By Brook Wagner, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Medicine Hat News
A Canada-wide warrant has been issued for a man serving a life sentence for first-degree murder after he escaped from a Kingston, Ont. prison last week.
Ontario Provincial Police says the Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement (ROPE) Squad is asking for public help to find Mason Jenkins, 49. Police say he “walked away from the Collins Bay Institution on Sept. 24.”
Kingston police say Jenkins was not accounted for at an 11:15 a.m. head count in the minimum security unit on Thursday. The Correctional Service of Canada called the incident an escape, the ROPE Squad says Jenkins breached terms of his statutory release.
Jenkins is serving life for first-degree murder and possession of a scheduled substance for the purpose of trafficking. He was convicted of killing his 18-year-old sister, Jennifer Jenkins, in the family’s Chatham, Ont. home in January 1998. He was sentenced in Chatham in January 2001.
Police describe Jenkins as white, 5-foot 9 (175 centimetres) and 255 pounds, with brown eyes and brown hair. His head is currently shaved. He is known to spend time in Kingston, Kitchener and Chatham.
The warrant can be enforced anywhere in Canada. A similar arrest occurred In Medicine Hat in December 2024, when MHPS officers went to a Tower Estates home to help a short-term rental owner remove an overdue tenant. There, police arrested Brooklyn Carriere and two others. Carriere was wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for being unlawfully at large from federal corrections.
Anyone who sees Jenkins should call 911. Tips can also go to the ROPE Squad at 416-808-5900, or 1-866-870-7673, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.