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."
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.