‘Human error’ saw detainees dropped off in Edmonton streets: Alberta safety minister

Alberta’s Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis says when former prisoners were quietly released from custody in Edmonton’s downtown recently, it came down to “human error.”

It comes after surveillance videos published by CBC and Global News earlier this month showed provincial corrections transport vans dropping off detainees in an inner city neighbourhood.

The videos drew concern and calls for reform from local officials, as well as residents and business owners in Edmonton’s Chinatown area.

Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack pressed Ellis Friday for details about what the province is doing to ensure similar drop-offs don’t happen again.

2:10 Detainees released on sidewalks and in parking lots in Chinatown raises concerns for officials

Ellis says he was outraged to learn of the two incidents in Edmonton, and said it wasn’t prompted by a directive from him.

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But Knack, and Dylan Bressey, the head of the province’s largest group of municipalities, say the issue isn’t unique to Edmonton.

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Speaking to reporters at the Alberta Municipalities convention in Edmonton, Knack said he wants to work with the minister, but said there seems to be a gap in understanding.

“There’s a disconnect from what is believed to be the actual process and what is actually happening in municipalities across this province,” Knack said.

Ellis later told reporters at an unrelated news conference that dropping off former correctional facility detainees on to the streets is not a common practice.

“In both of those cases, it was human error,” he said again.

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Ellis, the former mental health and addiction associate minister, said everything he has worked on building as part of the province’s recovery-focused system has always been about a warm handoff.

“This is what I am vehemently opposed to, is just dropping people off where they have no supports,” he said.

Ellis said he has been told by Corrections Alberta that they will be taking measures to ensure the same drop-offs don’t happen again, but didn’t provide details.

1:59 Concerns mounting over random inmate drop-offs in Chinatown

Dylan Bressey, Alberta Municipalities president and city councillor in Grande Prairie, said it’s an issue in communities near correctional facilities across Alberta, including his own.

“They’re getting unloaded on our city streets where there isn’t adequate social services for them, and it’s creating social chaos as well as costing a lot of money and police, fire, and parks response,” he told reporters Friday.

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He said he’s heard anecdotes from councillors in several communities, but they don’t have good data.

“For us, it’s really important that when somebody is released from either care or prison, that they’re released with a proper plan and the proper resources to help them be healthy and also receive whatever supervision or care they need going forward,” Bressey said.

When Ellis was asked about reports of similar instances in Grande Prairie, he said he wasn’t aware of them.

He said Corrections Alberta will drive people to wherever they need to go, which in some cases can be an hours-long trip to their home community.