Photo: Contributed

Okanagan Correctional Centre released four inmates this month on temporary release amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Ninety-five inmates in British Columbia were granted temporary release between March 1 and April 2 as the COVID-19 pandemic rages.

The Ministry of Public Safety said eight of those people were serving full sentences and the other 87 serving intermittent sentences. 

"This does not mean a sentence has ended and/or is suspended, instead the sentence runs concurrently to the temporary absence. BC Corrections may rescind a temporary absence if/when warranted," reads a statement from the Ministry.

Four of those releases came from the Okanagan Correctional Centre, which has recently confirmed it has a case of COVID-19 in one of its inmates. 

That same facility also saw 105 releases of inmates during the same time period who had either served their sentence or were released on bail.

The Ministry said "all early release assessments consider criminal history, sentence length, offence type, and any other relevant information, including risk to public safety, and available community support upon release."

Thirteen early releases came from the Kamloops Correctional Centre, where no cases of COVID-19 have yet been reported.