Correctional Service Canada is reviewing the case of Darrell Moosomin, a dangerous offender with a violent history who escaped custody in Maskwacis, Alta., during an escorted temporary absence.
Moosomin, who had been wanted on a Canada-wide warrant, was arrested without incident around 6 p.m. Sunday on Highway 13 just east of Daysland.
A member of the public had reported to police that a man matching Moosomin’s description was hitchhiking on the highway.
Moosomin, 54, remains in police custody awaiting a hearing, Killam RCMP said.
He had been unlawfully at large for eight days.
A review of Moosomin’s escape is being conducted, Jeff Campbell, regional communications manager for Correctional Service Canada, said Monday.
“Part of the information gathering that comes as an early part of that review is already underway and will certainly be augmented now that the offender who was at large is now back in custody.” Campbell said.
“We will speak with him and gather up some more information as part of that investigation.”
Escapes and other serious incidents are reviewed as a matter of standard operational procedure, he said.
“We look to see if there are any changes that need to be made in terms of maintaining public safety.”
Campbell didn’t speak to the specifics of Moosomin’s case. But he said that when an offender is taken into custody after being unlawfully at large, “one of the efforts we undertake is to ascertain what he or she was doing while they were at large.
“(They) could also be facing some new criminal charges,” he said. “We are getting input from an offender themselves, typically we’d also talk to police, and there may be a role for courts involved as well.”
Moosomin was at a powwow at the Samson Cree First Nation in Maskwacis on Aug. 13 when he walked away from the elder escorting him.
Documents from the Parole Board of Canada show he has a history of “brutal” and “sadistic” violent assaults.
In 1994, Moosomin confined and tortured a woman for eight hours before she was able to escape, according to a parole board decision from May 2016 which denied him requests for full parole, day parole or the right to unescorted temporary absences.
The documents say Moosomin’s other offences include sexually assaulting a woman and her two young children, and assaulting a man so badly his leg needed to be amputated.
Moosomin has been convicted 74 times for offences including assault causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon, aggravated sexual assault, forcible confinement and uttering threats. His sexual assault conviction was for fondling a school-aged girl.
He was designated a dangerous offender in 2008. He has been denied full parole 10 times since 1997. His requests for day parole have been turned down four times since 2010.
Moosomin was first allowed to be out on escorted temporary absences in 2006. He completed 47 such absences while in medium security. He was transferred last year to the minimum security Pê Sâkâstêw Centre in Maskwacis, south of Edmonton.
According to statistics provided by correctional services, there were 34 escapes from Pê Sâkâstêw between 1999 and March 31, 2016.
That number didn’t include Moosomin’s escape last week. There are only 60 beds at the healing centre facility, made up of teepee-like chalets surrounded by a low chain-link fence.