Dauphin jail replacement to break ground this year

BRANDON — The Dauphin Centre for Justice will have 100 beds for inmates and include supports to help rehabilitate the offenders who are locked up there, the justice minister said.

The 2026 provincial budget, which was released on Tuesday, earmarked $7 million for construction work to start on the$142 million project this year.

“We want to make sure people feel safe, and it’s about rebuilding some of that capacity within our justice system, and specifically in corrections,” Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said.

The NDP promised to reopen the facility during the 2023 election, saying it would create 80 jobs once built.

The former Progressive Conservative government under Brian Pallister closed the more than 100-year-old correctional facility in 2020.

The decision was made without consultation from the local community, then-mayor of Dauphin Allen Dowhan said at the time.

“There’s no question that this had a big impact on the city of Dauphin, the Parkland and Westman more generally in terms of the justice services that we were offering,” said Wiebe.

“Obviously it’s had a big impact on families, on the community. We lost jobs, good-paying jobs when the Dauphin jail was closed and this is about restoring those justice services.”

The facility will include spaces for people on remand, who are in custody awaiting trial or court dates.

“We’re also building out the kind of supports, therapeutic communities for those inmates who want to get on a better track and want to make a change in their life. We want to be able to offer that hand up,” Wiebe said.

“That’s going to make our province a safer place.”

He said the centre will be designed to help offenders “who are trying to turn their life around.”

There will also be an opportunity to expand the number of beds in future, but details are still in the works, he said.

The province is mapping out how many jobs will be created after the facility is built, as well as the number of construction jobs, he said.

Dauphin Mayor David Bosiak said the build will provide a needed injection into the local economy.

“There’s going to be a two- or three-year construction window that’s going to be great for hotels and restaurants, and just increased activity in town and for all trades, sub trades and everyone else,” Bosiak said.

The jail will take about two years to build.

Bosiak also said he’s hopeful the permanent jobs will replace the positions lost when the original centre shuttered.

“There were about 85 positions, give or take, that left the community. So we think that at least that number will be back,” he said, adding that will have positive ripple effects for Dauphin.

Spouses of jail staff, including teachers and nurses, also left.

“We believe that that will be coming back, and then the spinoff — there’s a hurry-hard right now in town about getting some additional housing units going, and whether that’s multi-family or single-family dwellings, because we’ve been talking to quite a few developers in the last few months trying to get ahead of this.”

The mayor said there has been a “tremendous extra burden” on the justice system and sheriffs since the old jail closed, especially when it comes to transporting people to Dauphin for court dates while they are in remand or in custody in Brandon or The Pas — both of which are hours away by car.

“Having a facility in Dauphin again helps this Parkland (and) northern region, and basically provides facilities that were once here back for our local community, but also the surrounding municipalities,” Bosiak said.

Kamryn Winters, executive director of the Parkland Chamber of Commerce, said the new jail will have a “huge benefit” in terms of economic impact.

“I think that just having the justice centre here, it’s strategic, just because we are the Parkland, so it just kind of reinforces us as that regional hub,” Winters said. “It will boost small businesses.”

Ted Dzogan, past president of the John Howard Society of Brandon, said the odds of successful reintegration are higher when people serve time in their community, close to friends and family.

“This is a win for Dauphin, it’s a win for corrections, period, to have people serve their time close to home and get support,” Dzogan said.

He said at least one-third of offenders in Manitoba have a rural background.

—Brandon Sun