Halfway house coming here soon?

By Vernon Daily Courier staff Monday Mar. 7/07 http://www.dailycourier.ca/

A moratorium on halfway houses in Vernon is set to expire this fall and Corrections Canada is already requesting proposals for a new facility for parolees. Coun. Juliette Cunningham would not comment on who has applied to build the facility, but confirmed that there are organizations prepared to build a new halfway house in Vernon. “It will come back into the community one way or another; but we’ll just have to see how it unfolds,” Cunningham said. “We’ll have to take one step at a time.”

According to an agreement signed in August 2004, the City of Vernon agreed to have the 27-bed Howard House parolee facility replaced with a 12 to 16 bed structure “as soon as possible.” However in the fall of 2005, a citizen committee recommended that a moratorium be placed on building any new parolee facility in Vernon, Cunningham said. “Once the request for proposals are received by Corrections Canada they will have a look at who’s applying and depending on who is successful – where they will locate it,” she said. “If rezoning is needed then they will come to council.”

The agreement between the city and Corrections Canada was signed after parolee Eric Fish was accused with the murder of Bill Abramenko. Last week, Fish was also charged with the killing of Jeffrey Drake. Cunningham said the charges have shaken the community’s faith in halfwayhouses. However, she said affordable homes for parolees are necessary to reintegrate offenders who have been released back into society after serving their sentences. “The issue is when you have a population the size of Vernon, we can expect to do our fair share as a society to reintegrate parolees into our community,” she said. “We can’t expect to send them to other communities.”

Vernon is a good location because it is one of just two cities in B.C. with an RCMP officer working with Corrections Canada and a crime analyst who keeps tabs on parolees, Cunningham said. There is also a counsellor offering mental health support, something few other communities have, she said. “They’re going to make it as problem free as it can be,” she said.