Inmates will be able to take advantage of educational, vocational and certified trades training, as well as Indigenous programming developed in collaboration with the Snuneymuxw and Snaw’Naw’As First Nations. Some training will be offered in partnership with Vancouver Island University.
The correctional centre, which houses men with a medium-security classification, will also become Vancouver Island’s first provincial custody unit for women, providing a place for women in short-term custody who are on remand or waiting to be transferred to serve a sentence.
A phased development plan will see the facility continue to operate while existing buildings are taken down and new construction is completed on the sloping site, which runs from Biggs Road down to the lake.