Pubdate: Mon, 23 Apr 2007
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2007 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326

LOOKING BEHIND THE BARS

Prisons figure large in the federal Conservative plan to tackle 
crime. If Canada starts locking up more criminals for longer 
sentences, it had better make sure the prisons are working properly.

The proposed review by an independent panel is a good start. Crime 
policy must be based on facts, so the more we know about what's going 
on in our prisons, the better. It will cost us, though: each of the 
four panelists will get $1,000 a day for an estimated 50 days, and 
the chairman, Rob Sampson, will get $1,200. The total budget could 
reach $3.5 million.

Mr. Sampson's appointment has worried some because of his openness to 
private-sector involvement in the corrections system. But 
privatization is expressly excluded from the panel's mandate.

Mr. Sampson's tenure as a provincial minister of corrections from 
1999 to 2002 was hardly an unabashed success. His populist attitude 
did not do much good for Ontario's jails. Blame for shameful 
overcrowding at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, for example, 
lies with the Ontario government.

The attack on Desire Munyaneza, on trial for his alleged role in the 
Rwanda genocide, was a reminder that prisons can be dangerous even 
for people who warrant extra protection. The panel is charged with 
examining security in prisons, as well as wider issues such as 
mental-health services in prisons and communities.

It will also examine the effectiveness of rehabilitation programs. 
About 36 per cent of federal offenders are convicted of new crimes 
within two years of completing their sentences. About five per cent 
of offenders commit new violent offences within two years. That's a 
small number, but it's enough to make rehabilitation a key part of 
justice policy, and the priority for this panel.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman