Crisis leads court to limit sentences

Prolific offenders are getting breaks on sentencing as part of an effort to reduce the number of inmates at Prince George Regional Correctional Centre amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

A review of sentences since March

25, when the provincial court in Prince George became a “hub court” for northern B.C., shows 12 people with records for crimes committed in Prince George significant enough to be denied bail were sentenced to probation and no further jail time.

Cali Ronald Herald Peal-Barton, 25, was among them.

Last Wednesday, he was sentenced to time served and 18 months probation after pleading guilty to charges related to a March 14 report of two men checking door handles on cars and trucks in the upper parking lot at Parkwood Shopping Centre.

When he was apprehended, police found a screwdriver and a stolen birth certificate in Peal-Barton’s possession.

He was remanded into custody at PGRCC where he had remained for 26 days.

In agreeing to a joint submission from Crown and defence counsels, judge Cassandra

Malfair told Peal-Barton, who took in the hearing via video from PGRCC, that given his lengthy record of property offences and breaches, he would have been looking at a jail sentence in the range of 120 days.

“But in the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 outbreak... and taking into account the health concerns of inmates at correctional institutions, I cannot say that the proposed (sentence) is contrary to the public interest or would bring the administration of justice into disrepute and it is in these very unique circumstances that I will accede to it,” Malfair said.

Defence counsel Brian Gilson acknowledged Peal-Barton’s “terrible” record and “probably realizes” a sentence so light “is not going to come again.”

Co-accused Jayden Raphael Robert John, 19, was issued the same sentence on March 17 - the same day B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry declared a public health emergency.

By then, he had been in custody for two days and had not had a bail hearing.

In the time since Prince George became a “hub court,” six inmates at Prince George Regional Correctional Centre from elsewhere in northern B.C. were also sentenced to time served and probation after they were previously denied bail.

The step appears to have helped reduce the population at Prince George Regional Correctional Centre.

As of April 2, the jail held 144 inmates, a decline of 22 over the course of the month, according to numbers from B.C. Corrections.

Over that time, there were 93 new admissions while 111 were released either because they had completed their sentences or were granted bail, for a difference of 18.

Another four were given temporary absences from intermittent sentences, which are usually served on weekends.

In a statement, Daniel McLaughlin of the B.C. Prosecution Service said the service must do “everything in our power” to avoid increasing jails’ population unnecessarily.

“That is particularly true in the face of the current public health emergency,” McLauglin said.

Provincial courts have also largely limited themselves to hearings for accused who are in custody and having them take in the hearing via video conferencing. Most matters involving those out of custody are being postponed to limit the number of people attending courthouses.