Alberta parole board heard fewer than 100 cases in its first 15 months
CBC
The Alberta Parole Board has reviewed 96 applications since it was created 15 months ago, contrasting with thousands of Alberta cases handled by the federal parole board in a similar timeframe.
The Alberta Parole Board was a United Conservative Party election promise – one of several proposed changes aimed at giving Albertans more local control over matters within provincial jurisdiction.
Rick Hanson, chair of the provincial parole board, says despite the small caseload, Albertans are getting good value from the $680,000 of public funds annually.
"If you're getting thousands of applications … do you have the time to look at those files with thoroughness, and do you really know the programs that are available?" Hanson said in an interview in Edmonton last month.
Between Feb. 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022, the Parole Board of Canada reviewed 2,657 applications from Alberta offenders, or about 28 times the number of cases handled by the provincial body so far.
In the 2019 election campaign, now-Premier Jason Kenney pledged an Alberta parole board would put Albertans — not a cadre of decision-makers from across the country — in charge of deciding whether inmates in provincial correctional centres were ready for early release.
Generally, offenders sentenced to less than two years in custody serve their time in provincial jails, and those sentenced to two years or longer go to federal prisons.
Inmates are eligible to apply for parole after serving a third of their sentence, and most qualify for statutory release after serving two-thirds of it.
Hanson says when they go to jail, provincial inmates get an information package explaining how they can apply for parole, if interested. Because provincial sentences are shorter, some are eligible in just days or weeks.
In his sales pitch to Albertans, Kenney said about 200 provincial inmates could qualify for provincial parole annually.
Ontario and Quebec also have provincial parole boards.
Kenney said a provincial board could handle applications more quickly than the federal board, and would be more transparent.
Alberta's justice department says it takes the provincial board an average of 96 days to prepare information packages about the inmate, and about eight days for a board panel to review the material and make a decision.
The Parole Board of Canada wouldn't provide an average wait time, but a spokesperson said the board must review a case within six months of an offender applying.