A prisoner was mistakenly released from the Burnside jail due to a paperwork error last week.
The Department of Justice sent out a statement late yesterday notifying the public that Chancelor Faulkner, 19, was released after a court date on March 24 when he should have returned to the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside.
“He was sentenced for one day which the judge deemed was served by being in court that day and so he left,” said Department of Justice spokeswoman Sherri Aikenhead. “Unfortunately his paperwork should have indicated he return to the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside.”
While sentenced on the one charge, he was facing several others and was supposed to be remanded until his next court appearance on April 23.
A routine audit of files found the error and the police were notified Monday afternoon.
He was the 10th prisoner in the province to be mistakenly released in the last three years.
“We are doing an investigation to find out exactly how this occurred and we will know more about this in the days ahead,” Aikenhead said.
In December, the department was given 51 recommendations to improve the system and Aikenhead said the department is working on the problem.
“We’ve been focusing on admissions and discharges in the past few months,” she said.
“One mistaken release is too many and we’re doing our utmost best to make improvements.”
