FILLING UP JAILS COSTLY RESPONSE THAT FIXES LITTLE

It was an eerie coincidence, but on the very day that Canada's Upper
Chamber caved into the Conservative government's ultimatum by passing
an omnibus crime bill meant to throw more people behind bars, the
U.S.-based Pew Centre released a report that blasts a similar strategy
south of the border.

As of New Year's Day, 2,319,258 American adults were behind bars. With
one in every 99.1 of its adults locked up, the United States boasts
the distinction of having the world's highest incarceration rate by
far. No. 2 was China, which even with its repressive administration
and massive population, has only 1.5 million adults locked up.

The Pew study indicates that the American prison population has
expanded dramatically since the mid-1980s, when state and federal
lawmakers began to push for mandatory sentencing, particularly for
drug offences, and "three-strikes" legislation to keep people behind
bars.

The study also indicates these laws are costing Americans dearly. In
many states, maintaining prisons has become the fourth greatest
government expense -- after education, health care and transportation.
And because of the propensity to throw away the key once people end up
behind bars, these costs are growing annually and squeezing out the
governments' ability to afford other programs.

Yet there is considerable doubt that the governments are getting their
money's worth.

"For all the money spent on corrections today, there hasn't been a
clear and convincing return for public safety," said Adam Gelb,
director of the Public Safety Performance Project.

It's not as if the Pew researchers are opposed to prisons. They insist
there is a need to lock up dangerous and violent offenders. However,
they also insist there are better ways to handle deviant behaviour, in
most cases.

The sheer size of the financial burden has driven many states to seek
out these alternatives. Even those that traditionally locked up the
greatest number of people, such as Texas and California, are now
desperately seeking alternatives when it comes to dealing with people
who might have mental or substance-abuse problems.

And they have backed away from mandatory sentencing and allowed
front-line justice workers to find the best way to deal with problems.

Part of the pressure that forced these changes comes from demographic
studies of criminal populations. According to Justice Department
figures for 2006, one in 36 Hispanic adults is behind bars, as is one
in 15 black adults. The numbers are even higher for young people. For
example, one in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34 is locked
up.

"We tend to be a country in which incarceration is an easy response to
crime," said Susan Urahn, the Pew Center's managing director. "Being
tough on crime is an easy position to take, particularly if you have
the money."

America was quick to pass laws that deprived people of their liberty
in the 1980s and '90s, when the country was feeling flush.

In Canada, given the insistence of the Harper government to push for
mandatory sentencing, stricter parole regulations and to reduce the
use of house arrest and electronic monitoring, it seems as if
Canadians are feeling rich enough to squander tax dollars to lock up
people.

Not only has this government pushed to jail more people, it has also
advocated shutting down treatment centres, such as the monitored safe
injection site in downtown Vancouver.

It has also ignored or justified the impact these kinds of laws have
on visible minorities, such as the aboriginal population which is
already vastly over-represented in the prison system, thanks in a
large part to government policies such as the residential school
system and years of forced assimilation.

Ironically, the Conservative government is heading down this path just
as America is coming back, realizing that while the get-tough-on-crime
dogma may have won votes in the short term, people are beginning to
ask more and more questions as they see the social and economic costs
that strip their governments' ability to deal with other issues.

Meanwhile, repressive regimes, such as in Iran, are following Canada's
lead in lock-step. This past week the Islamic Republic announced plans
to add "apostasy, heresy and witchcraft" to the Hudud -- the body of
mandatory punishments assigned to crimes that are considered
violations of the "claims of God."

One would think that, given the scientific evidence showing the
negative impact of such laws and the company Canada seems to want to
keep, the Liberals would have been eager to take up the challenge to
go to the polls on this issue.

Instead the party's leader insisted last week that this was not a hill
he would fight on. Last week, in a 19-16 vote, the Liberal-dominated
Senate caved to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's threats and passed the
crime bill without amendments.

This after being told specifically of the folly of such a move.
Canadians will be allowed to pay at their leisure for this haste.