Helena Konanz, who's running for Penticton council, wants to find out if there's a correlation between the Oliver Correctional Centre and the high crime rate in her city.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK/Helena Konanz

A candidate for Penticton city council wants to find out if a recent spike in crime coincides with the opening of the Oliver Correctional Centre.

The prison opened in July 2017, 35 kilometres south of the city. In 2021, Penticton had the worst crime rate of the Thompson-Okanagan's largest cities, and has claimed that record for 10 of the last 16 years.

“I’ve been knocking on doors all summer and that has been the number one issue,” council candidate Helena Konanz said. “I’m curious – and a number of people are – about why our crime rate has accelerated at such a high rate over the last few years. I’d like to find out why this has happened in our particular community.”

If elected, Konanz promises to figure out how many inmates are being dropped off in the city, and the percentage of non-locals who don’t leave.

“There was a promise by the province that they would transport the released inmates back to the community where they had committed their crime, or where they had some support,” she said.

READ MORE: Without Greyhound, how will released inmates get home from Kamloops, Oliver prisons?

"Some offenders may return to previous criminal behaviour as they seek out familiar people and places during a stressful time," according to a provincial government website. "For this reason, arranging for the offender to receive supervision and support can be better than releasing them directly from a correctional centre into the community."

Earlier in 2022, one former inmate living in Penticton told iNFOnews.ca he was given $700 upon leaving the Oliver Correctional Centre.

Greyhound ceased local operations in 2018, and that adds to Konanz’s skepticism about whether former inmates are actually leaving Penticton.

For former inmates who struggle with mental health and addition issues, she says it’s not fair for them to become trapped in a city as small as Penticton because it lacks support services.

“We’re not Kelowna, Kamloops or Vancouver,” she said.

READ MORE: Prisoners building 50 picnic tables for South Okanagan farm workers

She also felt discouraged when Interior Health pulled funding for Pathways Addictions Resource Centre in 2021.

If Konanz gets elected — and is able to confirm that more former inmates have been making a new home Penticton since the opening of the prison in Oliver — then council will need to pressure the province to follow through with its promises, she said.

Konanz previously served on council from 2011 to 2015.

A request for comment from the Attorney General wasn't immediately returned.

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