appropriate and in partnership with Indigenous communities," said a spokesperson for Manitoba Justice.

One system that has been implemented is theIntensive Case Assessment Process (ICAP) unit in Criminal Law (Prosecutions). The goal is toprovide an initial assessment of cases as soon as charges are laid andidentifymatters that are less serious and can be resolved inless time.The spokesperson says other changes will be implemented in the near future.

"We are looking at a number of options to shift the balance and move things along. We are looking at a cultural shift in the entire criminal justice system from end-to-end," Frederickson said.

She says staff numbers in Manitoba Corrections increase when the population grows. There has not been a hiring freeze imposed at Manitoba Justice, according to the Justice spokesperson.

The committee on public accounts also discussed challenges facing rural and northern Manitoba. A plan to replace the aging corrections facility in Dauphin is under review by the PC government.

• New jail to be built in Dauphin

The committee also queried the deputy minister on thedisparityof resources between northern and southern Manitobaforinmates and people on parole.