Are Our Jails Doing Their Jobs?

[Big Guy]

The Union of Canadian Correctional Officers argues that the nation’s prisons are deteriorating due to budget cuts and overcrowding. In a statement, the union rep decried the Conservative government’s crime agenda. He added “The reality is that our prisons are breeding a different type of criminal, one that belongs to a gang, is more prone to violence and will get less treatment before they are released into the community,".

This year, the union launched a tour of the country’s 52 federal penitentiaries to investigate and discuss concerns such as overcrowding, double bunking in cells and the security and safety of correctional officers, inmates and the general population. It also claims that their jobs are becoming far more dangerous and that the safety of other prisoners is in danger.

The union emphasized that the problem was one of “double bunking”. According to the Correctional Service of Canada, the percentage of prisoners who are double-bunked has grown in five years from 9.6 per cent to 17.4 per cent.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/federal-correctional-officers-protest-outside-pm-s-office-1.957250

Should we care about what is happening in our prisons?

Are the unions just continuing their anti-Conservative protests or are there real problems with our correctional system?

What is the intent of incarcerating people into Canadian jails; punishment, rehabilitation, safety of our society or ...?

[Topaz]

The TV program "uncover boss"... well I think the minister should go uncover for about a week as a guard and experience the job and maybe then we wouldn't have so many problems.

[overthere]

What is the intent of incarcerating people into Canadian jails; punishment, rehabilitation, safety of our society or ...?

That is a very fundamental question, one that has to be addressed before any funding decisions are made.

Personally, I see protection of society as the number one mission of the prison system. Of course, part of that priority is also safety of prison staff.

In that regard, Corrections Canada does a pretty good job since you rarely hear of marauding gangs of escaped prisoners wreaking mayhem on the countryside.

[Spiderfish]

Are the unions just continuing their anti-Conservative protests or are there real problems with our correctional system?

It's maybe a bit ironic that this would present itself as an issue after all of the criticism the current government has taken about their tough on crime initiatives and plans in 2012-13 to increase the prison spending budget by 861 million dollars and to build new prisons and upgrade existing facilities. I'm not sure what happened to those plans...perhaps they heard the criticisms and decided to put their efforts into deficit reduction instead.