Pubdate: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2011 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/letters.html Website: http://www.calgaryherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 Author: Gordon Kented, Edmonton Journal MAYOR DOESN'T WANT ANY MORE PRISONS IN EDMONTON Dealing With Parolees Costs Too Much: Mandel Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel demanded Tuesday that the federal government stop building prison cells in the city because dealing with ex-inmates costs police too much money. "We have more than our fair share of prisoners in our city. We don't want any more," Mandel said. "If the federal government wants to expand prisons, do it elsewhere. . . . We have done our share." Mandel is concerned the federal and provincial governments don't sufficiently reimburse cities for the costs of dealing with justice issues, which can include everything from "tough on crime" laws to processing bail applications. "They need to start paying for those things, for the challenges of municipalities they put upon us," he told reporters. "It always winds up being downloaded on cities. We don't want any more prison space here. We have enough, that's quite clear. . . . We bear that cost for the entire region." The issue came up as council looked at the 2012 police budget request, which includes $4.8 million to hire an extra 65 officers and three other staff to carry out Chief Rod Knecht's violence-reduction strategy. One factor in the growing police workload is the expansion of local federal prisons. Edmonton is home to about 400 paroled inmates, Knecht said. Last January, Ottawa announced plans to add 90 beds to the maximum-security Edmonton Institution by 2014, part of a $2-billion national prison-expansion plan. As well as the 298-inmate Max, police say, there are four other federal facilities in Edmonton with a further 201 prisoners: the Institution for Women, Stan Daniels Healing Centre, Grierson Centre and Buffalo Sage Healing Centre. Local inmate numbers could grow under an omnibus crime bill being debated in Parliament that includes mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offences. "There might be some savings, there might be some costs," Knecht said, adding he hasn't finished analyzing the implications of the bill. "People that are on parole or in the community, they might cause some stressors. We haven't looked at that . . . in the simplest terms, it might be the requirement to transfer a person from point A to point B for court." A spokeswoman for the Correctional Service of Canada couldn't confirm how many parolees live in Edmonton or other cities. "We assist them by encouraging them to live pro-social lives and to achieve safe reintegration at appropriate times. Release destinations for our offenders can be as a result of numerous factors such as family and employment." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.