The province has yet to decide what it will do with the Prince George Youth Custody Centre once it closes next spring.
On Thursday, the province announced in a meeting with PGYCC staff that it plans to close the youth custody centre on Gunn Road on March 31, 2024, due to steady decreases in the number of young offenders being jailed as a result of changes to the federal Youth Criminal Justice Act in 2019.
“For a number of years we’ve actually seen a really significant trend, not only in our province but across the whole of the country, with fewer young people being held in custody ,” said Mitzi Dean, Minister of Children and Family Development. “We’re down to single figures (in Prince George) and we’ve seen that decline be sustained over many years, and we went through the pandemic as well.
“Through investing in community supports, which we know leads to better outcomes in young people, we are able to close this facility to centralize youth custody services that will be in Burnaby. We think we’re in a position to do this in a way that will support any young people who might need to make this transition.”
Built to house 60 inmates aged 12-17 when it opened in 1989, the PGYCC now has an operational capacity that allows for up to 24 youth. Combined with the 84-inmate capacity at the other facility in Burnaby, the province has a total capacity of 108.
As of October, there were 21 youth inmates in the two facilities.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act that became law in 2003 was amended in 2019. Since that amendment, the average number of youth in custody has declined 53 per cent. The PGYCC currently has just four inmates.
The changes to reduce the use of custody for young offender prompted provincial governments to consider alternatives to incarceration for less serious offences. Dean says that allows the authorities to tailor services to the individual needs of each youth and keep them better connected to their community and culture. It also allows the province to adjust to the over-representation of Indigenous young people involved in the justice system through its support of restorative justice interventions.
“We aren’t seeing evidence that there’s an increase in youth criminality and we know that community-based youth justice programs and services are much more successful than custody,” said Dean. “We’re investing in community services to divert young people from custody and recidivism rates are much lower.”
The annual cost to operate PGYCC is about $5 million. Once services become centralized with the closure of PGYCC, Dean said some of the resources will be made available to community-based services and to cover the cost of temporary interim accommodation and transportation before a young offender gets moved to Burnaby.
The ministry has been planning for the closure in consultation with B.C. First Nation Justice Council and Metis Nation BC Justice Council.
Closing PGYCC brings into question what will happen to the facility and whether the province will make it available to treat people with addictions or mental health issues or to house the city’s homeless population. Dean said how it gets used is up to the Ministry of Citizens’ Services to decide.
“There have been some early conversations with government and the next steps will be taken by the Ministry of Citizens’ Services and they will be doing engagement and consultation and will work with the community, First Nations, and the city to work out what will be the best use and best purpose of that building,’ said Dean. “A facility like that needs to be in service for the community.”
Dean confirmed about 50 staff will be affected by the closure, including corrections officers, teachers, pastors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, food services staff and maintenance contractors, and that the ministry will provide supports and will help them find other placements before the jail closes.
