An Inuk woman says she was left vulnerable and became a target for a human trafficker after she was released from prison with nowhere to go. Advocates say it’s proof Manitoba’s justice system needs an overhaul.
Jessica LeBlanc spent 11 months at the Women’s Correctional Centre in Headingley, awaiting her court date, where she was sentenced to just two days for resisting arrest.
She was released on a Friday after 5 p.m. and said there was no transition or release plan made for her.
“They repeatedly release women to nothing,” she said. “Just out on the street with a bus ticket.”
While in jail, LeBlanc, 29, was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was on medication, she said.
She left jail with no money, no health card, no prescription for her mental illness and nowhere to safely spend the night.
“They had not given me the money from the job that I had as a trustee in the jail,” she said.
“I had three days of the [medication] that they had provided me in jail, which they had stated was mandatory, and I had the clothing that I was arrested in.”
She said she was dropped off with a bus ticket in Unicity that evening and was left to fend for herself.
“It was very concerning that they would release someone so late at night and especially on a weekend, when there’s no business hours for any [mental or social] services in the cities,” she said.
Homeless shelters were an option but they were already full by the time LeBlanc got downtown.
4 days on the street
She spent the next four days sleeping on the streets.
Within days, she had been picked up by a man who took her to a hotel, where they spent a week before he took her to live in an abandoned home for another three weeks.
She believes he was trying to sell her into the sex trade.
She eventually found a safe space after seeing a St. Boniface Street Links van driving around and calling for help.
They helped her find housing and a part-time job, and she started to get her life back on track.
LeBlanc said she never could have imagined she would end up where she is.
She is a university graduate and before the COVID-19 pandemic, she was working and travelling the world.
When the pandemic hit, she got kicked out of her apartment and was couch surfing to stay off the streets.
If it happened to her, it could happen to anyone, she said — and she wants the justice system to change before another woman ends up hurt or dead.
Marion Willis said LeBlanc’s story is too common.
“I think about the murdered and missing Indigenous women’s files, and when you really think about Jessica’s situation and just how vulnerable she was made when she was released, it’s not hard to understand how so many women go missing and sometimes meet their demise,” Willis said.
LeBlanc was continually failed by a system that should have protected her, she said.
Many of LeBlanc’s legal issues happened because she struggled with undiagnosed and untreated schizophrenia, Willis said, but instead of getting treatment in a proper facility after she was diagnosed, LeBlanc remained behind bars.
During those 11 months, no one looked ahead to make sure there would be supports in place for her when she was released, Willis said.
“[She] ends up being made extremely vulnerable by the very system that is charged with upholding the safety and security of all citizens, including Jessica,” she said.
Willis said her team has worked with too many people who are left with no plan after they serve their time. Ultimately, it leads to people becoming homeless, living in encampments and often falling back into the wrong crowd and reoffending or becoming targets, she said.
“The system, in the end, often forces the most vulnerable women to seek safety in the most dangerous places and with people that are also dangerous, and that’s a big part of Jessica’s story. That’s shameful,” she said.
“The justice system set her up to actually be exploited and to even be killed on the streets, and that’s the piece that gets me.”
The province would not comment on the specifics of LeBlanc’s case, but a spokesperson said Manitoba Corrections staff work closely with inmates on their release plans.
Release plans
The spokesperson said inmates are released from custody with medication to allow for transition to primary care, but Corrections does not provide prescriptions as there is “no longer any ability for the justice system to supervise or provide medical care.”
The release plan includes shelter options and support in the community, the spokesperson said in an email.
“This includes working with inmates to get them a Manitoba health card or with another jurisdiction to provide options for a primary card upon release.”
However, LeBlanc said that never happened.
The spokesperson added that Manitoba Corrections does not help inmates find housing at a shelter, saying “once they are released they are free. There are other social supports in place but once they are released, they are like every other Manitoban.”
An Inuk woman says she was left vulnerable and exploited within days of her release from jail. It’s reigniting calls from advocates who say it shows the Manitoba justice system needs an overhaul .
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