Gregory Sheldon Spears charged after mistaken release of inmate

A 31-year-old prisoner is accused of helping another inmate escape custody last week at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside.

Gregory Sheldon Spears has been charged with permitting escape and breach of recognizance. He appeared in Dartmouth provincial court on Friday.

One inmate was due to be released on Nov. 7, Halifax Regional Police said in a news release. That morning, jail staff called police to say they accidentally released Kent instead, calling him “very dangerous.”

Kent, 22, was due in court this week on a charges related to a violent break-in at the home of an elderly Dartmouth man, including attempted murder. Police found him in Spryfield the day after the release and arrested him.

Police spokesman Const. Pierre Bourdages said Friday he didn’t know how Kent fooled prison guards or if he presented identification belonging to the other man.

Bourdages said he also wasn’t sure what benefit the impersonated prisoner received for allowing his identity to be used.

“I don’t know if there was any exchange of money or favours or what-not,” Bourdages said.

Justice Department spokesman Andrew Preeper said that a series of steps is taken at each release to confirm prisoners’ identities, but he couldn’t yet give details. Minister Lena Diab will provide a full accounting of this case when the internal investigation is finished.

Police are looking into criminal actions by the prisoners, Preeper said, but the Justice Department is focusing on what went wrong on the administrative side.

The department was already reviewing the problem on a more general scale after a dozen prisoners were accidentally released from 2005 to 2009.

Agencies/Canadajournal