Cara Loverock
Northern News Services
Published Friday, December 19, 2008

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - There was a five per cent increase in the number of people jailed in the NWT in 2007-2008 over the previous year, according to a new study from Statistics Canada.

Rebecca Kong, chief of the Correctional Services Program at the Centre for Justice Statistics, said there are 806 people per 100,000 in the territory in jail on any given day.

"There is a trend we've been seeing in all provinces and territories," said Kong.

The increase across the country in incarcerations can largely be attributed to those being held in remand, according to Kong. Remand is when someone charged with a crime is awaiting their trial to begin or end or they are awaiting sentencing. In 2006-2007 there were roughly 65 adults in remand on any given day in the NWT, which has increased to 79.

Colin Gordon, director of corrections for the GNWT Department of Justice, agreed that the increase in incarcerations can be attributed to those in remand.

"Our sentence count is actually down one per cent," said Gordon.

Close to 20 per cent of Nunavut's inmates are being held in remand in the NWT, he said.

"They lack the capacity and we excess the capacity," said Gordon of the agreement between the territories.

The North Slave Correctional Facility, the men's jail in Yellowknife, holds 148 prisoners, according to Gordon.

"Our system is ... usually within about 90 per cent capacity," he said.

The NWT did not experience as large an increase in incarcerations as the Yukon, which had a 33 per cent jump, according to Statistics Canada.

Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island also had a notable increase with 12 and 14 per cent respectively.

The findings were published Dec. 9 and reflect a collection of all the provincial and territorial ministries responsible for corrections, as well as the federal authorities.