PRISON BUILDING SPREE EXPECTED

Crime Legislation to Cause Increase Number of Inmates

(CNS) The head of Canada's prison system says there will be "major
construction initiatives" in the coming years to cope with the impact
of federal legislation to imprison more offenders longer, an
assertion backed by new spending estimates showing a 43-per-cent
increase in penitentiary capital costs next year.

Don Head, commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada, set the
stage for prison expansion in a recent e-mail, obtained by Canwest
News Service.

In a note to staff on Dec. 23, Head announced changes to the senior
ranks of the prison system "to best prepare itself to implement many
of the changes associated with several of the pieces of legislation
that will result in a growth of our inmate population."

The government has previously said it was only contemplating
expanding existing facilities or building more prisons to handle an
anticipated influx of offenders.

"Any conversation before has been general musing," Liberal public
safety critic Mark Holland said Monday. "What this says to me is that
they know what they are doing, they know what they are building; they
are just refusing to let it go public."

Critics have questioned the need for a prison-building boom in times
declining crime rates, particularly when they say there is no
evidence that longer sentences work in cutting crime. "This is
basically pouring money down a rat hole," said Craig Jones, executive
director of the John Howard Society.

Government spending estimates, released last week, showed the prison
system's tab for capital expenditures would increase to $329.4
million in 2010-2011 from $230.8 million in 2009-2010.

Christine Cversko, a spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Vic
Toews, said there were no plans to build new prisons, with the money
to be spent on "updating and improving" existing facilities.

"Our government is making decisions based on what we need to do in
order to make our communities safe," she said in an e-mail.
"Releasing criminals onto our streets early has a much higher cost
than keeping criminals behind bars."

The Harper government has refused to divulge a total tab for its
initiatives to imprison more offenders, citing cabinet confidences.
Kevin Page, the independent parliamentary budget officer, is
calculating the cost at the urging of the opposition Liberals. A
report is expected this spring.

The government has proposed or passed several pieces of legislation
to impose mandatory minimum jail terms for a variety of crimes.