'The system fails us continuously': Sask. averages about 39 serious offenders unlawfully at large
Beverly Goulet is still trying to figure out how her cousin's killer vanished from the federal prison system this spring.
George Mcauley was serving a ten-year manslaughter sentence for killing his brother-in-law Irvin Greenleaf in Cumberland House in 2009.
Mcauley was released on day parole in September 2018. In April 2019 the 34-year-old stopped meeting with his parole officer. Police have been hunting for him ever since.
Goulet is shocked by the turn of events. Her family had not signed up with the Correctional Service of Canada as "registered victims" so they had no idea that he'd gone missing.
"The system itself doesn't protect anybody," she said in an interview.
"I think the system fails us continuously, and not just us. Anybody."
By the numbers
As of mid-May, the Correctional Service of Canada listed 39 offenders as unlawfully at large and said this is an average amount. "At large" means they violated the terms of their release and had vanished.
"They are serving on serious crimes," said Jeff Campbell with CSC.
"We deal with people who are serving on sentences that are two years or longer."
The offenders who went missing had been sentenced for one or more of the following charges: manslaughter, kidnapping, sexual assault, drug trafficking and aggravated assault.
Call and response
Police are contacted once an offender breaches the terms of their release. What happens then depends on myriad factors.
Even though an arrest warrant is issued for the offender, whether police are actively looking for a person — or are even on the lookout for someone — depends on the nature of the offender, the risk to the community or a victim, or simply the police workload.
"If it's a real serious criminal that we may have concerns that they're now out in the community for further offending, if it's a sexual thing or we know they may be going after witnesses or that kind of thing, then we'll definitely assign that file," said Superintendent Randy Huisman.
Catastrophic cracks
Offenders do fall through the cracks with catastrophic consequences.
In April, a Saskatoon man named Robin Godfrey was shot and killed outside an apartment complex at 20th Street W and Avenue L S.
In May, police arrested Jamie Halkett and charged him with second-degree murder.
It turned out that Halkett had been on the loose for two months before he allegedly shot Godfrey. Halkett was on parole, serving a four-year sentence for aggravated assault, when he stopped going to see his parole officer in February.
The Guns and Gangs Unit had been hunting for him ever since.
