NO MORE ROOM AT PRISONS

Maple Ridge prisons will have to find more room for drug traffickers
if new mandatory minimum sentences announced by the federal
Conservative government on Tuesday are enacted.

The new bill, unveiled by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, is designed
to impose tougher sentences on people profiting from organized crime
and violence under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The changes will see a one-year mandatory prison sentence for selling
marijuana as part of an organized criminal gang or if weapons or
violence are involved.

Someone convicted of growing 200 or less marijuana plants for the
purpose of trafficking will receive a minimum sentence of six months
in jail.

The legislation also proposes a mandatory two-year sentence for
operating marijuana grow-ops containing more than 500 plants.

As well, traffickers dealing illegal drugs, such as cocaine or
methamphetamines, to youth or caught peddling near a school will
receive sentences of two years.

The legislation also includes the option of drug treatment for
offenders of non-violent drug crimes. Those who successfully complete
drug treatment programs will be eligible for suspended sentences.

The legislative changes, however, could see B.C.'s already crowded
provincial prisons, which house inmates with sentences of less than
two years, bursting at the seams.

In Maple Ridge, the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre for men is
already scheduled to expand by 150 beds, with 100 added in spring.

The Alouette Correctional Centre for Women is also increasing by 24
spaces in 2008.

Lisa Lapointe, a spokesperson for B.C. Corrections, said those 174
spaces are being created to meet current needs.

"If there was a significant increase in the inmate population, we
would have to pretty quickly ensure that there are more beds available
in the province."

Lapointe doesn't know if there is space to grow at either prison.
"Those would be new projects," she said.

Fraser Regional currently has about 460 prisoners, about three
quarters of whom are double bunked - two per cell. Alouette has a
maximum capacity of 144.

Lapointe said funding for prison expansion comes from the provincial
treasury board and there has been no indication that the federal
government will be giving money to build more facilities, despite the
proposed legislation.

Conservative MP Randy Kamp (Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission) hopes
the sentencing legislation introduced this past week is passed by
spring 2008.

The legislative reforms are part of the Conservative's two-year
$63.8-million anti-drug strategy, announced last month. The strategy
aims at preventing illegal drug use by youth, treating people who have
drug addictions and fighting illegal drug crime.

"Most parties talk about being tough on crime, but when it actually
comes down to it, the NDP and Liberals don't always back that up in
the way that they vote," Kamp said.

The provincial correctional services, he added, will have to figure
out how to house the extra prisoners, if the legislation leads to
increased convictions with jail time.

Kamp believes good, strong legislation will be deterrent.

"I hope that those who are involved in these kind of activities see
this and think that this is a good time to get out of the business. I
hope we'll be putting fewer people in jail," Kamp said.

Darryl Plecas, a criminologist at the University College of the Fraser
Valley who has studied marijuana sentencing, argues the sentences
detailed in the new legislation are still too short.

He said the penalties are unlikely to deter organized crime groups who
make large profits from the illegal marijuana trade.

"It might be a deterrent to those people just getting in, but it is so
typical of proposed legislation. It gets watered down. If you were
going to whack people with a 10- or 15-year sentence, you'd get people
stomping their [marijuana] grows tomorrow."