Tories' Bad Prison Policy Gets Worse
Yesterday the CBC reported that the first closure of one of Canada's prison farms began with a Kingston Ontario farm amid protests.
The announcement to close them first came in 2009
Over 300 cows were rounded up and set for sale at auction in a bid shut down a program that has been in existence for over 100 years and supplied food for the prison system while training convicts for future reintegration. Farms grew crops, cared for cows and chickens and fed themselves with their own work along with feeding other prison populations. A pretty decent system when you stop to think about the fact that the tax payer doesn't have to foot a huge food bill for Canada's 13,500 inmates.
On top of that Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has argued for double bunking in Canda's 54 prisons, contradicting a 2001 prison service directive which said, "single occupancy accommodation is the most desirable and correctionally appropriate method of housing offenders." Critics say that double bunking creates more tension and stress for inmates, leading to more violence, more frequently as is the case in a broken American system. Vic Toews simply said, It's not a big deal... it's legal." Adding that there would be a new wave of inmates once the Conservative government passed it's so called tough on crime law, which has been discussed quite thoroughly on this site several times.
The argument against the prison farm system is that it's outdated and the skill set the program teachers isn't relevant in today's economy. That's all well and good, assuming that the majority of felons are capable of training for something more high tech than a long hard day's work. But if that is not the case, then what are these relevant skills that could be taught to inmates that worked as well as the current system? There hasn't been any discussion of replacing the system to date and there is still the question of how much will it cost to replace the food the program provided for Canada's prison system?
It appears to me once again, that decisions are being made with an eye toward ideology and not with an eye towards good governance.
The announcement to close them first came in 2009
Over 300 cows were rounded up and set for sale at auction in a bid shut down a program that has been in existence for over 100 years and supplied food for the prison system while training convicts for future reintegration. Farms grew crops, cared for cows and chickens and fed themselves with their own work along with feeding other prison populations. A pretty decent system when you stop to think about the fact that the tax payer doesn't have to foot a huge food bill for Canada's 13,500 inmates.
On top of that Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has argued for double bunking in Canda's 54 prisons, contradicting a 2001 prison service directive which said, "single occupancy accommodation is the most desirable and correctionally appropriate method of housing offenders." Critics say that double bunking creates more tension and stress for inmates, leading to more violence, more frequently as is the case in a broken American system. Vic Toews simply said, It's not a big deal... it's legal." Adding that there would be a new wave of inmates once the Conservative government passed it's so called tough on crime law, which has been discussed quite thoroughly on this site several times.
The argument against the prison farm system is that it's outdated and the skill set the program teachers isn't relevant in today's economy. That's all well and good, assuming that the majority of felons are capable of training for something more high tech than a long hard day's work. But if that is not the case, then what are these relevant skills that could be taught to inmates that worked as well as the current system? There hasn't been any discussion of replacing the system to date and there is still the question of how much will it cost to replace the food the program provided for Canada's prison system?
It appears to me once again, that decisions are being made with an eye toward ideology and not with an eye towards good governance.
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