It’ll be a great place to visit, but you won’t want to stay there, said Minister of Infrastructure Jack Hayden from the site of the new Edmonton Remand Centre yesterday.
The foundation for the 60,000-square-metre, $620-million project hasn’t been fully poured yet, but Hayden and Solicitor General Fred Lindsay took a tour of the site yesterday, which will eventually house 2,000 prisoners.
The current remand centre is housing roughly 750 inmates on any given day. It was originally built to hold 350.
Due to extreme overcrowding, prisoners are often given credit for triple time served if they await sentencing in the Remand Centre.
“Credits are given due to overcrowding in the Edmonton Remand Centre, obviously this facility will put an end to that,” Lindsay said.
Lindsay said it hasn’t yet been decided what the fate of the old Remand Centre will be, but that it may be used to house prisoners if the new facility reaches capacity.
The maximum-security facility is slated for completion in November 2011.
