PRISON SYSTEM NEEDS OVERHAUL

A landmark study released in the U.S. this week should be required
reading for everyone in Canada -- politicians especially -- who are
under the mistaken impression that our prison system is working.

A study by the JFA Institute, a Washington criminal justice research
group, shows that the number of Americans in prison has risen
eight-fold since 1970, with little if any impact on crime but at a
tremendous cost to taxpayers and society in general.

The report calls for a major overhaul of the American justice system,
recommending shorter sentences and parole terms, alternative
punishments, better help for released inmates, and decriminalizing
drugs.

"There is no evidence that keeping people in prison longer makes us
any safer," JFA president James Austin said in a news release.

That very statement is something most politicians and defenders of the
status quo don't want to hear.

The popular sentiment most policy-makers espouse is the old-fashioned
"lock 'em up and throw away the key" solution. For those who advocate
for a stronger prison system, the solution to the problem of crime is
tougher sentences and more prisons.

It's a recipe for failure.

Ironically, just two days after the release of the JFA study Nov. 19,
a Statistics Canada report was unveiled which shows that the rate of
incarceration in Canada rose last year for the first time in a decade,
despite the fact that the overall crime rate in Canada has been
dropping for more than two decades.

Although Canada's rate of incarceration is almost seven times lower
than the U.S., the Statscan study says that Canada's rising rate is
likely due to the fact that in 2005-2006, there were 12 per cent more
adults in remand, waiting for trials and sentencing hearings.

The study blames the rising remand rate on the fact that court cases
are becoming more complex and it takes longer to get cases to trial.

In other words, Canada's current justice system -- which the federal
government and many tabloid-style newspapers would like to see
strengthened and made even more elaborate and complex -- is beginning
to sink under the weight of its own crates of red tape.

Sadly, the majority of Canadians -- government included -- have little
understanding of the silliness of the prison system in the first
place. The absurdity of locking up anyone but the most dangerous
offenders is buried in history that, thankfully, isn't hard to uncover.

Historically, incarceration was used mainly for offenders awaiting
execution. The concept of imprisonment as punishment didn't arise in
the world until the 19th century, when it was naively believed that
imprisoning an offender would lead to their eventual
rehabilitation.

Obviously, it didn't work. But the status quo has remained, with one
justification after another being made in order to keep the prison
system in place.

An entire industry has sprung up that depends on that very system,
which statistics show leads to even more crime, shattered families,
and the spread of diseases like HIV/AIDS. Prison guards, prison
maintenance staff, and a host of other jobs have been created in order
to keep the system going, at a tremendous cost to taxpayers.

According to federal government data, Canada spends a staggering $13
billion each year for police and other criminal justice services. The
prison system alone swallows up more than $2 billion. It costs nearly
$100,000 a year to keep a single inmate housed and cared for in a
federal prison.

The cost of keeping an outdated and ineffective system alive and
kicking is extremely high, and it's clear the prison system has done
more harm than good when one looks at the amount of offenders behind
bars for crimes that don't pose any real danger to society as a whole,
like drug possession. Canada's justice system is notorious for its
over-representation of aboriginals in prison. Many offenders just wind
up right back behind bars after serving their sentence (what
researchers refer to as recidivism).

Our present Conservative government, with its eagerness to impose
tougher sentences for youth and those who commit violent and
drug-related offenses, seems to think that keeping offenders locked up
for longer and longer will reduce crime.

It might earn them votes and give conservative-minded Canadians a
perverse sense of satisfaction, but the JFA study shows that it won't
do any good in the long run -- no matter which country tries it.

It's time to overhaul the Canadian justice system, and cut down to
size a beast that has grown so large that it's sinking under its own
weight.