Murray Wood: Who's scary... and who's scary good?
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The Government of Saskatchewan announced in a release Wednesday morning that it is constructing a $120 million remand centre expansion at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre as part of the recently announced $7.5 billion two-year capital plan.
The remand centre will provide a modern facility to securely hold remand accused who have been taken into custody. It will consist of two units collectively containing 216 cells and is capable of holding 427 people.
The release says the remand centre is part of the Ministry of Corrections and Policing’s commitment to keeping the people of the province safe and reducing crime in Saskatchewan communities.
“This expansion represents a significant step forward in our ability to provide a safe environment for remanded individuals,” Corrections and Policing Minister Christine Tell said. “Combined with our existing remand strategies and programming, it will provide more space to successfully manage the population of offenders and accused in our correctional system.”
A major focus of the expansion will be to ensure that high-risk accused, such as rival gang members, can be securely kept in custody and segregated from each other if necessary to ensure the safety of staff, other offenders and the public. Design on the expansion will commence this summer, with construction set to begin in 2021.
The government estimates that the expansion will result in more than 130 additional full-time positions at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre, as well as approximately 600 temporary full-time jobs over the course of construction.
