The accidental release of an inmate that left Premier Wab Kinew “shocked” was a case of human error — and a rare incident that has happened less frequently in recent years, the justice minister said Monday.
“These are serious situations when somebody is accidentally released and we’re working to make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” Justice Minister Matt Wiebe told the Free Press Monday.
Mark Phillip Traverse, who is charged with manslaughter in the death of Leo Charles Martin-Shea in April last year, appeared in provincial court Oct. 21 and pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to comply with his release order. A judge ordered him to remain behind bars, telling court staff, “He’s a do not release.”
Mark Phillip Traverse, 27, who is charged with manslaughter in a 2023 death, was released from custody in error. (Supplied)
Traverse was mistakenly freed the next day.
Last week’s accidental release was the result of “human error and there was a fairly complicated set of circumstances that led to this unfortunate incident,” Wiebe said.
During question period, Progressive Conservative MLA Lauren Stone said the public deserves to know how such an error occurred and called for the government to appoint an independent, outside review of the incident and for its recommendations to be made public.
“I think, like most Manitobans, I was shocked to see this incident play out last week,” Kinew said in response to her question. “I want to thank the folks both on on the correction side and law enforcement side for their good work to ensure this person was apprehended.
“Of course there will be a thorough and robust process to ensure that a situation like this doesn’t happen again.”
Wiebe said the department is working on it, adding there have been fewer accidental releases in recent years.
“While the number can vary from year to year of these unfortunate situations, we know that there has been a downward trend,” he said.
In 2016, there were “as many as 20 inmates” that were accidentally released, and in the following year, nine inmates were accidentally released, he said.
“This year we’re thankful that there’s only been just this case and one other, and that’s really, I think, a big testament to the work that’s being done in the department, of staff that we have who take this very, very seriously,” he said, noting that the government doesn’t want any accidental releases.
“I think part of the the work that the department has done is to make sure that the training is adequate, that we understand the circumstances that lead to these types of accidental releases and that we work very hard to supply the right training to our staff and have that enhanced training in place.”
Stone (Midland) told the house that the government had “a pattern of hiding important reviews from the public,” without offering examples.
She asked for a commitment that all recommendations from the review will be made public.
The justice minister told the Free Press that the Justice Department is dealing with the matter internally, but didn’t rule out sharing information with the public.
“We’re going to learn lessons from this and we’re going to ensure that we enhance the training available to staff and that we we look at all the factors,” Wiebe said.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
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