New parole board mum on decisions

Provincial body has heard 21 cases, but has not made results public

Alberta's new parole board is up and running, but details of its decisions are not being made available to the public.

In February, Alberta established its own parole board to make early release decisions for people serving sentences in provincial correctional facilities.

The United Conservative government passed legislation establishing the parole board in June 2020.

Justice Minister Kaycee Madu called it a “safeguard against repeat offenders targeting families and properties, particularly in our rural communities.”

The $600,000-a-year board has now ruled on 21 cases. But unlike its predecessor, the Alberta board will not have a system for publicly releasing its decisions.

Katherine Thompson, a spokeswoman for the Alberta Ministry of Justice, said the board is under no obligation to make its decisions public.

“There is no legislated requirement under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) to post a public record for parole cases and outcomes,” she said.

“The Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec parole boards don't publicly post their provincial parole board case decisions. However, victims are fully involved in the process in Alberta.”

But Mary Campbell, a retired civil servant previously with the federal department of public safety, criticized the move, saying it makes it difficult to scrutinize the board's work.

“People have an interest — especially with a new board — in how the decisions are being made,” said Campbell, who helped design the legislation behind the current federal parole system.

“What kind of information are they using? What kind of risk assessments are they using? There's nothing to lose by making the decisions public upon request.”

Premier Jason Kenney campaigned on cutting ties with the federal parole board during the 2019 election, claiming decisions by the federal parole authorities regarding provincial prisoners were contributing to crime in the province's rural areas.

He billed the board as a policy that would help ensure a “fair deal for Alberta” with the federal government.

The Alberta government appointed seven people to the Alberta Parole Board on Feb. 1.

Its inaugural chair is Rick Hanson, the former Calgary police chief and Progressive Conservative candidate. Since officially launching in April, the board has granted parole in 11 cases and denied it in 10.

Just one parolee has had their release revoked.

Provinces are in charge of housing pre-trial inmates and those sentenced to two years or less.

Before February, Alberta provincial prisoners seeking early release applied through the federal Parole Board of Canada, which provides the service to provinces that do not have their own parole boards.

The federal parole board maintains a registry of its decisions regarding both federal and provincial prisoners, which can be requested by journalists, victims, family members, law enforcement officials and researchers.

“The CCRA requires the board to maintain a registry of decisions and the reasons for those decisions,” Parole Board of Canada regional manager Paula Vargas said in an email. “This includes conditional release decisions for those offenders serving sentences of less than two years when the Alberta Parole Board did not exist.”

Thompson said Alberta will not be adopting a similar mechanism but said that “information relating to an Alberta Parole Board decision” can be requested under freedom of information legislation.

Ontario, Quebec and Alberta are the only provinces with their own parole boards. B.C. dissolved its board in 2007.

The federal board continues to oversee release decisions for federal prisoners in Alberta.

Thompson said the Alberta Parole Board will create a “fairer, faster, more responsive and responsible justice system.”

But others have questioned the value of provincial boards.

Anthony Doob, a University of Toronto criminologist, has criticized Alberta's suggestion that provincial parolees are contributing significantly to the province's crime rates.

Inmates in provincial custody do not often seek parole because their sentences are so short, and because of relatively easy-to-access temporary absence programs. Statistics from the federal parole board show that in 2017-18, just 26 provincial prisoners in the Prairies region received early release.

“It's basically nobody,” said Doob. “How much crime could they be responsible for, even if every single one went out (and broke the law)?”

Campbell said making decisions available helps the public understand what kind of offenders the board is dealing with and boosts confidence in the system.

“The more that people can see what goes on and why decisions are made, the more chance that they'll have some confidence in the system,” she said.

“A lot of people just don't understand, you know, `why did you release this man or this woman?' If you can give an explanation, they might still not like that decision. But at least they'll know why.”