BUILDING BOOM SET FOR FEDERAL PRISON SYSTEM

Capital Costs Budgeted To Rise 43% Next Year

The head of Canada's prison system says there will be "major
construction initiatives" in the coming years to cope with federal
legislation to imprison more offenders longer -- an assertion backed
by new spending estimates showing a 43% 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 email obtained by Canwest News Service.

In a brief note to staff sent on Dec. 23, Mr. 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 is only contemplating expanding
existing facilities or building more prisons to handle an anticipated
influx of federal offenders.

"Any conversation before has been general musing," said Liberal
public safety critic Mark Holland. "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
of fiscal restraint and 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.

He predicted the prison service is on the verge of becoming "the
largest building contractor in Canada."

Government spending estimates, released last week, show the prison
system's tab for capital expenditures for the coming fiscal year will
increase 43%, to $329.4-million in 2010-2011, from $230.8-million in 2009-2010.

Mr. Head's email does not specify whether the federal construction
initiatives mean building more prisons or expanding existing ones.

But Christine Cversko, a spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Vic
Toews, said there are no plans to build new prisons, and that the
money will 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 email. "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.

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