Pubdate: Fri, 09 Mar 2007
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2007 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Francois Shalom, The Gazette
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

LOCK 'EM UP, DUMONT SAYS

ADQ Leader Would Curtail Conditional Releases, Make Prisoners Pay For Jail

Mario Dumont proposed getting tough on Quebec's "revolving-door 
prison system" yesterday, including making prisoners pay for their 
own incarceration.

Speaking at a former prison converted into a museum - a grim showcase 
to dissuade youngsters from a life of crime - the Action democratique 
du Quebec leader condemned the use of conditional releases as a way 
of easing prison overcrowding, a widespread practice which he blamed 
on cuts by Parti Quebecois governments.

An ADQ government would forbid conditional release for anyone 
convicted of two crimes against a person, or of two drug offences, he said.

Citing the Corbo report a few years ago on Quebec's prison system, 
Dumont said nearly one-third of prisoners in the province are in jail 
for the 10th time or more.

To save money, governments have shut five jails and are overly lax in 
letting out prisoners on conditional release and temporary leaves for 
humanitarian reasons, he charged.

Both have been badly abused, Dumont said, resulting in hardened 
criminals who should be locked up being at liberty in society - too 
often committing horrific crimes. He mentioned the "sad and famous" 
case of Mario Bastien, who was on provincial conditional release in 
2000 when he sexually attacked and killed 13-year-old Alexandre 
Livernoche in Sorel.

"There's a lack of seriousness in Quebec in the management of public 
security" he said, flanked by local candidates and officials.

He would not say who would pay for their incarceration or how much, 
only that it "wouldn't be much" and would target people with the means to pay.

If elected, his government would spend $50 million - a rare ADQ 
spending estimate in this campaign - to correct the problem, he said, 
possibly to build new jails or expand existing ones.

Liberal Party critic Jacques Dupuis immediately ridiculed the ADQ promise.

He said the proposal would mean political interference in the 
judicial process, that the current government has never allowed the 
release of inmates for budgetary reasons, that the budget of the 
conditional release board was doubled to $5.5 million, and that 
making people pay to stay in jail would "perversely" penalize their 
innocent families.

Dumont insisted "conditional release should be just what it says, 
conditional, and not automatic."
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