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CALGARY - Convicted in the U.S. of carrying money for drugs, a Calgary man is campaigning to serve his prison sentence in Canada.
Brent Curtis, who's in a California prison where three inmates were recently murdered, has begun a hunger strike to convince Canadian officials to let him serve his sentence in Canada.
"He just wants to come home," said his sister Chris Lynn Williams, who staged a sit-in at Calgary MP Lee Richardson's office last week.
"I'm not proud of what my brother did. He made a really bad choice, but he's Canadian, he's a young man and it's proven criminals can be rehabilitated and do better when they are near family support."
Curtis, 29, was handed a 57-month prison term after a conviction of conspiracy to traffic.
He was found with $350,000 in cash in October 2007.
He's one of dozens of Canadians-turned-criminals across the border wanting to come home to do their time.
Williams said her brother's international transfer was approved nine months ago but has bogged down in bureaucracy, with the feds sitting on processing necessary documents to make it happen.
Richardson said it costs money to bring a criminal back to Canada and house them, but the ultimate intent behind such transfers is to try to see inmates rehabilitated rather than turned into a hardened criminals.
He said his office is doing what it can to speed up the process to bring Curtis back and waiting on government to consider the request.
There's an international transfer agreement of inmates between Canada and the U.S., as well as several other countries, with approval needed by both countries before an inmate is returned to their country of residence, said Corrections Canada spokesman Jeff Campbell.
While Canadians have been flocking home, statistics show just one American imprisoned in Canada was transferred back to the U.S. between 2004 and 2008.
During the same time period, nearly 300 Canadians came home to do their time.
Campbell said the transfers all comes down to public safety and optimal chances of reintegration into society.
NADIA.MOHARIB@SUNMEDIA.CA