The province is closing the youth jail in Prince George.
That was confirmed Thursday morning in a meeting at a downtown hotel room between the Ministry of Children and Family Development and staff from Prince George Youth Custody Centre (PGYCC), according to an anonymous source.
The closure will take effect March 31, 2024. The PGYCC currently employs a staff of about 50 corrections officers, nurses, teachers, psychologists, food service staff and maintenance contractors.
The 60-bed facility, located at 1211 Gunn Rd., currently has just four inmates and has been underutilized for the past two decades.
In 2022, former PGYCC director Stan Hyatt told the Citizen that the drop in the numbers at PGYCC dates back to 2003 when federal legislation made it tougher to impose custodial sentences on offenders under the age of 18.
In B.C., the number of youth custody centres dropped from seven to two, located in Prince George and Burnaby. According to Hyatt, the number of youths serving jail time fell from 400 to less than 50.
The PGYYC opened in 1989 and throughout the 1990s it operated close to full capacity, sometimes with as many as 90 inmates, according to a source who contacted the Citizen on Thursday.
Thursday’s meeting was attended by Diane Bruce, the ministry’s executive director of intervention and youth justice, we well as human resources staff from the province.
Hyatt and Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Mike Morris have publicly suggested the PGYYC be repurposed as a substance abuse treatment centre for women and could also increase the region’s capacity for mental health treatment and to help the city tackle its homeless population issues.
