Provincial detention centres Individuals convicted of crimes carrying a sentence of less than two years serve out their terms in provincial institutions. Inmates are classified at the institution upon their arrival. There are ten institutions in the Lower Mainland distributed into three administration areas: Vancouver/Burnaby, Fraser Region and Chilliwack. Electronic monitoring programs operate in Surrey and Vancouver.

Any history of B.C. provincial detention centres must include Burnaby's Oakalla Prison Farm, a full-service facility which opened on September 2, 1912. The first inmate was William Daley, sentenced on July 31, 1912 to serve a year of hard labor for stealing some fountain pens valued at over $10. By April 30, 1913, some 328 prisoners had passed through the jail's doors. From 1919 until the abolition of the death penalty in 1959, 44 prisoners were executed by hanging on the Oakalla site. The first execution was that of 25 year-old Alex Ignace on August 29, 1919. Leo Mantha was the last prisoner executed, on April 28, 1959. In 1936 there were several double and even one triple hanging.

Thousands of prisoners passed through the doors of Oakalla--renamed Lower Mainland Regional Correctional Centre in 1970--before it closed on June 30, 1991. Originally designed to house a maximum of 484 prisoners Oakalla's population peaked in 1962-63 at 1,269 inmates. With population averages of 600-plus overcrowding was always a problem. In the institution's final years two nationally-spotlighted events occurred. Thirteen maximum security prisoners escaped on New Year's Day 1988 following a Dec. 27, 1987 uprising and on Nov. 22, 1983 a violent and costly riot took place. Rioters caused more than $150,000 damage in a two-day spree. Oakalla was replaced by the Vancouver Pretrial Services Centre, the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre and the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre.

The Vancouver Pretrial Services Centre opened in 1984. It is a classic remand centre providing facilities for both maximum and medium security and open (minimum) housing for 150 inmates with special provisions for 204 spaces. The building plans include segregation, hostile and observation cells. The centre is the City of Vancouver's only holding facility. The Surrey Pretrial Services Centre opened in 1990 and contains all of the Vancouver centre's features. The Fraser Regional Correctional Centre is the Lower Mainland's only full security institution with the capacity to house 275.

The Lakeside Correctional Centre for Women closed in 1990. The Burnaby Correctional Centre for Women replaced it, housing provincially-sentenced female inmates and those serving federal terms as well. (Previously females serving federal terms were transferred to the P4W [Prison for Women] in Kingston, Ontario.) The facility is an all-level-security prison with an average population of 153 including 28 open security spots.

New Haven Correctional Centre is a borstal-type centre located in Burnaby. New Haven's population is comprised of lower-risk, non-violent inmates, usually in the 18-23 year-old age group. This age limit is not firm and the process of classification is under review. Presently all New Haven inmates are serving six months-plus sentences. Some weekend intermittent sentences are served at New Haven.

Maple Ridge's Alouette River Correctional Centre was originally designed to serve as a treatment centre for specialized substance abuse situations. The camp still carries on most of the drug rehabilitation programs within the provincial system for 150 short-term and indeterminately sentenced inmates. Originally designed to be an open facility the centre was later upgraded to include a medium security centre. Mission's Stave Lake Correctional Centre is a medium security facility for sex offenders. The facility houses about 60 inmates who cannot be blended in with the regular populations of other facilities. The Chilliwack Community Correctional Centre is a halfway house for 34 inmates being held in an open setting. The Ford Mountain Camp is a special facility for 56 inmates requiring customized services ranging from specific care for physically and mentally challenged inmates and sex offenders to safe incarceration for informants.

One of the most interesting developments in the corrections field has been the introduction of technological solutions to lessen the burden on institutions to house inmates. The Electronic Monitoring Services (EMS) operating in Vancouver and Surrey was developed from pilot projects started in 1987, officially coming on-line in 1989. Inmates wear a field monitoring transmitter banded to their ankles for the duration of the sentence. Monitoring signals are broadcast to a field monitoring device attached to the inmate's residential phone line. The signals are sent to the monitoring centre to confirm the inmate is properly located according to the terms of the sentencing arrangement. Felons are referred to the EMS program through three processes: court referrals, classification/re-classification at another institution and sometimes in probation cases. On any given day EMS handles anywhere from 70-175 cases at each centre.

Federal detention centres Individuals convicted of crimes that carry a sentence of two years or more serve their terms in federal institutions. All federal inmates spend a minimum of eight weeks at the regional reception-assessment centre located on the Matsqui Institution grounds where they will be assessed, classified and then transferred to another federal facility. There are nine federal detention centres in the Lower Mainland. Prior to 1980 the B.C. Penitentiary maximum security prison was the largest facility. The Pen was phased out in 1980, replaced by Kent Prison in Matsqui and other institutions as part of a decentralization plan.

Kent Prison in Agassiz opened in August of 1979. This maximum security institution houses 313 prisoners (original capacity 234). Inmates are kept under a constant level of high surveillance. More that half of the prison population is housed in the protective custody wing, separated from the regular population for the duration of their sentences. On Sunday, January 24, 1988 a riot erupted. Eighty inmates were involved. Three were injured. Another riot in June 1981 caused $100,000 in damages and sparked a massive riot at Matsqui Institution.

Abbotsford's Matsqui Institution opened in May of 1966. This medium security facility houses 362 inmates (original capacity 312). On June 2, 1981, 300 inmates seized control of the institution and set fire to seven prison buildings causing millions of dollars in damages. Actions taken during the riot to rescue eight staff members from a burning roof by Cpl. Patrick Aloysius Kevin McBride led to the corporal receiving his second medal of honor for heroism in the same year from the governor general. The regional reception-assessment centre located on the Matsqui grounds houses 55 inmates.

In January of 1977 Mission Institution opened. It is a full-service medium security facility, the first built as part of the B.C. Penitentiary decentralization plan. The prison houses 292 inmates (original capacity 230). Agassiz's Mountain Institution opened in July 1962. Designed to house special inmates the facility serves as an incarceration centre for a high percentage of sex offenders. At one time many of the Doukhobors convicted of arson and terrorism in the 1960s were held at this prison. There are 348 inmates (original capacity 322).

The three federal minimum security facilities are Mission's Ferndale Prison with 121 inmates (original capacity 110), opened in November of 1973; Elbow Lakes Work Camp in Harrison Mills opened in December of 1975 with 81 inmates (original capacity 90); and the Sumas Community Correctional Centre, a day parole house with 36 inmates (original capacity 48). These institutions house low-risk inmates and have no secure perimeter fences. (Work and training programs and substance abuse treatment programs are available at all three institutions.)

The regional health centre, adjacent to the Matsqui facility, opened in June of 1972. Prisoners housed here receive special care. They are mentally unstable or disturbed individuals who cannot assimilate well into the regular prison population. The RHC is a multi-level psychiatric facility which functions as a maximum security prison. There are 158 inmates (original capacity 157).

In 1990 the total inmate population for all of the Lower Mainland's federal detention facilities was 1,990. The annual average cost per inmate in the 1993-94 period was $45,753.

Youth detention centres Young offenders convicted under the Young Offenders Act (YOA) serve out their sentences at one of four Lower Mainland institutions. These facilities are broken down into secure (maximum and medium) and open (minimum) designations. Since the introduction of the YOA, the population of incarcerated young offenders increased from 102 in 1974 to 400-plus in 1996. The Burnaby Youth Secure Custody Centre houses 105 inmates serving sentences up to the maximum YOA length of 10 years. Adjacent to the secure centre is the Burnaby Youth Open Custody Centre, including Holly Cottage and a facility at the Maples, housing a total of 47 inmates. An additional 17 inmates are housed in a separate wing of the Burnaby Correctional Centre for Women.

The Fraser Valley region contains the Boulder Bay Youth Secure Custody Centre on Alouette Lake with 33 inmates and Centre Creek camp in Chilliwack with 33 inmates. Centre Creek was originally a forest camp for adult inmates.

Young offenders are classified by the sentencing court although this process is under review. Closing the Burnaby facilities and constructing a new, larger centre to house the growing numbers of convicted young offenders is under review as well.