Bowden Institution is a

medium security A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

prison operated by Correctional Services Canada. It was built on an ''"open campus"'' model. In an adjoining minimum security annex prisoners live in ordinary houses. The facility is located on

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Queen Elizabeth II Highway Highway 2 (also known as the Queen Elizabeth II Highway) is a major highway in Alberta that stretches from the Canada–United States border through Calgary and Edmonton to Grande Prairie. Running primarily north to south for approximately , ...

, between the small towns of

Bowden, Alberta Bowden is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located in Red Deer County on the Queen Elizabeth II Highway, approximately south of Red Deer. The community may take its name from Bowdon, Greater Manchester, in England. A provincial Albert ...

and

Innisfail, Alberta Innisfail ( ) is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located in the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor, south of Red Deer at the junction of Highway 2 and Highway 54. History The town's name comes from an Irish-language epithet for Ireland, ''I ...

, approximately halfway between

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

and

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

History

The institution was constructed on the site of the former RCAF Station Bowden a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), often referred to as simply "The Plan", was a large-scale multinational military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand during the Second Wo ...

Facility. 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 The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...

'', 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. In February 2014 former

Guantanamo captive The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by ...

Omar Khadr Omar Ahmed Said Khadr (; born September 19, 1986) is a Canadian who, at the age of 15, was detained by the United States at Guantanamo Bay for ten years, during which he pleaded guilty to the murder of U.S. Army Sergeant 1st Class Christopher S ...

was transferred to the institution from the Millhaven maximum security facility. {{cite news , url = http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/the-canadian-press/140211/former-guantanamo-inmate-omar-khadr-transferred-medium-secur , title = Former Guantanamo inmate Omar Khadr transferred to medium security in Alberta , publisher =

Global Post GlobalPost Media Corporation is an American digital journalism company and former news website that focuses on international news. Founded on January 12, 2009 by Philip S. Balboni and Charles M. Sennott, its stated mission is "to redefine inte ...

, date = 2014-02-11 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140212193935/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/the-canadian-press/140211/former-guantanamo-inmate-omar-khadr-transferred-medium-secur , archive-date = 2014-02-12 , url-status = live , quote = Bowden Institution is a medium-security prison with a minimum-security annex. At Bowden, unlike at Millhaven, Khadr would have access to programs which would help him apply for

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

. In 2012/2013 an additional 96-man receiving unit was constructed inside the medium security unit and an additional five 10-man housing units were constructed at the minimum security annex. Currently the medium security unit houses 2 men per cell in the majority of the cells. The daily average population is currently over 700 inmates.

References

Correctional Service of Canada institutions Prisons in Alberta Red Deer County Federal government buildings in Alberta