Prison

CBC News

 

P.E.I.'s top provincial court judge is speaking out against allegations by Charlottetown's mayor that the justice system is to blame for some of the city's property crime.

 

Mayor Clifford Lee recently suggested the courts were partly to blame because they were releasing too many people immediately after they were charged.

 

Judge John Douglas told CBC News Wednesday that locking up everyone before they're convicted isn't the answer.

 

"The presumption of innocence is not a protection for the guilty. It's there to protect you and I," said Douglas.

 

"Any attempt to reduce that presumption or limit its effect should be resisted."

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By Yvon Gauvin, Times & Transcript

 

A Moncton project to provide a home for men living on the street or struggling with housing is nearly complete, but it has hit a snag.

 

Construction of Flanders Court Residence at 15 Flanders Ct., a transition house providing apartments for 10 men and being built by the John Howard Society, is almost completed. The problem is furnishing the apartments.

 

Joanne Murray, executive director of the John Howard Society, said cost of furnishing each apartment is $3,000 to provide the basics so that the tenant can move in stress-free to begin working on changing his life around.

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By: Ben Sichel, The Dominion

 

HALIFAX—A self-described “taxpayer watchdog” group with offices across Canada is poised to open an office in Halifax this fall, according to recent media reports. But critics say the organization is little more than a right-wing media mouthpiece.

 

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) advocates for “lower taxes, less waste, and more accountable government,” according to Kevin Gaudet, the group’s federal director.

 

CTF’s website highlights the federal long-gun registry, the amount paid to elected officials, and “eco-taxes” as examples of wasted taxpayer money.

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By: Charles W. Moore, Telegraph Journal

 

It's difficult to perceive the Harper government's dogged determination to shut down Canada's six prison farm operations as other than shortsightedly, boneheadedly, dumb. Are the neo-con technocrats that hatched this idea so myopically obtuse that they're unable to grasp that the value of the 125-year-old prison farms program transcends bottom-line spread-sheeting? Even the bottom line isn't as cut-and-dried as the Tories contend.

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By: HARRIS MACLEOD, The Hill Times

 

The Parliamentary Budget Officer would prefer not to do any more studies into the costs of the Harper government's slate of law and order legislation, saying it's now up to Parliamentarians to demand that full cost estimates are provided for the rest of the proposed changes to the justice system.

 

Liberal Public Safety critic Mark Holland (Ajax-Pickering, Ont.) asked Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page to analyse the costs of all the government's proposed justice legislation. To date, the PBO has only reported on the costs of Bill C-25, the so-called truth in sentencing act, a bill to limit credit given for time served in pre-sentencing custody.

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CBC News

 

The federal government has to help pay for the increase of prisoners expected in provincial jails as the result of proposed changes to the Criminal Code of Canada, the P.E.I. Union of Public Sector Employees says.

 

Shelley Ward, president of the union that represents correctional officers, said Island jails are already overcrowded, and it's posing a safety risk for her members.

 

"We have had reports from our members that there's been quadruple bunking in places, that inmates are also kept out in hallways because there's no room to put them in," Ward said Friday.

 

"So, that creates a safety risk for our correctional officers and our inmates also." Read more »

 

Yet he somehow tries to justify the expansion of old and new prisons, without admitting the cost will be well into $9 Billion and much higher over time, even though that clearly proves there will be more people imprisoned at an alarming rate, not more people rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.

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By: Vic Toews, National Post

 

Our government is committed to initiatives that make our communities safer. That is why the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) continues to provide training and job skills so that criminals can prove they are ready to be released back into our communities. The protection of Canadians must come first.

 

In February 2009, the CSC announced that prison-farm operations located in federal institutions would be discontinued. The federal government recorded $7.5-million in revenues from the six farms in 2007-08, but expenses were $11.6-million, leaving the CSC with an operational net loss of over $4-million for the farms. Over the past five years, less than 1% of those released found employment on independently operated farms. We do not believe that a 1% success rate is an effective use of taxpayers’ dollars. (Other prison-site business programs will continue, including manufacturing, services, construction, and textiles.)

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National Post

 

The Conservative government appears to have a talent for making Alps out of anthills. From proposing a rewrite of O Canada, to scrapping the mandatory long form census, it has managed to turn obscure issues into national debates. Canadians are left scratching their heads as to both the rationale for the government’s actions as well as the amount of attention Ottawa is paying to this type of minutiae.

 

The latest case in point is the closing of Canada’s prison farms. In 2009, Canada’s prison system housed 13,286 inmates. Of these, 300 worked on the system’s six farms in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick. Some farms, such as the one attached to the Kingston penitentiary, ran at a profit, others at a loss. The government claims that the overall program cost taxpayers $4-million annually. This amounts to $13,333 per participating prisoner, per year.

 

The government’s main arguments in favour of closing the farms are lack of benefits and costs to taxpayers. Neither justification holds up to scrutiny.

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