Province ends direct remand centre lockup after arrest despite strain on police facilities By: Dean Pritchard Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2020

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This article was published 09/06/2020 (1563 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Just two days after the city’s top cop called for a reversal on a new policy requiring police to hold arrestees until they can be seen by a judge or justice of the peace before moving them to the Winnipeg Remand Centre, Manitoba Justice Minister Cliff Cullen has confirmed the change will be permanent.

The change, instituted in April as a response to COVID-19, put an end to the practice of direct lockup, in which new arrestees would be held at the Winnipeg Remand Centre before seeing a judge or justice of the peace for a bail application. Similar changes were put in place in Brandon.

“We appreciate that (police) have been forced to make changes,” Cullen said. “Our goal is to get people seen… as soon as possible.”

Cullen said Manitoba is the last province in Canada to offer a direct lockup system and it is time to change.

“We appreciate that (police) have been forced to make changes. Our goal is to get people seen… as soon as possible.” – Cliff Cullen, Manitoba Justice Minister

Eliminating the direct lockup system allowed Manitoba Justice to use the remand centre as a quarantine area for new arrestees not eligible for immediate release, a move that has helped keep the province’s correctional facilities, to date, infection-free, Cullen said.

“We were aware we were in a unique position in Winnipeg and Brandon,” Cullen said. “In discussion with our public health officials it seemed to be an effective method to make sure we were protecting the inmate population. Because we did make the transition, it seemed like an opportune time to move this into a permanent situation.”

In a letter Tuesday to Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth, Cullen noted the direct lockup agreement with city police expired 17 years ago and that the legal authority to detain arrestees in direct lockup is “questionable.”

Smyth declined comment Wednesday, but said Monday the change is putting great strain on police resources.

Since the elimination of direct lockup, 100 of 625 people held in Winnipeg police holding cells waited more than 24 hours before being transferred to the remand centre, with one individual waiting 44 hours.

“We are holding prisoners for unreasonable lengths of time in a facility that’s not designed for this purpose,” he said.

While offered bathroom breaks and provided with food, arrestees have vomited, urinated and defecated in the bare, concrete rooms, Smyth said. “The risks associated with this and these people in our care are high.”

“We are holding prisoners for unreasonable lengths of time in a facility that’s not designed for this purpose.” – Danny Smyth, Winnipeg Police Service Chief

Cullen said Manitoba Justice’s goal is to ensure no one is kept in custody any longer than necessary.

“Clearly I think we have some work to do from our perspective and from the court’s perspective too, to make sure we are managing the population as efficiently, as effectively and in a timely manner so we aren’t holding individuals for a prolonged period of time,” he said.

On Wednesday, the province announced $5 million in additional law enforcement funding, a portion of which is earmarked for police station upgrades necessary to ease pressure on the remand centre.

“We’ve said to both (Winnipeg and Brandon police) chiefs that we will continue to support them in their efforts, and we will be there to support them financially as well… to accommodate the necessary changes that I think are beneficial, quite frankly, to everyone,” Cullen said.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Someone once said a journalist is just a reporter in a good suit. Dean Pritchard doesn’t own a good suit. But he knows a good lawsuit.

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