Pubdate: Fri, 03 Feb 2012
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2012 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168

OTTAWA MUST CONSIDER COST OF PRISON EXPANSION -- IN ADDITION TO PENSION REFORM

If everything is on the table - including the Old Age Security 
benefit of roughly $540 a month - why do the billions of dollars 
being added to the federal corrections budget feel untouchable?

As the Senate begins hearings on the government's omnibus crime bill, 
and the almost certain prospect of huge, long-term budgetary 
increases in the jails moves a step closer, it seems an odd 
juxtaposition: trying to ensure the long-term health of the 
retirement security system, and spending like crazy, in the short, 
medium and long terms, on prison cells.

The government is right to be forward-looking - but why does it not 
question the long-term sustainability of the corrections system? If 
Canada can talk about the long-term challenges facing health care and 
seniors benefits, what about the long-term costs of jail expansion?

By 2012-13, the federal corrections budget will be $861-million 
higher than it was 2009-10, a 36- per-cent jump. The extra provincial 
costs may be larger than the extra federal ones. An already 
proclaimed law, ending the two-for-one sentencing discount, could 
cost in the billions each year, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin 
Page says. And Justice Minister Rob Nicholson promises still more 
toughness on crime.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told a Senate committee this week 
that if the provinces had better mental-health services, fewer 
mentally ill people would be turning up in federal prison. "Do we 
then send [the provinces] a bill and say we have to build new wings 
in our federal penitentiaries because of your provincial policies?" he said.

It was a revealing comment. If the federal jails are filling up with 
the mentally ill, why doesn't the government propose alternatives to 
building new wings for them, in co-operation with the provinces?

The next generation of seniors' benefits is under the spotlight, and 
ought to be. Many other federal programs face reductions or 
elimination to get the deficit under control. Alas, no light shines 
on the costs of the soon-to-be mandatory minimum sentence of six 
months for growing six marijuana plants, or of other new crime laws. 
Why is this one area untouchable?
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom