That doesnt mean he’s stockwell day. Could just be his boyfriend.
Sounds like the billions the Harper Cons are looking to spend on expanding prison space is actually more warehouse space for the mentally ill who fall afoul of the law rather than investing in more and better mental health services in Canada. See below for an interesting article
Mentally ill prisoners ‘warehoused’
Mentally ill offenders in Canada are simply being “warehoused” in federal prisons because of a lack of funding for services and gaps in accountability, says a report from the Office of the Correctional Investigator.
The needs of mentally ill offenders in custody exceed the current capacity of the Correctional Service of Canada, according to the report released Thursday.
“Canadian penitentiaries are becoming the largest psychiatric facilities in the country,” said Howard Saper, correctional investigator of Canada.
“The Correctional Service of Canada assumes a legal duty of care to provide required mental health services, including clinical treatment and intervention. In failing to meet this legal obligation, too many mentally disordered offenders are simply being warehoused in federal penitentiaries. This is not effective or safe corrections.”
Read more: cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/09/ … z10O1YyjhJ
Oops look like I was wrong… there is more afoot than just more warehousing the mentally ill in Toew’s shiny new prsions.Space is being reserved now for anyone caught growing more than 6 pot plants. With mandatory sentencing of 6 months for every pot smoker with a green thumb, we can be assured we’ll be providing a basic 6 month course in criminality to a whole new crop of folks.
An interesting video article on a troubled nineteen year old that eventually died in our prison system after being sentenced for throwing crabapples at a postman. Are we as Canadians content with treating our mentally ill neighbours in this fashion? Is the Billions allocated to prisons better allocated to treatment of mental health or getting to the root causes of crime?
If these prisons are such a good idea, why hasn’t the “Harper Government” come clean on the costs?
[quote]"The bombshell landed when Speaker Peter Milliken delivered rulings on two questions: Did the government provide Parliament enough information about the cost of corporate tax cuts and its tough-on-crime bills, and did International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda mislead MPs about her involvement in a 2009 decision to cut funding for a church-based aid group called KAIROS?
On both counts, he ruled there is a “prima facie” case for a breach of privilege. The issue will now be reviewed by a Commons committee which will hold hearings next week. It will deliver two reports. The cost-review report will be completed by March 21, just one day before Finance Minister Jim Flaherty tables his budget.
The report on Oda’s actions will be delivered by March 25 — about the time the Commons will be consumed with whether the government should fall on a confidence vote related to the budget. It’s possible that both reports could recommend that the Commons find the government and Oda in contempt of Parliament."[/quote]
Read more: canada.com/news/Election+tal … z1GBB213P8
I doubt they know the final cost (other than it will be high). But then it is really surprising anyone that it’s going to cost money to upgrade (or build new) facilities after they’ve been neglected for years under the Libs?
Additionally, while the per capita numbers remain roughly the same, when you take into consideration that Canada’s population grows every year, that means the per capita number actually represents more criminals/crimes than it did the previous year. Thus crime there are more crimes reported each year, and more criminals that need jail space.