Prison costs soar 86% in past five years

OTTAWA — The cost of the federal prison system has risen 86% since the Harper government took over in 2006, government reports show.

When the Conservatives came to power in 2005-06, Canada’s federal corrections system cost nearly $1.6-billion per year, but the projected cost for 2011-12 has increased to $2.98-billion per year.

“That is a humungous increase of over 80%,” said Justin Piche, an assistant professor of sociology at Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L., who analyzes the costs of Canada’s prisons.

“Canadians are going to be spending a lot more on their prisons, and this is just the beginning.”

Figures on the cost of Canada’s federal corrections system appear in the annual Reports on Plans and Priorities of the Correctional Service of Canada.

By 2013-14, the cost of the federal penitentiary system will have almost doubled to $3.147-billion, according to budget projections.

Recent government reports on the cost of Canada’s jails show costs rising on all fronts. For instance, the cost of keeping a male inmate in prison rose from $88,067 per year in 2006 to $109,699 in 2009, according to the most recent data from Corrections and Conditional Release Statistical Overview.

The cost of staffing Canada’s federal prisons has also increased significantly, with 5,745 more staff hired at Corrections Canada since the Conservatives took power. Staffing numbers have risen from 14,663 in 2005-06 to 20,408 full-time equivalents in 2011-12, according to Reports on Plans and Priorities.

The government’s plan to construct new prison and expand existing ones is also a reason for rising costs. In 2010-11 alone, more than $517-million will be spent on prison construction.

The Correctional Service of Canada also attributes the rising cost partially to the government’s Truth in Sentencing Act, which eliminated the two-for-one credit for time served prior to conviction, and the Tackling Violent Crime Act which toughens sentences for certain violent crimes. The department expects the prison population to grow by 4,500 inmates — up from a current population of 22,749 — by 2014.

Howard Sapers, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, says cost are rising in part because inmates are getting longer sentences, and are being kept under tighter security conditions.

“The more you keep people inside, the more you keep them at higher security, and the more you use segregation, the more your costs are going to go up,” he said.

Mr. Sapers has reported that more and more inmates are being kept in solitary confinement, or “segregation,” than ever before, and are being kept there for longer periods of time. This puts more work on the plates of prison guards, he said.

“Segregation requires more frequent rounds, and because you’re locked in your cell, everything has to be brought to you; it’s just more labour-intensive,” he said. “If locked in cell for 23 out of 24 hours, it means you’re not going to be employed as a cleaner, or in the kitchen, or anything else.”

Mr. Sapers added that the health care costs of prisoners are rising, particularly due to an outbreak of Hepatitis C across the prison system.

“Studies demonstrate that people become ill while in prisons, and infections diseases is one of those things,” he said. “Of male offenders in federal penitentiaries, at least 30% are Hep C positive.”

Opposition critics say the Harper government’s tough-on-crime agenda is proving as tough on taxpayers as it is on criminals.

“Certainly this agenda is not a cost-effective way of making our communities a safer place,” said NDP public safety critic Jasbir Sandhu. “Astronomical spending on prisons isn’t going to make communities safer.”

Mr. Sandhu said example of the United States — the country with the most inmates per capita in the world — shows that more prison spending doesn’t increase public safety. He said his party would rather see these billions spent on crime prevention programs, community policing and more resources for police forces.

Liberal public safety critic Francis Scarpaleggia said the ballooning costs of jails clash with the government’s plan to cut deficit spending. He said the increased spending on prisons means less money will be available for health, education and other programs.

He said that a better policy would be to support cash-strapped security agencies like the RCMP, which are reportedly short on essential equipment like body armour.

“There is no evidence to support the notion the strategy is going to work in creating safer communities,” he said.

Canadian Taxpayers Federation director Gregory Thomas said he had no issue with the costs of prisons increasing, as long as it keeps criminals away from Canadians and their property.

“The costs of criminal activity to society are immense,” he said. “The real travesty is so few career criminals make it to prisons and spend any real time there.”

Origin
Source: National Post