We Have Our Priorities

According to Correctional Services Canada, the average annual cost of keeping someone in a federal prison in Canada in 2004-2005 was $88,067 . Now compare that to the annual amount spent per student in Canada during the same time period of $8726 including operating budgets and salaries.

Canada's aging prison population

First off I'd like to offer kudos to Howard Sapers, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, a true gem within our civil service .In his latest report Sapers highlights the aging of our prison population and the special challenges faced by both the effected inmates and their jailers

The older offender is often a neglected, but significant and growing, segment of the offender population. Today, close to 20% of the federal incarcerated population is aged 50 and over, while 30% of offenders in the community are aged 50 and over. Consistent with the overall ’greying’ of the Canadian population, the number of older offenders in federal custody continues to grow annually. In the past decade, there has been more than a 50% increase in the number of older offenders under federal sentence.6 Reflecting an aging Canadian society, the proportion of older offenders under federal jurisdiction will continue to accumulate in the coming years

According to Sapers older inmates besides the expected health issues are also subjected to an increased risk of violence and "muscling" by younger more stronger inmates. Muscling for the uninitiated is the practice of using physical intimidation to convince a prisoner to surrender property and meals or to force him or her to do something against their will.

As a group, older inmates often have little social status within the prison order. Coupled with diminishing physical strength, they maybe more victimized by intimidation, muscling and bullying by younger, stronger and more aggressive inmates. Younger inmates may act on and exploit ageist attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in the form of taunts, ridicule,humiliation, manipulation, harassment or assaults that ultimately deprive elderly offenders of their safety and security. In general, prison victimization research confirms four key findings:

1. Older offenders are victimized by younger inmates.

2. They feel vulnerable to attack by younger offenders.

3. They prefer to live with inmates in their own age bracket.

4. They may live in age-segregated protective-custody units.

Medical facilities and especially palliative care within our prisons are woefully inadequate to deal with the growing health needs of this aging population. For those with decreased mobility these institutions were built with the young in mind and  thus aren't very accessible, exacerbating their issues. Simple things such as obtaining over the counter meds such as aspirins for relief from arthritis symptoms have been made more difficult by changes brought in by the Harper government.
Read his full report here

Given this reality as well as the plight of the also exploding population of  mentally ill inmates in our prison system one wonders how the fiction of our prisons being country clubs persists. Well okay I do understand why,I just wish it weren't so

11 Year Old Jordan Brown Faces Life In Jail Without Parole

Jordan Brown, who was 11 when he allegedly killed his father's pregnant fiancee, could face a life sentence with no parole.Brown allegedly carried out the killing using his own hunting rifle, a shotgun designed specifically for children. Thats right they even make guns specifically for children.

As Jordan's father stated "Try to explain to a 12-year-old what the rest of your life means. It's incomprehensible for him,"

In Pennsylvania all juveniles are automatically treated as adults unless a judge decides otherwise.Pennsylvania prosecutes more children as adults than any of the other 43 states that still engage in this violation of international law. Only the US and Somalia still incarcerate children for life
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"It is shocking that anyone this young could face life imprisonment without parole, let alone in a country which labels itself as a progressive force for human rights," said Susan Lee, head of the Amnesty International's Americas operation.

In 2005 the US supreme court abolished the death penalty for those under18.Then last May it ruled that juveniles could not be subjected to life without parole for any crime other than homicide.But that still leaves about 2,400 children  facing spending the rest of their lives in prison.

This is the type of legal system that Harper wishes to import to Canada. One would be hard pressed to call it a system of justice since justice requires fairness and common sense.