Fair enough. No one should apologize for standing up for victims — but what does that have to do with violence in prisons?
The office of Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney claimed positive results from these more violent prisons by pointing out that the crime rate has declined. Okay … but the reported crime rate was dropping before the Tories took power, so that also doesn’t explain why Corrections is getting worse at rehabilitation. The government also said it is closing prisons — but forgot to mention it’s building 2,700 new cells, which equates to about half a dozen new prisons. But maybe that has something to do with “standing up for victims”.
Both ministers — in fact, the entire federal government — should be worried if prisons are becoming so violent that it is undermining rehabilitative efforts. Instead, they try to connect it back to victims’ rights. But there is nothing at all in Mr. Sapers’ report which should give anyone concerned about victims of crime any comfort. In fact, we should be more worried than ever about the innocent people who will be victimized when those prison doors open — and people living in those conditions move back into our neighbourhoods.
What the Conservatives lack in logic, they make up for in consistency. When asked about a recent court decision rejecting mandatory minimum penalties, MacKay suggested such penalties demonstrate that victims’ rights are more important than those of offenders.
Excuse my language, but WTF?
In a nutshell, the government is showing that victims are their priority by spending over $100,000 per prisoner per year to keep the criminals who victimized them locked up — while it won’t spend that much on most victims in their lifetimes to help them find safe places to live, or get long-term counselling or compensation. In Ontario, the maximum compensation for a victim is $25,000.
Here is another way to examine how committed this government is to victims. A few years ago, the Tories abolished Accelerated Parole Reviews, which gave early parole to first-time offenders serving a federal sentence for a non-violent offence. The Commissioner of Corrections Canada estimated the cost of this initiative to be over $400 million in the first five years.
Now compare: Since coming to power seven years ago, the federal government “has allocated more than $120 million to give victims a more effective voice through initiatives delivered by the Department of Justice Canada.” Stephen Harper and Jim Flaherty will spend three times as much punishing offenders over five years as they have on victims’ rights in seven years. And that’s just one piece of legislation — never mind the millions for the omnibus crime bill, the Truth in Sentencing Act, etc … Yet the government still claims, straight-faced, that it’s standing up for victims.
It gets better. In 2009-2010, nine provinces awarded less than $140 million to victims of crime while the feds and provinces spent over $3 billion on prisons alone. Community services that support victims are at risk of being cut — but hey, look on the bright side … maybe those laid-off support staff can get jobs in the booming prison industry.
There is also that nagging question of what happens when the offenders — who are being locked up longer in overcrowded prisons that breed more violence and offer less rehabilitation — get out. What part of the government’s approach to ‘victims’ rights’ addresses that problem? Because no one can seriously think that the situation Mr. Sapers describes is going to make us safer when these men are released.
Here’s an idea: Why don’t we all agree that the number one ‘victim’s right’ is the right not to be made a victim in the first place? Why don’t our politicians start doing the things that help to prevent crime — instead of just the things that win votes? Why don’t we make sure that the people who are victimized have a clear right to the services, compensation, support and assistance that can help them heal and live safely again — instead of spouting slogans intended to trick us into thinking we’re safer?
And when we do remove someone from society to protect the public, why don’t we promise Canadians that their governments will do everything possible to change that person for the better — so that when he’s released, he doesn’t hurt anyone else?
Public safety demands that some offenders, unfortunately, must never be released. It also demands that we address the problems faced by those who will be released. That means running humane prisons that offer effective programs and are not overcrowded. Maybe that won’t always sell well to the Tim Horton’s crowd (to which I belong) but governments should be less worried about placating people than they are about protecting them.
I guess some (but not all) victims might take comfort in prisons being more violent, or might not feel sorry if two violent men have to share a cell built for one, or suffer reduced access to rehabilitative programs. But most crime victims of my acquaintance say they don’t want anyone else to go through what they’ve gone through — and the course we’re pursuing in Corrections is putting more innocent people at risk.
Victims deserve a government that addresses their needs — not one that exploits their pain to justify a popular agenda. They deserve, in other words, a lot better than they’re getting.
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