Pubdate: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB) Copyright: 2007 The Edmonton Journal Contact: http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134 ARE PRISONS READY FOR EXTRA INMATES? The Harper government wants to make communities safer by locking more criminals in jail and keeping them there longer. Its proposed crackdown on violent crime calls for mandatory five-year jail sentences for gun crimes and prison time for some drunk drivers, for instance. While there's a philosophical debate to be had over whether this approach will actually reduce crime, there's also an urgent practical question to be considered. Can the country's jails handle and deal with an influx of additional prisoners? A surprisingly tough report from federal prison ombudsman Howard Sapers says the prison system is already falling badly behind in its capacity to deliver correctional programs or court-ordered rehabilitation measures. Some inmates don't start rehab programs until they are out on parole and "as a result more offenders will return unprepared to the community." Two serious trouble spots are evident in Sapers' report: an increase in prisoners with mental-health problems and an alarming rise in the number of aboriginal inmates, especially women. There's a chronic shortage of programs in both areas. "The result is too many offenders spend their time in prison without getting the corrective programs they need," says Sapers in his annual report. "The result is ongoing violence and despair on the inside and increased risk of individuals reoffending once released." Perhaps most disturbing is the over-representation of native offenders in prisons. While this has been a long-standing tendency, the disparity is getting much worse, especially for women. Fully 32 per cent of women in federal penitentiaries are aboriginal, though natives make up only three per cent of the population. Sapers identifies another problem. Natives are consistently put in higher-security institutions, which have little or no access to programs designed to meet their cultural needs or to prepare them for eventual release. And again, for aboriginal women the problem is worse. In September 2006, they made up 44 per cent of women in maximum-security prisons, 41 per cent of the medium-security female population and only 18 per cent of those in minimum security. As Sapers describes it, in too many cases the corrections system seems to be doing little more than warehousing criminals and that leaves them ill-prepared for life on the outside. An increase in the prisoner population, as Harper proposes, would no doubt aggravate that problem. In any prison system, there's always a balance between the twin goals of retribution and rehabilitation. Harper said this fall he wants to swing the balance towards retribution in his Tackling Violent Crime Act. In that case, he may not find Sapers' report a major concern. But before acting, the government should address the issues it raises. It should move ahead with the action plan for aboriginal corrections it devised in 2006, a plan that remains largely unimplemented, according to Sapers. It should also increase access to mental-health services for those who need them. If such steps are not taken, the government's efforts to make communities safer in the short run may prove to be dangerously counterproductive over the long haul. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek