Close Contact
The Correctional peace officer counts his inmates differently than his colleagues in other units of the Edmonton Remand Centre do. Each prisoner stands at ease beside his cellmate outside his [...]
Prisons
Prisons
Policing the Police
Everything we know about what really happened to Sammy Sobieh exists in a few minutes of silent video from two stationary security cameras, in which the only thing in focus is the date and time: [...]
Less Crime, More Prisons
Once upon a time in St. Albert, where I was running for city council in the 2007 election, I was gobsmacked by a question from an unidentified audience member at an all-candidates meeting. I [...]
Thug Life
The month after Chris Crane’s 18th birthday was a blur. The Alberta Warriors gang member spent most of it drunk or stoned, blowing $16,000 on alcohol and marijuana in just three weeks. His first [...]
By Darcy Henton
Scared Straight?
For a number of years I exchanged services with youngsters in trouble with the law. The terms of our exchange weren’t clearly articulated, but in practice they are simple to describe. I offered [...]
By Clem Martini
Behind Bars: Maximum Security + The Remand Centre
On a wintry overcast day the entrance to the maximum-security Edmonton Institution, about 20 minutes north- east of the city limits, is a narrow, snow-covered ribbon lined with grey willow [...]
By Darcy Henton
MOST READ
MOST READ
Jason Kenney’s Vision for K-12
It was by all accounts, a fiery speech. Standing on a blue-curtained stage in front of a couple thousand supporters at the UCP’s inaugural policy convention in Red Deer in May 2018, leader Jason Kenney went on the attack against anti-oilsands activists and the foreign money he says funds them ...
Mandate Creep: National Parks and Tourism
I retired from a career with Parks Canada a few years ago, not long after signing off on a management plan that prescribed a 2 per cent annual increase in visitors to Banff. Local businesses were ecstatic that the new plan seemed finally to acknowledge tourism growth as a priority ...
Deficit-Free by 2023!
Alberta’s most recent budget (2018–19) projected an $8.8-billion deficit—a shortfall of $2,024 per Albertan. Although that estimate was revised to $6.9 billion in the February third quarter fiscal update, this remains the province’s third large deficit stemming from the recession starting in 2014. Maintaining expenditures even as revenues drop unexpectedly ...