BRITISH COLUMBIAS CLUB FED PRISON

When Pam Novak travelled to Victoria last week to attend a parole hearing for
the man who killed her daughter in 2007, she was shocked at the scenic setting
of William Head Institution. Inmates wore their own clothes, lived
in duplexes and cooked their own meals. To the Calgary mother,
William Head looked more like a resort than a jail. But the
minimum security institution prides itself on rehabilitating
offenders in a residential environment grounded in a
community philosophy.

Tennis
courts

William Head Institution

Vancouver

Victoria

Google map

ROOMS WITH A VIEW

William Head is perched on a rocky promontory about 25 km south of Victoria. The
86-acre property is studded with arbutus, cedar and lofty fir trees and features a
Buddhist meditation garden, longhouse and Wiccan stone circle.
The institution was redesigned in the early 1990s to function as a community,
broken down into several neighbourhoods of clustered duplexes.

Dining area with complete

kitchen facilities. Inmates are
responsible for their own
cooking and cleaning.

There are no bars on the windows. Security at the prison is

primarily a razor wire fence on
one side, with the ocean on three
other sides. For the most part,
staff are not present in the
housing units.

LOWER LEVEL

In keeping with this residential model, uniquely coloured neighbourhoods with

their own names or addresses will promote a sense of identity, reads a Correctional Service research paper. Perhaps the most important feature of the new
William Head, one that sets it apart from more traditionally designed institutions,
is the level of personal responsibility afforded the offenders.
Heres how the living arrangements foster that philosophy:

Common living area where inmates can

mingle. Each neighbourhood also has its
own multi-purpose building, wth pool table,
television and laundromat.
Each inmate has a private room with bed, desk and chair.
Inmates will be allowed to decorate and arrange their rooms,
said the CSC research paper. Inmates have their own keys
allowing control over access to their private space.
UPPER LEVEL

Correctional Service Canada

CANADAS THREE PRISON LEVELS

Maximum security
Surrounded by 20-foot walls or
fences, with guard towers.
Guards are armed and inmate
movement is strictly controlled. Inmates interact in
highly structured groups and
treatment programs.

Medium security
Surrounded by chain-link
fences topped with razor wire.
Inmates are deemed to pose a
danger to the community and
are under direct supervision.
Many jails have training centres and treatment facilities.

INMATES ON STAGE
William Head is the only prison in Canada
which operates an inmate-run theatre
program. The public is encouraged to
attend, but must be screened and leave
behind their wallets and cell phones.
Ryan Jason Love, convicted for killing a
Banff cabbie in 1990, was a prominent
member of the theatre troupe as an actor
and writer. The most recent production
Here: A Captive Odyssey took audiences on
a haunting time-travel vortex . . . through
centuries of both First Nations and settler occupation.

Minimum security
Perimeter is defined, but usually no walls or fences. No armed
officers, no guard towers.
Restrictions on movement and
privileges are minimal. Many
inmates are on work-release
programs.

NOTABLE INMATES
Robert Latimer served time at William
Head for killing his 12-year-old daughter,
Tracy, who had severe cerebral palsy.
Latimer was granted full parole in 2010.
Stephen Reid, notorious bank robber-turned novelist. Reid was reportedly
involved in more than 100 robberies as a
member of the Stopwatch Gang in the
1970s and 1980s. Now 64 years old, Reid
has been granted day parole and lives in
a Victoria-area halfway house.
Vuong Minh Vu, convicted of killing 18-year-old Stephanie Novak in her
Calgary home in 2007. Vu is serving a life sentence for second-degree
murder and last week was denied day parole. He was, however, given
approval to temporarily leave the institution on escorted passes to do
volunteer work.
Source: Correctional Service Canada, Postmedia archives Graphic: Darren Francey / Calgary Herald