Headingly Correctional Centre(Crosier Kilgour photo)
WINNIPEG, Man. — A Manitoba provincial court judge has sentenced a 37-year-old man to a single day in custody for a prison breach, after granting him enhanced credit for nearly 14 months spent behind bars awaiting sentencing.
Tyson Breland pleaded guilty to Prison Breach under s. 144 of the Criminal Code for his August 2, 2025, escape from the Headingley Correctional Centre. According to the agreed statement of facts, Breland orchestrated the escape over a series of phone calls with his father and a former inmate, discussing a plan disguised as a “roofing job.” Another inmate held up the bottom of a fence to let him through, and Breland swam across the Assiniboine River before being found hiding behind a farm truck about 20 minutes later. He was pepper sprayed after failing to comply with officers and was found with items stolen from an unlocked car.
In her decision delivered November 2, 2026, Judge M.K. Harvie identified several aggravating factors, including the planning involved, Breland’s uncooperative arrest, and the fact that he was pending on serious charges at the time of the escape. Mitigating factors included his guilty plea, the absence of violence or weapons, and the brief duration of the escape.
Crown counsel sought a two-year sentence and argued Breland should receive no credit for pre-sentence custody because he was already detained on other matters. Defence sought 12 months and argued for enhanced credit. Judge Harvie sided with the defence on the credit issue, finding a sufficient link between the custody and the prison breach charge, and noting that conditions at the Brandon Correctional Centre were affected by overcrowding and limited programming.
After settling on a 12-month sentence, the judge applied credit at 1.5:1 for the 417 days Breland had been in custody since the warrant was executed on September 12, 2025 — the equivalent of 626 days — deducting 365 days and leaving a sentence of one day, being his appearance in court.
Breland is also subject to a 10-year weapons prohibition and must provide a DNA sample. Costs and surcharge were waived.
