Gaps in post-custody supports blamed after repeat offender arrested

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This article was published 05/07/2024 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The story of a repeat offender accused of randomly attacking bystanders in Winnipeg’s Exchange District is raising questions about the efficacy of post-custody supports for people reintegrating into society.

A lack of rehabilitative programming and parole oversight sets people up for failure, creating an injustice in the justice system, said Kate Kehler, executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg.

“That is what happens with incarceration, we take people, we pluck them out and put them in these places and then do very, very little to actually help them change,” Kehler said, speaking by phone Thursday.

“We blame the person, but we never actually blame the system for not doing what it’s supposed to do, which is to be a correctional system.”

Community organizations dedicated to supporting released convicts are understaffed, underfunded and misunderstood, leaving them incapable of filling the gaps in a provincial justice system that prioritizes incarceration over reintegration, said Kehler, who formerly led the John Howard Society of Manitoba.

The issue was pulled into focus after city police arrested and charged Brendan Jordan Lee White, 30, for an unprovoked assault spree targeting four people, including two seniors, between 10:15 and 10:25 a.m. on June 26.

A review of provincial court records shows it was the latest incident in a criminal cycle that has consumed much of White’s adult life.

White pleaded guilty to assaulting somebody outside Siloam Mission last December after learning the homeless shelter was at capacity for the night. White had been released from custody one month prior for another serious assault.

During a sentencing hearing on March 24, defence lawyer Patrick Gutowski told court White has no family in Winnipeg and planned to move to Brandon to access homeless shelters there upon release from custody.

Kehler said it is not uncommon for people to list homeless shelters as their fixed addresses when preparing to exit custody.

“If that is the release plan for somebody — a shelter — how do we expect that person to succeed?” she said.

The Free Press filed a freedom of information request in January, attempting to learn the number of people released from custody into homelessness.

Manitoba Justice was unable to fulfil the request.

“The department advises that people released into homelessness (are) not tracked within its system at Manitoba detention centres and correctional facilities. As such, this information does not exist,” it wrote in response.

Kehler called for additional parole supports once offenders are released, believing it will help ensure they attend any required treatment and counselling services.

“Probation and parole are public safety measures, that’s why they were brought in. You don’t want somebody to serve a … sentence and then get dropped on the street without any of that support or supervision,” she said.

White, who struggles with substance abuse and mental health issues — brought on, in part, by a traumatic brain injury suffered during a 2017 assault — was previously ordered to complete counselling and addictions treatments, court records show.

Provincial court Judge Michael Clark mandated the treatments after sentencing the accused to roughly eight months in custody during a November 2022 hearing.

White had just pleaded guilty to randomly punching a 76-year-old woman in the face and attempting to choke her from behind as she operated a motorized scooter through a skywalk downtown in March of 2022.

The victim in that assault was unavailable for an interview Thursday, but told the Free Press, “I still don’t want to think about what happened.”

Court heard White was homeless at the time of the attack, and “blacked out” after consuming a combination of alcohol and hand sanitizer.

“It seems to me that you’re out of control at certain points in your life,” Clark said

“When you’re mad at the world or intoxicated on whatever it is that’s causing your behaviours, people aren’t safe … These are the types of things you need to get help for, not take it out on random members of the public.”

The sentence came down more than 600 days after the assault occurred, during which time White was on remand — a term used to describe offenders who are either out on bail or in custody awaiting future court dates.

Government statistics show 75 per cent of the 1,763 people locked in provincial jails last year were considered to be on remand.

“Here in Manitoba, we exacerbate the problem because the vast majority of people we incarcerate are on remand status, so their access to programming is incredibly limited,” Kehler said.

White is charged with one count of assault and three counts of assault with a weapon for the Exchange District incidents. The charges have not been tested in court.

—with files from Katrina Clarke

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca