There is a serious shortage of beds for women being released from incarceration to this province, and the lack of services has put many at a higher risk to re-offend.

Upon release from a federal or provincial facility, many women are forced to stay at provincial shelters, which are not an ideal environment for continued rehabilitation.

Michelle Voisey, executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society Newfoundland and Labrador, says they’re getting calls almost daily regarding women who are being prepared to be released back into the community.

She says they’re having to rely on the emergency shelter system, but that can lead them to re-offend and return to the cycle.

Sometimes, sister societies in Nova Scotia end up housing recently-released women from this province.

Voisey says, ideally, they need a community residential facility that can take women who are on federal and provincial parole, to allow the women to come home, such as an apartment building with ten units, or even better, two or three of them.