This past Sunday night 31 year old Jonathon Muzychka was in an exercise yard at Headingley Correctional Centre where he was serving time for a long history of criminal offences and awaiting trial on second-degree murder charges.

While in the exercise yard with several other inmates, Muzychka scaled a four-meter high fence and ran away from the Headingley jail toward the Assiniboine River where police believe he swam approximately 50 metres to reach a wooded area and then to freedom.

The escape has raised a number of questions about how the corrections system is operating in Manitoba under the NDP government. One of the primary questions is how did a dangerous repeat offender facing a second-degree murder charge escape from the main provincial jail in Manitoba with apparent ease?

One of the immediate concerns is that Muzychka was only classified as a medium-risk inmate despite having a long criminal history. Another question that has been raised is whether or not chronic overcrowding at the Headingley prison contributed to the circumstances surrounding the escape. The Headingley Correctional Center has a current rated capacity of 485 inmates. As of mid-September there were 697 inmates at the prison meaning it was 212 people over capacity.

Headingley prison has been overcrowded for several years and prison guards have repeatedly warned that this places a stress on their work environment and some have indicated it could compromise safety and security at the prison.

When the population of a prison grows too large there are several concerns. The first concern is for the safety of those working inside of the prison as high prison counts can result in violence and even riots. The second concern is that overcrowding may reduce the ability of staff to properly monitor inmates which may aide in escape attempts and thereby put the safety of nearby residents at risk. Another concern is that when a jail becomes overcrowded there is pressure placed on the justice system to find alternative sentences for criminals that don’t result in jail time or to allow for early release of other prisoners. If this were to occur it would mean that criminals who should be in prison are in fact on the streets and in our communities because of a lack of prison capacity.

Overcrowding in provincial jails has been a problem in Manitoba for the past several years and the NDP government has simply decided to ignore it. As a result, every provincial correctional facility in the province is well over capacity. Without the building of a new jail, prison workers and Manitobans will continue to face risk from violence inside the jails and from having criminals on the street due to escapes or because there is a lack of space to have them in jail. It’s a problem the NDP government simply cannot continue to ignore.