How Global Warming Makes Overcrowded Prisons Even More Dangerous

There is no population more captive to the effects of global warming than the incarcerated. And given the huge concentration of black and Latino prisoners in America, this is a classic case of environmental injustice, as these consequences fall widely on prisoners of color. A new study from Daniel W. E. Holt of the Columbia Law School's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law explains over 144 pages what the climate-change toll truly is on the two-million-plus bodies caged in our prison system.

California Tells Court It Can’t Release Inmates Early Because It Would Lose Cheap Prison Labor

Out of California’s years-long litigation over reducing the population of prisons deemed unconstitutionally overcrowded by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, another obstacle to addressing the U.S. epidemic of mass incarceration has emerged: The utility of cheap prison labor.

In recent filings, lawyers for the state have resisted court orders that they expand parole programs, reasoning not that releasing inmates early is logistically impossible or would threaten public safety, but instead that prisons won’t have enough minimum security inmates left to perform inmate jobs.

Prisoners not entitled to own cells, public safety minister says

The opposition had a wide range of criticisms for the federal government Tuesday after the release of auditor general’s latest report, including concerns about double-bunking in the federal prison system.

The federal prison population could one day outgrow the required capacity, even as new prisons are built, Auditor General Michael Ferguson warned in his report. This means that double-bunking -- putting two prisoners in a cell -- could become a problem in the future, he said.

Auditor General's Report: Overcrowded Prisons Loom Due To Shortsighted Planning

OTTAWA - The auditor general sees more overcrowded Canadian prisons on the horizon, despite the Conservative government's much-touted revamp of federal penitentiaries.

The federal prison service opted for a quick fix — overlooking long-term needs — when expanding penitentiaries to house a growing offender population, spending watchdog Michael Ferguson says in a report Tuesday.

As a result, the Correctional Service expects the number of prisoners could again outstrip capacity within a few years of completing construction.

Prison double-bunking poised to be 'the new norm'

A new directive on inmate accommodation from the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada appears to more readily accept the practice of double bunking.

The document, obtained by CBC News Network's Power & Politics, dated Feb. 5, 2013, no longer includes the principle that existed in a previous directive that stated "single occupancy accommodation is the most desirable and correctionally appropriate method of housing offenders."

NDP Questions Overcrowded Saskatchewan Jails: Where Inmates Are Sleeping

REGINA - The Opposition NDP is trying to lock down an answer from the Saskatchewan government on jail overcrowding.

Government numbers show that on any given day, an average of 360 inmates slept in bunks placed in spaces other than a cell.

Federal prison population in Canada growing

OTTAWA—Canada’s federal prison population is growing, largely because more visible minorities, Aboriginal people and women are entering jails than ever before, a report said Tuesday.

In his annual report, Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers said changing demographics account for part of the increase.

“Beyond rising inmate counts and costs, Canadians should be interested in who is ending up behind bars. Questions about whom we incarcerate, for how long and why are important public policy issues,” said Sapers.

U.S. report on overcrowding prison populations a harbinger for Canadian prisons, say critics, experts

PARLIAMENT HILL—A new U.S. report on exploding federal prison populations is a harbinger of overcrowding and soaring costs in Canada’s federal and provincial jails because of a series of crime laws passed by the federal government since 2009, say Canada’s federal prison ombudsman, opposition MPs, and a prominent criminal defence lawyer.

A September report from the U.S. federal Government Accountability Office cited a 400 per cent increase in the population of federal prisons in the U.S. since the late 1980s and a jump of 50 per cent from 2000 to 2012 that was primarily attributed to longer offender sentencing lengths.

Prison Guards Plan Protest In Harper's Riding

Hundreds of prison guards will rally in the prime minister's riding Saturday to protest rising gang violence, budget cuts and overcrowded conditions.

About 500 members of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers are expected to gather at Stephen Harper's Calgary-Southwest constituency office, then they'll knock on doors to sound the alarm about the impact his tough-on-crime agenda is having on staff and public safety.

Overcrowding In Federal Prisons Harms Inmates, Guards: GAO Report

The federal prison system has been unable to keep pace with the stream of inmates flooding its facilities over the last five years despite adding space for thousands of new convicts, according to a government report.

The ballooning incarcerated population puts inmates and guards in danger and holds back efforts to rehabilitate convicts, experts told HuffPost.

The already-taxed Bureau of Prisons network swelled to 39 percent above capacity through last September, and is expected to surge to more than 45 percent above its limit in 2018, says the Government Accountability Office report, titled "Growing Inmate Crowding Negatively Affects Inmates, Staff, and Infrastructure." The report was released on Wednesday.

Record-high prison numbers sparking violence

Canada’s prison population has reached an all-time high , with more inmates sharing cells designed for one, a situation that has raised tensions and led to growing violence, Canada’s correctional investigator says.

Howard Sapers, an ombudsman for inmates, presented the latest figures during a weekend national symposium on prison overcrowding in Ottawa that drew about 80 of Canada’s top criminologists, lawyers and prison experts.

As of July 31, there were 15,097 inmates in federal prisons, a “historic high,” according to Sapers.

Double-bunking in crowded prison cells is not a problem for Toews

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says he has no problem with the number of federal inmates sharing cells built for one.

And even as he reiterated his commitment to building 2,700 new cells in existing prison facilities, he said those additional units aren’t meant to alleviate the pressures caused by double-bunking – because there’s no need.

Violent assaults in federal prisons on the rise

OTTAWA—It was a vicious slashing in the middle of the day, a deliberate blow struck by a prisoner gripping a cunning weapon.

The woman, a correctional officer of three years’ experience at B.C.’s Kent Institution, had just glanced down at a request form the inmate casually handed her.

The blade, possibly a razor hidden in a toothbrush, caught the guard at the top of her head.

Prison guards' use of force rises with overcrowding

The use of tear gas, pepper spray, guns and physical restraint is on the rise in Canada’s prisons to defuse violence — an upward trend linked to a more aggressive, gang-affiliated inmate population and overcrowded conditions.

Documents obtained by CBC News Network's Power & Politics under Access to Information show security incidents where use of force was applied against federal offenders have increased by 37 per cent in the last five years — to 1,339 in 2011-12 from 975 incidents in 2007-08.

As prisons close, complaints of overcrowding rise

Inmates in Canada’s federal prisons have been sleeping in trailers, interview rooms, family visiting spaces and gymnasiums, while the percentage of prisoners sharing cells built for one has nearly doubled in under three years, according to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail.

The documents, obtained from access to information requests, suggest a penal system stretched to capacity. Canada’s prison population has been rising since 2005 after years of steady decline, growing 7 per cent between March 31, 2011 and May 1, 2012.

Part of the latest increase can be attributed to the government’s tough-on-crime agenda. At the same time, the government will lose 1,000 beds after it closes aging penal facilities such as Kingston Penitentiary and Leclerc Institution in Laval, Que., but says it will more than make up the difference with new units.

Closing penitentiaries is not in taxpayers’ best interests

This spring we’ve heard many announcements of layoffs in the public sector, and for the most part we expected this. However, I know of several officers in Correctional Services of Canada who believed their jobs were more secure with a Conservative majority. They were shocked when Vic Toews made the announcement that two federal prisons were closing, including Kingston Penitentiary – a maximum-security prison holding some our most frightening and violent criminals.

The claim is that these closures will save the government $120-million per year on facility and labour costs, with no threat to public safety. Inmates will be reallocated to existing prisons. We are led to believe there is excess capacity in the system, wasting taxpayer dollars, and this is simply an efficient policy change.

I’m always in favour of using our tax dollars more efficiently, but we’re looking to reallocate nearly a thousand inmates here – where exactly are they going to go?

Saskatchewan Triple Bunking: Don Morgan Justice Minister Says Public Safety First Priority

REGINA - Saskatchewan Justice Minister Don Morgan says if maintaining public safety means it's necessary to triple-bunk prisoners in cells, then so be it.

Morgan was responding to questions from the Opposition New Democrats about overcrowding in correctional centres.

NDP Leader John Nilson asked about the impact of Bill C-10, the federal bill that increases sentences for drug and sex offences and reduces the use of conditional sentences such as house arrest.

Critics say the changes will do nothing for public safety and will increase jail populations.

Morgan says the province wants to get drug dealers and sex offenders off the street and will make space in jails if needed.

He says the bill will impact the jail population, but he won't speculate on how much.

The exchange in the legislature came after Saskatchewan's ombudsman noted in his annual report released Monday that correctional centres in Saskatchewan already house almost twice as many inmates as they were designed to hold.

Original Article
Source: Huff
Author: CP

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Daniel can’t talk about the three prison inmates who have died in custody over the last five years - two of the victims for legal reasons, the other because it was too “horrendous”.

The prison officer, who spoke to The Huffington Post UK on the condition of anonymity, says: “Two of them are subject to corner's court. I can't talk about the one that's not. I don't want to talk about it because it was horrendous.”

He adds: “Up-and-down the country we've had a fair share of deaths of custody.”

A fair share, to be precise, is 44 so far this year and 193 in 2011, according to figures from the Howard League for penal reform.

In the larger prisons, the numbers are worse. Eighty-two people died in the 25 largest prisons in Britain last year, prompting the Howard League to warn of the damage of overcrowding.

For Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League, it’s simple: people should not be dying in the custody of the state.

Prison double-bunking used in segregation cells

Federal prisons in British Columbia and Manitoba are forcing some inmates to be double-bunked in segregation cells, a practice that was supposed to have been abolished for everything but extreme emergency situations a decade ago, CBC News has learned.

Documents obtained by CBC News under the Access to Information Act show at least two prisons have forced segregated inmates to share cells — Stony Mountain in Manitoba and Mission Institution in B.C. In a number of Ontario prisons, the mandatory assessments that are required before any inmate can be double-bunked are not always completed, the documents also show.

The Office of the Correctional Investigator, an ombudsman for federal offenders, says double-bunking in segregation is a violation of government policy, the Charter of Rights and international human rights standards. A 2001 Correctional Service of Canada directive explicitly prohibits the use of segregation cells for double-bunking unless emergency exemptions are warranted.

"Segregation is the most austere form of incarceration we have in Canada. You're locked in a very small cell for 23 out of 24 hours," correctional investigator Howard Sapers said. "These are very confined spaces. These cells are not designed to house more than one inmate. So if you're now going to house two inmates in one of these very small segregation cells, you're really bordering on inhumane custody."