By rdnewsNOW

Four months behind bars for Bowden prison worker who helped inmate escape

Aug 3, 2018 | 5:41 AM

A former worker at Bowden Institution who admitted to helping a prisoner escape four years ago will spend several months behind bars.  

Peter Edgar, 62, pleaded guilty in January to permitting or assisting escape. He was charged in October 2017 following the April 2015 escape of Sylvain Martin.

Martin was serving a 10-year sentence for fraud when he fled from the prison’s minimum-security wing. He made his way to Calgary and then on to Quebec, where he was taken into custody.

Following his arrest, Martin told police that while he was an inmate he developed a relationship with Edgar.

At the time, Edgar was working as a production supervisor with a Correctional Service Canada (CORCAN) program that provides incarcerated offenders with job-skills training. Court heard that Edgar provided Martin with a phone, some tobacco and $5,000 prior to his escape.

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While admitting to giving Martin the items, Edgar was adamant that he did not know Martin was planning to flee.

Martin used the cash to get to Calgary using a taxi. Edgar later gave Martin $7,000 to get to Quebec.

During their relationship, Edgar provided Martin with $100,000, court heard.

Defence lawyer Robin Snider said her client denied any homosexual or inappropriate relationship with Martin and that there is no evidence showing there was.

Edgar was in the Caribbean at the time of the prison break and failed to notify authorities after learning about it through a phone call. He later flew to Quebec where he partied with Martin.

Edgar took leave from his job in 2015 and never returned to work, acknowledging he gave away his career by doing what he did. He’s also since been kicked out his home on his family’s farm and removed from his family’s will.

“I really just want to apologize for what I did,” Edgar said at Thursday’s sentencing hearing in Red Deer provincial court. “I have to live with this for the rest of my life.”

“This certainly was not only a mistake, but a serious criminal act, and he’s taken responsibility for that,” Snider said.

A joint submission from the Crown and defence called for Edgar to serve four months behind bars, to which Judge James Glass agreed.