“Exponentially growing” volume of inquiries, insufficient funding, inadequate type of remuneration: The National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry Philippe-Pinel can no longer judge the worst criminals in Quebec since the pandemic within the legal time limits. One hardened criminal has already tried to get away with these delays.
Posted at 4:34pm
Louis Samuel Perron The Press
Jeffrey Howard Hébert was an influential pedophile on the dark web. He was even the administrator of a forum dedicated to child pornography. The Dorval resident also made very real sacrifices by secretly photographing two toddlers hundreds of times. He had more than 90,000 pictures and 2,000 videos of particularly sordid child pornography.
Due to the seriousness of his crimes, the Crown requested last July that Jeffrey Howard Hébert be assessed to determine whether he can be declared a dangerous or a long-time criminal. These labels are reserved for the worst criminals to protect the populace. For example, it is very difficult for a dangerous offender to get parole. A long-term offender may be subject to prolonged supervision after release from prison.
According to the Criminal Code, such a psychiatric assessment must be carried out within 60 days. However, three months later, Jeffrey Howard Hébert is still 18th out of 24 on the waiting list for the assessment. The waiting times will thus exceed six months, the National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry Philippe-Pinel announced in letters filed Tuesday at the Montreal courthouse.
These letters, signed October 18 and 20 by Elizabeth Mandeville, director of the Institute’s Reception, Admissions and Medical Records Services, paint a bleak picture of the situation. The institute argues that due to the “scarcity of our resources” it is “currently impossible to respond to the exponentially growing volume of these requests”.
The institute is indeed overwhelmed by the 60 requests received in 2021-2022, an “impressive” number given that the previous average was around 40 requests, the letter said.
“The facility’s ability to respond to all court-ordered requests is severely compromised and, unfortunately, the deadlines imposed by the courts are not being met because we are not meeting the growing demand,” responded Institute spokeswoman Pascale, via e-mail. Mail Trudeau. She adds that it is “important” for the facility to “reduce” the current waiting list.
The crux of the problem: only five experts are able to carry out these very specific assessments for all of Quebec, the institute specifies in the letter.
Also, one of them will be retiring soon. And, of course, psychiatrists do not only devote themselves to these evaluations. Such a report requires extensive work in addition to testifying in court.
“The type of resource remuneration is clearly a brake on new hires,” the institute analyzed in court.
The funding provided by Quebec to conduct such assessments is “insufficient,” the institute writes. An agreement with the Minister of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice allocates funds to Pinel and the University of Quebec’s Institute of Mental Health for just 15 assessments.
However, this agreement is “repealed,” we argue in the letters. The Pinel Institute claims it has since taken steps with ministries to raise awareness of the situation. The Institute also presented a project to the Ministry of Health to create a department that would devote permanent resources to this issue. “We are awaiting an answer from you,” we wrote.
The Ministry of Health could not comment on the case on Tuesday. The Department of Justice has not responded to our request.
Additional Deadlines
In the case of Jeffrey Howard Hébert, the Pinel Institute asked Judge Yves Paradis to give him an additional 60 days to complete the evaluation. In the eyes of Crown prosecutor Me Amélie Rivard, the defendant does not suffer from “prejudice” because of this delay.
“We came up with a joint proposal that took into account all the ratings we expected. It was an extremely important element. We should settle the case in November,” Me Rivard told the court.
“No decision applies to a context like the one proposed to me,” said Judge Paradis, concerned about the situation.
However, last summer a criminal attempted to evade such an assessment and the resulting labeling by citing that the legal deadline had been exceeded. Sébastien Pauzé was found guilty of numerous charges over the past year, including criminal harassment, making death threats and assaulting a peace officer.
In December 2021, the judge ordered a report to be drawn up to determine if he could be declared a dangerous or long-time offender. However, as of July 2022, the institute still had not submitted its report due to “lack of resources” and the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, Judge Pierre Labrie of the Quebec Superior Court denied Sébastien Pauzé’s request because he failed to show that he had suffered harm as a result of those delays. The judge argues that the Court of Appeal found that these statutory waiting periods do not lead to the termination of the case in the absence of prejudice.
“It is important for the judge to have the fullest possible insight into the applicant and his dangerousness,” concluded Justice Labrie.
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46 Average number of applications received between 2015 and 2021 for assessment of high-risk and long-standing offenders
Source: Philippe Pinel Institute
60 Number of evaluation requests received in 2021-2022
Source: Philippe Pinel Institute