I feel that indeed we do need more prisons but not for Mr. Day's reasons.

Presently the prison system is overcrowded and that does not work well for the inmates or the staff.    We know a person that is an inmate and it is not going well.

In my opinion there are 2 major problems with overcrowding and 1 big problem even beyond that.

Problem 1:    Overcrowding raises tensions within the prison population and makes it much harder for staff and inmates to cope.

Problem 2:     Overcrowding means that prisoners that should be retained are released way too soon and are again out there to reoffend which often happens.   The deterrence effect of having to "do the time" is greatly reduced because they know they will be released soon.    I volunteer at a local mission so I have seen some of this.

Problem 3:    This is the big one ..... there are not enough resources available for inmates for counselling, therapy, detox, education in many aspects and other such things to reduce the likelyhood of reoffending when released.  These resources must be increased both within the prisons themselves and also just as important ... aftercare and followup.

I have a few questions:    What would others think of mandatory (no time reduction or parole) prison terms for those found committing a crime with a weapon or carrying a concealed weapon such as a handgun?     I am very concerned with the increase in handgun use and there has to be a way to help deter this.   Yes there are knives and even common objects used as weapons and all that sort of thing would have to be worked out.    To me, there seems to be a need to take such offenders off the streets and stop the revolving door.     I would suggest and escalating system so that there is a significant increase in the sentance for subsequent offences.

Another question is this:  What do others think should be the conditions for bail for a person accused of crimes with weapons etc?     Should the bail conditions be stricter and grow even more strict with the person having a record of such?

If we are going to do such things then more prison space is required and I strongly feel that far better resources for the inmates during incarceration and afterwards is a must.

Thoughts please?

Hugs

Rita

Rita, you're right... as far as you go. The modern Canadian prison system is a travesty of what a " "justice" system should provide. But we DON'T need prisons. We need rehabilitative programmes and fits, and foremost, a serious commitment to ending poverty in this country. And we need better mechanisms for restorative justice.

The prisons are to accommodate the longer sentences the Conservatives are bringing in to show they care about law and order even though, thanks to the same folk, we won't have the information to know where poverty is going. Then there's the warplanes -- a gesture to help the recovery of the U.S. economy as, after all, they are our BEST friends. 

Prison reforms -- and far cleverer sentencing options -- are urgent and essential. At the moment, there are very few programmes going and it's not unknown for a stupid young guy who's gone joy-riding in someone else's car or who has sold some weed, to get a six-month sentence during which he picks up a drug habit and HIV ... his sentence is thereby turned into a death sentence.

The Harper government MUST go! It's being driven by a totally anti-democratic and highly unjust ideology.

MikePaterson ...... would you please give me your thoughts on how to address the issue of the use of weapons such as handguns during crimes etc?     I certainly agree that much improved social programs will be a huge help.   But how would should we handle the more hard core element that will always be there?    I hope you can decipher what I mean by that. 

Hugs

Rita

 It's been a while, but I did some regular prison visiting in Kingston Ontario, and my daughter more recently did a nursing placement at a penitentiary.And things seem to have gor worse rather than better over the past 30 years.

I think my daughter and I'd agree: most inmates are sad and stupid, expressing violence mostly as anger and for want of communication skills. Many are not violent at all... drug addicts, abused kids, losers, victims of bullies and foster parent families, victims of the system... screwed up sad, sad people with nowhere else to go. A few are systematically vindictive, manipulative, cruel and entirely self-focused. They do okay in prison because they quickly get into positions of running things. They recruit a following by giving other inmates addictive drugs and brutalising them... and these are the victim-people who really should be somewhere else.

And there are some who clearly should be in mental health wards.

Prison officers seem mostly to survive on strength of their cynicism, camaraderie and black humor... there aren't resources for them to do much more than stop inmates getting out. Some guards are very well intentioned but totally frustrated, and the inmates are truly tiresome to deal with because they seem hell-bent on making life as screwed up and self-damaging as they can.

In a civilised society, things would be very different. As it is, there is no honest attempt to work out why, for example, aboriginal peoples are so extremely over-represented in Canada's prison populations, and then other poor people and minorities... and how to do something to change that: again, it comes back to poverty and abuse and what is, frankly, a racist, selfish and greedy society.  To improve prison conditions and effectiveness, we have a lot of work to do on ourselves, our communities and the education of our young people. We have to shift some core values. That's an enormous challenge.