Inmate Turns Himself In After Being Mistakenly Released From Custody

An inmate who was mistakenly released earlier this month is back in custody after turning himself in.

Codie Tobie Cardinal, an inmate at the Regina Correctional Centre in Saskatchewan, Canada, was released from custody on 9 March after appearing in Estevan Court of Queen's Bench via video conference.

According to a government news release, 49-year-old Cardinal was freed because of an administrative error in communication information from the court office in Estevan to the Regina jail.

Google Maps

In actual fact, he was supposed to remain in Regina Court of Queen's Bench on additional charges.

According to the Regina Leader-Post, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said staff didn't become aware of the accidental release until Tuesday evening - at which point police were notified and the public notification process was initiated.

People were warned not to approach 185lb Cardinal if they saw him.

He was supposed to remain on remand as he awaited another appearance in court on conspiracy allegations.

Government of Saskatchewan

Thankfully, however, on Thursday the ministry said Cardinal had turned himself in to the Regina Police Service, and was back in custody.

Bizarrely, this is actually the second instance this month of an inmate being released prematurely thanks to an admin error in Canadian province Saskatchewan.

Over in Prince Albert earlier this week, police revealed that a man called Blair Cody McKenzie had also been released by mistake on 19 March, again following a court appearance.

McKenzie, 31, had been serving a four-month sentence in custody, and nine months of probation, on weapons and assault charges.

Prince Albert Police Service

He was not due to be released until 25 May, but Prince Albert Police only found out what had happened three days after he'd been let free.

The force continues to search for McKenzie.

In a statement, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said both of the incidents were 'the result of administrative errors in communicating information from court offices to correctional centres'.

The statement added: "We are reviewing both of these incidents to prevent similar occurrences from happening in the future."

The Ministry of Justice said such instances were relatively rare, saying there had been just three mistaken releases from custody following court appearances in the province since 2020.

Topics: World News, News, inmate, Canada

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

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