CANMORE – A new prisoner intake structure recently installed at Canmore Provincial Courthouse, with a razor-wire lining the top of a 10-foot fence, has local lawyers and community members questioning its relevance in the community.
As part of the provincial Courthouse Renewal Project, which is upgrading 17 court facilities throughout the province, the new $100,000 prisoner intake structure, also known as a sally port, was installed to ensure safety and security for visitors, staff and inmates.
“It’s a good thing to bring in-custody facilities up to standard,” said criminal defence lawyer Tyson Dahlem. “However, part of me really doesn’t understand why they are bothering because virtually all people in custody in Canmore appear by closed circuit television (CCTV) – these days it’s quite uncommon to have an [in-custody] person physically there.”
“Fifteen years ago, it would have been common to have [several] people in-custody appear in court and at that point having proper facilities is very important, but now I would be surprised if you have a person physically present in court in Canmore once a month.”
The provincial government said it made the decision to renovate the sally port because the justice systems needs the tools and resources to run efficiently while keeping the judiciary, staff and public in the courthouse safe.
“Public safety is of paramount concern, including rural Alberta, where communities such as Canmore are facing increasing crime rates,” wrote Justice and Solicitor General spokesperson Lisa Glover in an email. “It is more secure for prisoner transfer and helps ensure the safety of sheriffs.”
The Town of Canmore has seen a rise in crime over the last year with an overall 15 per cent increase in criminal offences, noted through an RCMP statistics report presented to Town council earlier this year, but Dahlem said once an accused is in prison, transferring them is not an ideal option.
With four remand centres in Alberta, the defence lawyer explained the closest one in Calgary is typically full, meaning prisoners are often placed in the Edmonton Remand Centre or the Medicine Hat Remand Centre – both more than 400 kilometres away from the Canmore courthouse.
“No one wants prisoners being transported, including the prisoners,” Dahlem said.
“They would much rather appear by CCTV ... virtually all of my clients in custody, if they can avoid being physically transported, they absolutely want that.”
Safety for prisoners in transport is also a major concern, as there can be fights that break out between the prisoners during transport.
“If you are going to have incidents between prisoners it often happens during transfers – I’ve had a lot of clients who have been beat up while being transported and I’ve had one client miss a court appearance because he got beat up in transport,” Dahlem said.
The defence lawyer questioned the relevance and necessity of the new structure as a result.
“The sally port is a nice idea, all the newer police detachments have them as well ... it is a lot safer for everyone but given the level of use it gets put to, it seems to me Canmore functioned just fine for the past 25 years without one,” he said.
The provincial government said given the structure was within the footprint of the courthouse, “and security issues need to be considered,” there was no external consultation required.
“JSG and Infrastructure consulted each other on capturing operational requirements and security and risk assessments,” Glover wrote.
The Town of Canmore confirmed the province did receive a building permit, but as it is Alberta Infrastructure, the province did not require development permit approval.
Senior Planner Alaric Fish said the town did ask for some modifications on the structure.
“Their safety requirements limited their ability to incorporate our suggestions,” Fish said in
an email.
“The Town planning department did not feel in a position to recommend changes that could potentially compromise security requirements. It is unfortunate that the improved security measures are in such a high profile location, but no large-scale reconfiguration of the building was possible at this time.”
Glover said at this time, the province has not received any complaints or concerns about the new structure.
