It’s not a drop-in centre and inmates won’t be let free into surrounding neighbourhoods when released.

These were some of the facts that Robert McGucken, project manager with The Ministry of Children and Youth Services, had to state on the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 4 to quell angry Brampton residents who turned out at St. Brigid Elementary School to learn more about the new women’s jail being built on the site of Brampton’s Roy McMurtry Youth Centre (RMYC).

“No kid walks out the back door and just walks into the community,” McGucken told a group of residents concerned about the security at the new facility.

He said a partnership in place with Peel Regional Police ensures that all inmates released from the jail are driven to the homes of family members or their legal guardians.

Other residents, such as John Art, were upset because the expansion of the prison to accommodate Ontario’s first dedicated mental health unit for incarcerated women, will encroach closer to surrounding homes and ultimately include another road that goes into the jail.

“It’s far too close,” he said. “Would you like a road going directly into the jail, right in front of your house? It doesn’t make any sense.”

McGucken said at least one road must accommodate an “emergency exit” for the new jail.

The McLaughlin Road jail, currently in use as a facility for young offenders, will be repurposed to create a new 192-bed adult female detention centre.

With capacity for 32 inmates, the dedicated mental health unit will serve the specific needs of women struggling with mental health issues.