Affordable psychiatric help hard to find for released convicts: BC laywers
Posted February 5, 2016 4:32 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Getting affordable psychiatric help for released convicts is hard in BC according to some local lawyers who say it can hurt the rehabilitation process.
Yesterday in provincial court, animal killer Kayla Bourque’s lawyer argued it has been hard for her to find a psychologist she can afford, while living in a New Westminster halfway house.
“There’s a lot of people who fall through the cracks in our society, especially people that we deal with in court and it can be really challenging sometimes for the most challenging people to get appropriate help,” explains Bourque’s Lawyer Andrew Bonfield
News 1130 Legal Analyst Michael Shapray says there are very few government funded programs.
“I’m well aware that there is definitely two tiers of the system. Those who can afford to pay for different things including lawyers, and those who can’t,” says Shapray. “And when you can’t you’re extremely left at a disadvantage, especially if there is no government program that is funded that is available for you.”
