REGINA – Justice officials in Saskatchewan are investigating after a man charged with assaulting a corrections officer was mistakenly released from custody and no one noticed for two weeks.
Curtis Russell Francis, 26, was being held at the Regina Correctional Centre on several charges when he was brought to court Sept. 1 to face new charges.
Francis was to have been returned to the correctional centre, but was instead released by the court and the error was only found Tuesday.
Justice Minister Don Morgan says mistakes are “probably inevitable” when the system processes 45,000 prisoners a year.
But Morgan says to release a prisoner by mistake is not acceptable and the troubling aspect is that it took so long to notice that Francis was missing.
That brings to 12 the number of prisoners who have been incorrectly released from custody in Saskatchewan since January 2006.
