A program hardly used before the pandemic has seen a massive increase in Alberta offenders who are sentenced to weekends in jail, serving their time at home, CBC News has learned. In Canada, the criminal code allows for certain offenders sentenced to 90 days or less to serve their imposed jail time over certain days of the week, most often weekends. In September 2019, there were 131 people serving intermittent sentences in Alberta. This September, 87 offenders were sentenced to weekend jail stints and of those, 61 were serving at home instead of being required to show up at a jail or remand facility. Keeping people from moving back and forth weekly between jails and the community during a public health crisis makes sense, says defence lawyer and criminal law instructor Kelsey Sitar.

Source: CBC News October 11, 2021 17:00 UTC