A new jail in Whitehorse isn't expected to open until 2011.

That, however, still leaves the government with a short time frame to complete all the work involved in getting the new correctional centre built and running, a conference was told Tuesday.

'There's a lot of work. It's a very compressed time frame for a structure of this nature,' said Deborah McNevin, director of strategic planning and special projects for the territory's Justice department.

She acknowledged it may seem plans for the new jail are proceeding slowly.

'They may be going slowly and there may be lots that has to be done, but there has been lots that has been done,' McNevin said.

She was addressing about 100 people who turned out for the healing in corrections conference.

The event, which began Monday evening at the Yukon Inn, is set to wrap up this afternoon at the Nakwataku Potlatch House in the McIntyre subdivision.

Throughout the conference, presentations have focused on various aspects of the correctional system, with McNevin pointing to what changes are and will be happening as the new jail is developed.

'A healing approach is very important,' she said.

She made that observation after noting the goal of having the best corrections system in Canada by offering quality programs and through changes in operating the system.

Plans for programming at the new jail will be first nations-focused, McNevin said.

Planning has included consultation with a number of organizations. Those have included first nations, inmates and others, with the goal of coming up with strategic and action plans done through various subcommittees working on different aspects of the facility.

'There are a lot of people involved, a lot of people donating their time and their intelligence and their efforts and commitment to these committees,' McNevin said.

One of the biggest challenges to making fundamental changes in justice is continuing to operate the current system while planning for the changes ahead, she added.

The jail will be constructed at its current Range Road location. That decision was announced earlier this year.

The site had been selected by the former Liberal government. The Yukon Party scrapped those plans after it was elected in 2002.

Work by the committees has also included the hiring of additional corrections officers, doing training and promoting careers in the field.

Several visioning sessions and focus groups about new programming for the facility with first nations, non-government organizations and staff recently concluded.

Focus groups looked at particular aspects ranging from security and control, living units, administration, staff, integrated programming and services among others.

After all the information is organized from those focus groups and visioning sessions, the design phase for the jail to accommodate those programs and services will get underway next month, with site preparation then planned for next year.

With the new correctional centre's debut still more than four years away, McNevin noted an interim space plan has to be developed to address the current needs in the system as well.

'You can't just leave the current centre as it is without making some changes because it needs to address the needs of offenders over the next four years,' she said.

That initiative will begin this fall, looking to improve programming and living space, she said.

The work on that will wrap up by the end of the fiscal year, in March 2008.

McNevin noted that moving toward those fundamental changes will require a strong philosophical base to look at in terms of a mission statement, vision and values.

Initiatives like the Code of Conduct for employees have been developed with workshops on ethics and professionalism along with first nations training.

Yukoners can also expect public consultations on the territorial Corrections Act in the fall, McNevin noted, as work continues on the new jail.

'We can't, obviously, do this alone,' she said, after pointing to the need to work with various groups to address the needs in corrections.

'It is a fundamental change and approach that we're trying to instill here,' she said.

The current jail opened in 1967.

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