Kinew breaks ground on $142M justice centre

DAUPHIN — Provincial officials broke ground on the new Dauphin jail Tuesday afternoon.

The Dauphin Centre for Justice will have 100 beds for inmates and provide about 80 jobs once operational.

“This is going to keep communities safer, it’s going to put tons of Manitobans to work and it’s going to replace the Dauphin jail that was closed by the previous government,” Premier Wab Kinew said at a press conference attended by about 50 people on the site of the future facility in the Dauphin Business Park.

The groundbreaking aligns with the NDP’s 2023 campaign promise to open a new correctional facility, after the former Progressive Conservative government closed the Dauphin Correctional Centre in 2020 because of aging infrastructure.

The new centre will cost about $142 million and begin housing inmates as early as 2030, provincial officials said during the press conference. Full construction will start next summer.

“We’re investing in safety, we’re investing in justice, we’re investing in corrections,” Kinew said.

He said the centre won’t just store criminals during their sentences, but instead ensure that people who will be released will be productive members of society and reintegrate into the community.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the province is housing more inmates now than ever before, and his government is hoping to do more with them when it comes to rehabilitation.

He described the justice centre as a “modern facility” that will include programming spaces and make the work for staff easier.

“It’s vital that we add capacity to the justice system, and this important facility will be an important part of that overall picture,” Wiebe said during the press conference.

He said having a correctional facility in Dauphin will also reduce strain on the system as a whole, as not only will there be more beds, but inmates won’t have to be driven to and from court appearances from the next nearest facilities in Brandon and The Pas.

“To break ground really just means a lot, that we’re moving ahead and we’re taking that vision from the community and putting it into something real here on the ground,” he said.

Dauphin MLA Ron Kostyshyn said the 80 jobs that were lost when the old jail closed cost the region’s economy about $10 million.

Newly elected Mayor Steve Sobering said the closure of the old jail was “horrible” for the city, which was a “real blow to the economy.” He said he was “really excited” about Tuesday’s announcement.

He said Dauphin has recently been on an upward trajectory, and the justice centre’s groundbreaking shows that Dauphin is a good place and a safe one to invest in.

“When you look at a project of $140 million, it’s just staggering to think about it,” Sobering said. “You look at the types of jobs that these are going to create — these are solid, upper-income, reliable employment for people.”

While Sobering doesn’t know what impacts a new justice centre would have on crime in the community, he hopes it will have a positive effect.

Concerns over housing for more people moving to Dauphin are also being addressed, Sobering said. While the city does need a new subdivision, there are new areas that have already been serviced that could be ideal for developers, he said.

» alambert@brandonsun.com