New Brunswick talks with Ottawa about keeping Shepody open
A deal aimed at keeping the Shepody Healing Centre in Dorchester operating full-time is being negotiated by the federal and provincial governments, says Health Minister Victor Boudreau.
The federal institution was slated to stop offering around-the-clock care on April 1, 2015 before that date was extended by the Correctional Service of Canada. The change would mean the most serious mentally ill inmates would be treated elsewhere, likely in Quebec City or hospitals.
Boudreau's office released a statement Tuesday saying discussions between the federal and provincial government are taking place and he is hopeful the services provided by Shepody remain in place.
The provincial government has built a 20-bed forensic facility with a medium security rating that opened in May 2015.
However, there remain some not-criminally responsible patients at Shepody because the province can't currently meet their specific security requirements, said Laura Cummings, a spokeswoman for Correctional Service of Canada.
The federal and provincial government are exploring the possibility of having the federal government recover the costs for services to keep a limited number of provincial not-criminally responsible patients at Shepody.
"These NCR patients would remain at Shepody as per the negotiated agreement," stated Cummings.
The parties expect to have a negotiated agreement in place by Dec. 31, 2016.
Shepody is the Atlantic regional treatment centre for mentally ill prisoners that is run by Correctional Service of Canada. Its patients include Gregory Allen Despres of Minto, who was found not criminally responsible in the 2005 stabbing deaths of neighbours Fred Fulton, 74, and Verna Decarie, 70. A judge found Despres was suffering from delusions stemming from paranoid schizophrenia.
If Shepody were to close, the nearest facility for inmates with severe mental illness would be at Archambault Institution in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Quebec.
Boudreau said Tuesday the federal government has asked the province to consider funding a portion of Shepody's operation.
"They are now saying that maybe if we could reach a cost-sharing agreement, they would be able to continue to serve the province and its patients," said a statement from Bouchard's office.
"Remaining in Shepody, and maybe dispersing some money, would still be a cheaper alternative to us having to put up our own facility and our own program," the statement said.
Shepody shared property with Dorchester Penitentiary and has two 20-bed psychiatric units and 10 transition beds. It opened in 2001.
