PUBLICATION:              GLOBE AND MAIL

IDN:                             042780076

DATE:                         2004.10.04

PAGE:                         A8

BYLINE:                     DEAN BEEBY Canadian Press

SECTION:                  National News 

SOURCE:                   CP

EDITION:                    National

DATELINE:                 Ottawa, ONT 

WORDS:                      517

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Report looks at halfway-house escape rate

More than a third of hardened prisoners flee, often commit crimes, study says

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Hardened criminals who are required to serve their parole at halfway houses are escaping too often, frequently committing violent crimes, an internal Corrections Canada report says.

Released prisoners should be allowed to live in halfway houses in the community of their choice to help cut down on the number of escapes, says the report, obtained under the Access to Information Act.

The study, completed in March, looked at the rising number of prisoners ordered to serve the final third of their sentences at halfway houses.

The Corrections Canada study determined that more than a third of these prisoners are escaping each year, violating their parole and often committing further crimes.

Federal legislation allows most prisoners to get parole after serving two-thirds of their sentence -- known as statutory release -- but gives the National Parole Board the power to send the most difficult prisoners to halfway houses.

The board is using that power more often: 1,291 prisoners on statutory release were required to live in halfway houses in 2003-2004, or about one of every four.

That's up sharply from four years ago, when the condition was imposed on 800 prisoners, or about one in six on statutory release.

Offenders sent to halfway houses, the most restrictive form of parole, tend to have committed violent crimes and have been resistant to programs designed to integrate them into the community.

Across Canada, 405 such prisoners escaped in 2002-2003, although all but three had been recaptured by the time the report was written.

Most were caught within three weeks.

Researchers examined the files for 100 of these escapees and found that a third of them were charged with new crimes, most of them violent such as robbery and assault. Many abused alcohol and drugs.

Only about 10 per cent of all offenders on statutory release commit further crimes, indicating the halfway-house group is far more likely to get in trouble with the law.

The report calls for more research, but also recommends earlier intervention in prison for drug and alcohol problems, and giving released prisoners more say about which community they live in, where family and other support may be available.

A spokeswoman for the department said it's not surprising that these halfway-house offenders are difficult to manage, since the parole board has already identified them as problem prisoners.

"Obviously, they're not the most motivated offenders," said Suzanne Brisebois of the community reintegration division. "They're kind of a unique category of offender." She cautioned that the study was only a preliminary review and that more research is needed.

A spokeswoman for the National Parole Board, Nadine Archambault, said the board is imposing the halfway-house condition more often only because more parolees are fitting the strict profile of released prisoners likely to reoffend.

A halfway house in Vernon, B.C., is slated to be shut down after a home-invasion killing in August made national headlines.

Eric Fish, 42, who was on day parole at Howard House, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 75-year-old Bill Abramenko.