Protesters arrested during the G-8 summit will be beamed live into courtrooms rather than appear before a judge in person, a step that may be emulated across the province once the summit is over.
Alberta Justice has upgraded its closed-circuit television system, linking two provincial courtrooms and one youth courtroom to the Calgary Correctional Centre at Spy Hill.
The system will be used to process anyone arrested in or around Calgary between June 26 and 28, whether or not they are protesting during the G-8 summit.
Use of the closed-circuit system will be mandatory, and will coincide with the opening of three courtrooms from dawn until dark to deal with the large number of protester arrests expected during the summit.
"It is being done largely for efficiency," said Bart Johnson, spokesman for Alberta Justice.
"Spy Hill is 20 kilometres from provincial court and transporting can take up a lot of time. Our experience with the existing video system is that it is far more efficient to do it this way."
One closed-circuit television is currently used at the provincial courthouse downtown, linking it to the Calgary Remand Centre in northwest Calgary, but its use requires the consent of both the accused and the Crown.
Alberta Justice adopted the idea after closed-circuit television was used to process protesters during the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in April 2001.
Johnson said the lines installed in Calgary courthouses will remain afterwards and may eventually be used to process criminals electronically on a permanent basis.
"The lines will stay and we may be able to make use of this in the future," he said. "We are looking to expand video conferencing across the province at some point in the future."
The video system will mean Calgary's downtown courts will be largely devoid of people during G-8, to be held in Kananaskis on June 26 and 27, despite the fact they will be open 16 hours a day -- from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Criminal cases not related to G-8 will be delayed because police officers will be tied up with summit business.
"We have closed the courtrooms (for non-G-8 cases) in Calgary largely because police won't be available. They'll be preoccupied with G-8 security," Johnson said, adding Alberta Justice does not expect to be swamped with arrested protesters, but is preparing for the worst-case scenario.
"We're planning for that, but hoping for the best," he said.
In the meantime, prisoners from Spy Hill are already being transferred to the Drumheller Institution, 140 kilometres northeast of Calgary, to make way for the anticipated protester arrests.
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