Ontario has dropped ex-inmates in Barrie for years. Now the city is paying to change that

For the last 15 years, inmates released from a nearby jail with no one to pick them up are dropped off at Barrie bus station with fare to make their way to their home communities.

Now, the city has decided that needs to end, citing a lack of social services, increased homelessness and public safety concerns.

Starting in September, Barrie is footing the bill for a pilot project, with some logistical assistance from the province, that will pick up inmates from the Central North Correctional Centre (CNCC), located in Penetanguishene, Ont., and drop them closer to their home towns, instead of being left at Barrie's central bus terminal.

And while social service advocates say they hope the pilot is a success, some worry it will do little to address what they say is a lack of support and programming, leading inmates to land back in jail.

"It makes it very difficult when there's not a solid plan in place and they're dropped off without support," said Ryan McPhail, the founder of PeerConnex, a program in the city that offers addictions and mental health counselling.

McPhail was released from CNCC in 2019.

While dropping former inmates in their hometowns would be a "huge step forward," there also needs to be "increased communication between the jails and the service providers that are offering support to these individuals that are released from custody," he said.

Jail lacks staff for release planning: corrections officer

One correctional officer at CNCC said the jail doesn't have enough staff to help properly support inmates with their release plan.

Richard Dionne said it's the province that is releasing former inmates into Barrie without those supports, and leaving the city to pick up the pieces. Dionne is also president of the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 369, which represents workers at the jail.

He said the province needs to hire more staff to build up programming and planning for a inmate's release day, so that they are properly connected with services.

"The ministry's not doing good enough at getting them back to their home community," he said. All ministry shuttles should be "releasing them home" instead of in Barrie, he said.

Dionne, who said he's driven the shuttle to Barrie more than 20 times, said former inmates are dropped off and they may have another ticket to their hometown, but where they go is up to them. "We try and facilitate their discharge planning. Staffing is continuing to be an issue year after year," he said.

The union has been "arguing" with the Ministry of the Solicitor General, asking for more staff to give inmates who are going to be discharged more programming to decrease rates of recidivism, said Dionne. "It just hasn't happened," he said.

In a statement to CBC Toronto, the ministry said it's hiring more correctional staff across the province and "when operationally feasible" helps inmates plan to travel back to their hometown and connect them with resources.

It said it will "make reasonable efforts to support inmates to travel to their home community if they do not have their own means of travelling home," including arranging transportation to the bus station or purchasing a bus ticket.

It also said it will continue to operate its own shuttle to Barrie from the correctional centre.

In response to Dionne's comments about lack of staff, it said "the recruitment of new correctional officers is ongoing, and since July 2020, over 1,800 new correctional officers have graduated training and been deployed to work." It said it has "dedicated staff" that assist in reintegration and that the ministry "regularly" meets with OPSEU to discuss inmate programming including reintegration.

It did not explain how the shuttle works or the rationale behind it when asked by CBC Toronto, or why it has relied on the Barrie drop-off when the city has complained to the province about the practice.

Barrie resources stretched, says mayor

Alex Nuttall, Barrie's mayor, told CBC Toronto the release of former prisoners into the community over many years has strained the city's resources and impacted local businesses. It's an issue he promised to fix when he ran for mayor.

On average, about three to four people are dropped in Barrie from the shuttle several times a week. Of those, about half stay in Barrie, though they are often not originally from the city, said Nuttall. According to the city, there are about 700 homeless people in Simcoe County and half identify as living in Barrie. About 38 per cent cite "health or correctional issues" as to why they are living on the street, according to the city.

"And so after 15 years you can see the effect that you can have," Nuttall said.

"We want the first interactions after release to be with individuals who can help plan out a better future going forward," he said. "What we don't want is the first interactions to be with members of organized crime.

"We have an incredible set of social services, but we are over capacity," he said. Nuttall added that the city had been asking the province for support for a decade before it partnered with them to launch the shuttle pilot project.

Currently, the province provides former inmates with a Metrolinx or Ontario Northland pass so that they can take a connecting bus from Barrie to their destination.

But advocates like Hayley Murdoch-Fyke, the executive director of the John Howard Society of Simcoe and Muskoka, an advocacy organization for released prisoners, said simply providing fares is not sufficient. The process of taking multiple buses to get home can pose barriers to former inmates with mental health issues, she added.

Barrie has not finalized how the shuttle will connect passengers with social services. But it is expected to cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars, said Nuttall.

The city needs to have those details nailed down for the shuttle to be a success, said McPhail. He said he needs to see Barrie ensure the new bus will connect people with services in order to support former inmates with their plans after release.

"They have goals they want to work on, they want to either maintain their sobriety or their mental health," he said. "I know a lot of people that don't have the family support that I did."

Former inmates will still come to Barrie: service worker

Murdoch-Fyke told CBC Toronto that the current shuttle system that drops people in Barrie does so with an "extreme lack of dignity.

"All of their property is put into a clear plastic bag, and you're released with your jail shoes," she said. "You're hit with that stigma of people knowing that you were incarcerated."

The John Howard Society works with former inmates to provide support, including clothing, food, shelter if possible and safe consumption material for those dealing with addiction, she said.

Many people stay in Barrie because there are barriers to getting on that next bus, especially if your hometown is several buses away, she said. "Some people don't have the skills to follow through on all of those steps," she said.

"You also may not have any food. You may not be wearing the appropriate clothing for the weather. Are you going to hike around trying to find a different bus if you're cold?" she said.

While Murdoch-Fyke hopes the pilot shuttle is a success, that won't stop many from coming to Barrie, she said.

"We still have a population who are homeless and in conflict with the law and they will remain here, so the support still has to be in place for them as well, " she said.