Questions raised about B.C.’s halfway house system after sex offender disappears    

B.C.’s halfway houses are under the microscope after a notorious, high-risk, repeat sex offender walked away from his halfway house in Vancouver and effectively disappeared.

Questions are being raised about security and monitoring at the facilities and how an untreated sex offender like Randall Hopley could cut his monitoring bracelet off and vanish, just days before a court date to face charges for previously violating his supervision order.

However, a University of British Columbia law professor is worried this one case could lead to changes to the parole system impacting thousands of other people.

Debra Parkes says the overall Canadian parole system has already been skewing on the strict side in terms of sending individuals back to prison for just minor violations.

“That’s, unfortunately, the cycle we often go through. We have one high-profile incident and then you have the system becoming even more intensely risk-averse than it already was,” Parks told The Canadian Press.

“And that has implications for thousands and thousands of other people who are not even in the same category as this person.”

Meanwhile, an organization that operates several halfway houses in B.C. insists the facilities have proven very effective in re-integrating individuals from prison into society.

Hank Mathias is chairman of the board at the John Howard Society of British Columbia, and he suggests one aspect of Hopley’s case that may warrant examination is the use of electronic monitoring devices.

He says the use of the devices may provide a false sense of security.

“It’s a very costly way to do something and it isn’t quite as reliable as you’d like it to be. If someone isn’t following the conditions the court sets out, you don’t want to be in the position of standing up saying maybe they were there, but the Wi-Fi dropped off, or so forth. It doesn’t lead to a sense of confidence about public safety,” Mathias told CP.

He adds that halfway houses have played an integral role in ensuring public safety, and instances of escape such as Hopley’s are rare, but any human decision-making system is fallible.

“The question is how often do you get it correct and what do the errors look like with respect to looking after public safety and the rehabilitation of people? Halfway houses provide a whole lot of stuff that moves us in the right direction.”

He says the system is set up to give people a shot at reform.

Meanwhile, the father of Hopley’s most high-profile victim is speaking out as police continue to search for the missing 58-year-old, now wanted Canada-wide.

The former Sparwood, B.C. resident now lives in Alberta and says neither he nor his family were informed about Hopley’s escape.

He believes the justice system is failing if Hopley can walk away from a halfway house and disappear.