Security class medium security Province Alberta Opened 1974 | Phone +1 403-227-3391 Capacity 544 | |
Location Innisfail, Alberta, Canada Managed by Correctional Services Canada Address Hwy 2, Innisfail, AB T4G 1V1, Canada | ||
Bowden institution top 5 facts
The Bowden Institution is a medium security prison operated by Correctional Services Canada. It was built on an "open campus" model. In a minimum security annex prisoners live in ordinary houses.
The facility is located on Alberta's Queen Elizabeth II Highway, near the small towns of Bowden, Alberta and Innisfail, Alberta, approximately halfway between Calgary and Edmonton.
In 2006 there was a knifing at the institution. Guards threatened to strike, when the knife could not be found. Linda Slobodian, writing in the Calgary Herald, wrote that the prison had once mainly held sex offenders, but the prison population had recently had a considerable contingent of violent gang members transferred there.
As of November 2012 the institution had the capacity for 544 prisoners.
In February 2014 former Guantanamo captive, Omar Khadr was transferred to the institution, from the Millhaven maximum security facility. At Bowden, unlike at Millhaven, Khadr would have programs available to him which would help him apply for parole.