Accidental release followup less than promised

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/04/2025 (215 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Justice department officials who looked into the accidental release of a man awaiting trial for manslaughter from Headingley jail in October did not conduct a thorough report as promised by the premier, the Free Press has learned.

That’s despite Premier Wab Kinew promising a “thorough and robust process” to prevent staff from accidentally letting out an accused.

Mark Phillip Traverse, who is in his late 20s, pleaded guilty to two court order breaches on Oct. 21. He was accused of manslaughter at the time.

A provincial judge ordered that he remain behind bars before his trial began in the Court of King’s Bench the following month. However, he was mistakenly let out from jail on the evening of Oct. 21.

One week after the incident, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe blamed it on “human error” and a “fairly complicated set of circumstances.”

Kinew said he was “shocked to see this incident play out,” during question period the following week.

“Of course, there will be a thorough and robust process to ensure that a situation like this doesn’t happen again,” the premier said in response to questioning from the Progressive Conservatives on Oct. 28.

However, a letter from a senior justice department official last week confirmed no report was prepared.

“There was no written report produced following the review of the incident,” said acting assistant justice deputy minister Darcy Blackburn, in response to a Free Press freedom-of-information request.

In January, the Free Press submitted a freedom-of-information request that sought all documents related to the review. The response showed little about the apparent review was recorded on paper.

The response included an advisory note to Wiebe, prepared on Oct. 23, 2024, which was written by the executive director of Manitoba courts operations, as well as an email from the director advising officials about the incident.

Blackburn said a brief section of analysis — a paragraph or two — of the advisory note was the extent of the review. It was redacted from the document.

Wiebe’s spokesman, Owen Black, said Friday the redacted section indicated the release was the result of a human error.

In a prepared statement on Friday, Wiebe pledged that he has directed the justice department to prepare internal reports on each accidental release.

“I want to assure Manitobans that a rigorous review was undertaken following this incident, and changes have been made including enhanced training protocols for staff,” Wiebe said in the statement.

“By mandating a written report after each incident, we are setting a higher standard of accountability than the previous government.”

University of Winnipeg criminal justice Prof. Michael Weinrath was surprised to learn bureaucrats did not prepare a report on the incident.

“It doesn’t sound like they made very much of the review,” said Weinrath.

Weinrath worked in provincial corrections in Alberta prior to his role at the U of W.

“When I worked in corrections, you did have to investigate wrongful releases and do up reports — I would think that they would have done something,” said Weinrath. “Promising to do a review and then not doing it seems to be very poor practice to me.”

He said sometimes, officials “have to take the heat.”

“That’s what senior bureaucrats get paid for and that’s what the justice minister is supposed to be able to do,” said Weinrath.

A government spokesman said in February the review resulted in updates to administrative processes and that training protocols were being enhanced.

It’s unclear why the bulk of the findings of the review, or updates to processes, were not apparently written down in government documents.

Traverse was released despite court staff being told by a Crown prosecutor and a provincial court judge on Oct. 21 — when he pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to comply with his release order and was given time served — that he had to remain behind bars owing to his upcoming manslaughter trial.

The advisory note said court staff reviewed the disposition for the provincial court charges, while the manslaughter file, which was being heard in the Court of King’s Bench, was not in front of them.

A joint Winnipeg police and RCMP force that searches for high-risk suspects arrested Traverse near Gypsumville in the Interlake on Oct. 23, and he was held until his trial in November.

Traverse was found not guilty of manslaughter for the April 2023 death of his best friend, Leo Charles Martin-Shea.

A judge found he did not intend to cause harm to his friend while the two were play fighting.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca