A Winnipeg man who was recently sent to federal prison is happy with the decision because he felt that it would give him a better opportunity of staying clean.
In an interview with CBC News, Jason Walmsley said he preferred to get sent to a federal penitentiary over a provincial prison because of its addiction support.
Walmsley said that "when my release [from provincial jail] date comes, that's exactly what it is—it's a release. You get let go at the first bus stop in the west end of Winnipeg."
"I know for a fact that when I get released from this [federal] prison [and] that while I'm in this prison, the biggest concern for them is something called my correction plan."
Walmsley had previously served a nine-month sentence in a provincial jail in 2019 and remained sober for three years before relapsing in 2022. He subsequently relapsed leading to "cocaine-fuelled commercial break-ins and thefts."
He had been sentenced to two years in prison, but his lawyer recommended sending him to Stony Mountain Institution, a federal prison that would have given him access to a drug treatment program.
Walmsley's request to be put in federal prison raised questions about why it was a preferred option among those who needed rehabilitative programs.
In a concluding thought, Walmsley said that "being able to be released here with a plan is the literal difference between being dropped off at that bus shack and being dropped off somewhere that can help you."
