Nunavut young-offender facility could become adult jail

The Nunavut government is thinking of turning the Young Offenders Facility in Iqaluit into another jail for adult inmates, but one MLA says such a change would hurt youth.

Premier Paul Okalik said the government is considering the idea as a way to address the chronic overflow of inmates at the Baffin Correctional Centre, also in Iqaluit.

"We have overflowing facility at BCC and we're at undercapacity at the Young Offenders [Facility]," Okalik, who is also Nunavut's justice minister, told CBC News.

Only five of the 15 beds at the youth facility are currently being used, he said.

Meanwhile, there's such a lack of beds at the Baffin Correctional Centre that 45 inmates are currently being held in Yellowknife, and another 10 or so are detained in Ottawa.

"We're shipping inmates left, right and centre outside," Okalik said, adding that such a practice is expensive and means inmates are not receiving programs that reflect Inuit culture.

While plans are underway to build a new territorial prison, Okalik said, corrections officials are looking at possibly putting more adult inmates in the youth facility.

But Iqaluit Centre MLA Hunter Tootoo said he worries that turning the Young Offenders Facility into an adult jail would hurt youth, especially if they end up being sent outside the territory.

"To me, it's just a recipe for disaster," Tootoo said.

Okalik said the youth who are held at the facility would stay within Nunavut, although it's unclear where they would be relocated.

He said a decision will be made in the next few months.

Construction of the new territorial prison, to be based in Rankin Inlet, is to be completed by 2011.