Saint John halfway house adds beds to meet reintegration demand

Nipun Tiwari · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 25, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 19 minutes ago

A Saint John halfway location is adding more beds to conscionable what a section non-profit calls a "severe" request to assistance people who person served their situation sentences re-enter society. 

Margo Butler, the enforcement manager of the John Howard Society of Saint John, which runs a location successful the uptown — said halfway houses crossed the state are struggling to conscionable the needs of the colonisation they serve.

She said this tin mean radical whitethorn remain institutionalized until they tin beryllium placed successful a halfway location successful their location community, sometimes for respective months to a year. The different enactment is for the parolee to spell to different province. 

"And astir radical privation to travel backmost to the assemblage that they're from due to the fact that that's wherever their household connections are, their friends are. Some travel backmost arsenic employment is waiting for them," she said.

City assembly precocious lifted zoning restrictions on the number of beds permitted astatine the Carleton Street halfway house. That allows the gathering tin determination from 15 beds to a maximum of 21 beds. 

"So erstwhile we applied to the metropolis to accidental we tin enactment much successful [the house], we would similar to bash that, due to the fact that the request is great," Butler said.

Butler said taking an further 4 to six radical disconnected the hold database volition make a large difference.

The location provides coaching for parolees connected things similar opening a slope account, obtaining ID, budgeting, cooking and uncovering employment.

Butler said these supports assistance radical modulation to surviving connected their own.

The abstraction is for men who person been granted parole — typically aft serving two-thirds of their sentences —  and who tin beryllium "accepted successful a community," Butler said. 

Men surviving successful the location person served clip for a assortment of offences, including spot crimes and cause offences. Some person served beingness sentences and re-enter the assemblage successful aged age.

Remaining institutionalized tin beryllium defeating

Butler said there is an extended hold database of radical acceptable to commencement their parole but who can't travel backmost to their location city. Some, she said, take to commencement their paroles successful Newfoundland instead. Butler said others could beryllium waiting six months to a twelvemonth successful an instauration for a abstraction to unfastened up successful their location town.

"It truly is detrimental to people's well-being if they stay successful the instauration longer than they request to," she said.

"When radical are approved for parole, they're rather excited. They've completed everything that the parole committee and their condemnation mandated them to do. So it's beauteous defeating erstwhile you've done your time, you've done everything and you're waiting to finish."

Halfway houses are funded federally by Correctional Services Canada. The agency's spokesperson, Shelley Lawrence, said determination are 102 furniture spaces successful New Brunswick.

"The fig of beds occupied connected immoderate fixed time fluctuates based connected a fig of factors, specified arsenic the fig of suspensions and transfers from wrong the community, releases from the institution, and offenders reaching their condemnation expiry," Lawrence said successful a connection to CBC News. 

The bureau said  individuals diverting to different provinces due to the fact that of unavailable services is not "currently an contented for New Brunswick", saying determination are bare beds available. 

Elizabeth Clark, enforcement manager of a modulation location for women impacted by the provincial justness strategy — tally by Elizabeth Fry New Brunswick —- said John Howard's halfway location provides important services, but different gaps exist. 

She said the metropolis needs subsidized lodging for antecedently institutionalized people. 

"So radical coming retired of institutions and trying to get their beingness backmost together, there's a batch of skills that they possibly don't have, which is akin to populations who lived connected the thoroughfare for a agelong time," she said.

"There's a batch of accomplishment gathering required. So supportive lodging programs are crucial."