Mayor unveils plan to reduce street disorder
It’s forty years since the last upgrade of the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre, so is there still sufficient capacity for every miscreant?
The question must be asked after the release of Victoria’s Community Safety and Well-being Plan calling for ‘big, bold moves’ to reduce street disorder. The question also follows a damning report from the Downtown Victoria Business Association warning multiple businesses will close if social disorder issues aren’t soon addressed.
Unfortunately there’s no city recommendation focusing on the role of the provincial prison in community safety and well-being. For generations it has played a critical role in rehabilitating offenders, while at the same time protecting the public.
In 1985, ‘Wilkie’ was expanded to about 200 cells after a $24 million renovation. In the mid-1980s, the population of Greater Victoria and the Island was an estimated 528,000, reports the Canadian Encyclopedia and also BC Stats.
In 2025, there are just 191 cells in the medium security facility. But it now services Greater Victoria and the Island population of about 865,000.
By the way, the state-of-the-art Nanaimo Correctional Centre also services the Island (and the province). With a current capacity of 200 cells, it’s about the same as the 60 year old facility it replaced last year.
So, is overcrowding a problem at nearby ‘Wilkie’ now or in the near future? Are there enough cells when you consider the average daily count last year was 251, that inmates on remand stay on average only 56 days, and those sentenced just 48?
Is there a need for correctional beds for patients requiring acute, crisis mental-health treatment including involuntary care while in custody similar to those at Surrey Pretrial Services Centre? Have sentencing practices changed and the granting of bail been adversely impacted because there’s no room at the ‘Big House’?
Maybe city council should ask the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, ‘Does the aging regional correctional centre need replacing or expanding to better help address community safety and street disorder?
DIG DEEPER
Victoria mayor unveils plan to reduce street disorder, Times Colonist, June 17, 2025.
Victoria’s Community Safety and Well-Being Plan, City of Victoria, June, 2025.
Profile of BC Corrections, Government of BC, 2024.
More resources needed to protect public from mentally ill offenders, Vancouver Sun, June, 20, 2025.