Ontario has dropped ex-inmates in Barrie for years. Now the city is paying to change that

For the last 15 years, inmates released from a Barrie, Ont., jail with no one to pick them up are dropped off at the bus station with fare to make their way to their home communities.

Now, the city has decided that needs to end, citing a lack of social services, increased homelessness and public safety concerns.

Starting in September, Barrie is footing the bill for a pilot project, with some logistics assistance from the province, that will pick up inmates from the Central North Correctional Centre (CNCC) and drop them closer to their home towns, instead of being left at Barrie's central bus terminal.

And while social service advocates say they hope the pilot is a success, some worry it will do little to address what they say is a lack of support and programming, leading inmates to land back in jail.

"It makes it very difficult when there's not a solid plan in place and they're dropped off without support," said Ryan McPhail, the founder of PeerConnex, a program in the city that offers addictions and mental health counselling.

McPhail was released from the jail in 2019.

While dropping former inmates in their hometowns would be a "huge step forward," there also needs to be "increased communication between the jails and the service providers that are offering support to these individuals that are released from custody," he said. 

Alex Nuttall, Barrie's mayor, told CBC Toronto the release of former prisoners into the community over many years has strained the city's resources. 

The release of former prisoners into Barrie's community multiple times a week has created a "major issue" for the city, and has impacted local businesses, said Nuttall. It's an issue he promised to fix when he ran for mayor. 

On average, about three to four people each day are dropped in Barrie from the shuttle several times a week. Of those, about half stay in Barrie, though they are often not originally from the region, said Nuttall. According to the city, there are about 700 homeless people in Simcoe County and half identify as living in Barrie. About 38 per cent cite "health or correctional issues" as to why they are living on the street, according to the city. 

"And so after 15 years you can see the effect that you can have," he said. 

"We want the first interactions after release to be with individuals who can help plan out a better future going forward," he said. "What we don't want is the first interactions to be with members of organized crime.

"We have an incredible set of social services, but we are over capacity," he said. Nuttall added that the city had been asking the province for support for a decade before it partnered with them to launch the shuttle pilot project.

Currently, the province provides former inmates with a Metrolinx or Ontario Northland pass so that they can take a connecting bus from Barrie to their destination.