[xtypo_dropcap]P[/xtypo_dropcap]rison costs will jump by $2 billion over five years to cover new tough-on-crime legislation, the commissioner of Correctional Service Canada has told a parliamentary committee.
Don Head said that the Truth in Sentencing Act and the Tackling Violent Crime Act, introduced as part of the Tories’ law and order initiative, mean that there will be more prisoners that the system will have to accommodate.
Without the amendments, Head said, the projected prisoner population by 2014 would be 14,856. With the new legislation in place, the projection has gone up to 18,684 offenders.
“The primary impact of the legislation will be a significant and sustained increase to the federal offender population over time,” he said.
The Truth in Sentencing Act limits the credit for time spent in pre-sentencing custody from two days for each day in detention to one day, or under exceptional circumstances 1.5 days. The Tackling Violent Crime Act toughens mandatory prison sentences for serious gun crimes and raises the legal age of sexual consent, among other things.
Head said Correctional Service Canada (CSC) is taking different measures to accommodate the increased population, including double-bunking and expanding the facilities and support services.
The largest increase is expected in the Prairie region, he said, where CSC needs 726 more accommodation spaces.
Speaking before the committee last week, NDP MP Pat Martin questioned the funding requirement increase despite federal government’s operating budgetary freeze, saying “that says a lot about the government’s priorities.”
Conservative MP Chris Warkentin said the increase in funding requirement is worth it given the damage suffered by victims and their families.
“If we can do a small part, by putting taxpayers’ money towards mitigating that damage and the potential for that damage, I think we can do a great thing in that and in protecting our citizens,” he said.
Head also appeared before a Senate committee later in the week to present CSC’s response to the implementation of Bill S-10, which brings mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes.
Head told the committee that he cannot provide a projection on the impact of Bill S-10 on the prison population levels.
The tough law and order package has been a key part of the Tories’ campaign before and after coming into power in 2006.
Dr. Robert Gordon, a professor of criminology and the director of the School of Criminology at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University, says it is debatable if the tougher crime legislations will be effective in pulling down the crime rate, as the current reported crime rate is already falling significantly.
“That has nothing really to do with prisons and prison construction,” he says. “That has more to do with the population aging process and crime prevention strategies that work, community development, strategies related to crime prevention, those sorts of longer-term initiatives.
The crime rate, which measures the volume of crime reported to police, fell 3 percent in 2009 and was 17 percent lower compared to a decade ago, according to Statistics Canada. The Crime Severity Index, which measures the seriousness of police-reported crime, fell by 4 percent in 2009 and was 22 percent lower compared to 1999.
“The argument that the Conservative government is making of course is that the reported crime rate is not the real crime rate, that there is a huge amount of crime that is unreported and the size of that unreported crime is a great concern,” Gordon says.
“Of course they’re doing that because it’s consistent with their platform, their ideology, and it’s part of their strategy to ensure that the Conservative government is re-elected with a majority,” he says.
A report by CSC researcher Roger Boe says that aging of baby boomers lowers crime rates as they go beyond the highest crime-risk age group, lowering the high crime-risk population
Don Head said that the Truth in Sentencing Act and the Tackling Violent Crime Act, introduced as part of the Tories’ law and order initiative, mean that there will be more prisoners that the system will have to accommodate.
Without the amendments, Head said, the projected prisoner population by 2014 would be 14,856. With the new legislation in place, the projection has gone up to 18,684 offenders.
“The primary impact of the legislation will be a significant and sustained increase to the federal offender population over time,” he said.
The Truth in Sentencing Act limits the credit for time spent in pre-sentencing custody from two days for each day in detention to one day, or under exceptional circumstances 1.5 days. The Tackling Violent Crime Act toughens mandatory prison sentences for serious gun crimes and raises the legal age of sexual consent, among other things.
Head said Correctional Service Canada (CSC) is taking different measures to accommodate the increased population, including double-bunking and expanding the facilities and support services.
The largest increase is expected in the Prairie region, he said, where CSC needs 726 more accommodation spaces.
Speaking before the committee last week, NDP MP Pat Martin questioned the funding requirement increase despite federal government’s operating budgetary freeze, saying “that says a lot about the government’s priorities.”
Conservative MP Chris Warkentin said the increase in funding requirement is worth it given the damage suffered by victims and their families.
“If we can do a small part, by putting taxpayers’ money towards mitigating that damage and the potential for that damage, I think we can do a great thing in that and in protecting our citizens,” he said.
Head also appeared before a Senate committee later in the week to present CSC’s response to the implementation of Bill S-10, which brings mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes.
Head told the committee that he cannot provide a projection on the impact of Bill S-10 on the prison population levels.
The tough law and order package has been a key part of the Tories’ campaign before and after coming into power in 2006.
Dr. Robert Gordon, a professor of criminology and the director of the School of Criminology at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University, says it is debatable if the tougher crime legislations will be effective in pulling down the crime rate, as the current reported crime rate is already falling significantly.
“That has nothing really to do with prisons and prison construction,” he says. “That has more to do with the population aging process and crime prevention strategies that work, community development, strategies related to crime prevention, those sorts of longer-term initiatives.
The crime rate, which measures the volume of crime reported to police, fell 3 percent in 2009 and was 17 percent lower compared to a decade ago, according to Statistics Canada. The Crime Severity Index, which measures the seriousness of police-reported crime, fell by 4 percent in 2009 and was 22 percent lower compared to 1999.
“The argument that the Conservative government is making of course is that the reported crime rate is not the real crime rate, that there is a huge amount of crime that is unreported and the size of that unreported crime is a great concern,” Gordon says.
“Of course they’re doing that because it’s consistent with their platform, their ideology, and it’s part of their strategy to ensure that the Conservative government is re-elected with a majority,” he says.
A report by CSC researcher Roger Boe says that aging of baby boomers lowers crime rates as they go beyond the highest crime-risk age group, lowering the high crime-risk population
