LOCK 'EM UP, DUMONT SAYS

ADQ Leader Would Curtail Conditional Releases, Make Prisoners Pay For Jail

Mario Dumont proposed getting tough on Quebec's "revolving-door
prison system" yesterday, including making prisoners pay for their
own incarceration.

Speaking at a former prison converted into a museum - a grim showcase
to dissuade youngsters from a life of crime - the Action democratique
du Quebec leader condemned the use of conditional releases as a way
of easing prison overcrowding, a widespread practice which he blamed
on cuts by Parti Quebecois governments.

An ADQ government would forbid conditional release for anyone
convicted of two crimes against a person, or of two drug offences, he said.

Citing the Corbo report a few years ago on Quebec's prison system,
Dumont said nearly one-third of prisoners in the province are in jail
for the 10th time or more.

To save money, governments have shut five jails and are overly lax in
letting out prisoners on conditional release and temporary leaves for
humanitarian reasons, he charged.

Both have been badly abused, Dumont said, resulting in hardened
criminals who should be locked up being at liberty in society - too
often committing horrific crimes. He mentioned the "sad and famous"
case of Mario Bastien, who was on provincial conditional release in
2000 when he sexually attacked and killed 13-year-old Alexandre
Livernoche in Sorel.

"There's a lack of seriousness in Quebec in the management of public
security" he said, flanked by local candidates and officials.

He would not say who would pay for their incarceration or how much,
only that it "wouldn't be much" and would target people with the means to pay.

If elected, his government would spend $50 million - a rare ADQ
spending estimate in this campaign - to correct the problem, he said,
possibly to build new jails or expand existing ones.

Liberal Party critic Jacques Dupuis immediately ridiculed the ADQ promise.

He said the proposal would mean political interference in the
judicial process, that the current government has never allowed the
release of inmates for budgetary reasons, that the budget of the
conditional release board was doubled to $5.5 million, and that
making people pay to stay in jail would "perversely" penalize their
innocent families.

Dumont insisted "conditional release should be just what it says,
conditional, and not automatic."