DAY'S AGENDA BEHIND PRISONER TRANSFER SHUTDOWN?

OTTAWA -- The Conservative government has become the first in a decade
to deny Canadian citizens imprisoned in the United States the chance
to serve out their sentences in Canada.

Critics say this new trend reflects Public Safety Minister Stockwell
Day's personal political agenda.

Documents from the Correctional Service of Canada show that from 1997
to 2005, Ottawa never once denied an application to transfer a convict
to Canada from a U.S. prison.

In 2006, the year the Conservatives took power and Day was appointed
the minister in charge of correctional services, five transfer
requests were denied, even though U.S. authorities approved them.

This year, as of June, 12 transfer requests approved by the U.S. were
turned down by Canada, while only two were approved.

In the five years before Day took charge of the agency, the government
approved an average of 38 transfers from U.S. prisons each year.

In a column published last November in the Penticton Western News, a
newspaper in his B. C. riding, Day wrote of his disgust with prison
transfers for convicted drug dealers.

"B.C. dope dealers busted in the U.S. are demanding to be transferred
back to cosier Canadian jails and reduced prison times," he wrote.
"Memo to drug dealer: I'm no dope... Enjoy the U.S."

John Conroy, a B.C. lawyer who represents several Canadian convicts
whose transfers have been turned down, blames Day for the policy.

"Is Mr. Day acting in the public interest or because of a peculiar
attitude he has toward various offences?" Conroy asks.

Day refused to be interviewed, but his spokeswoman said the new policy
is part of the Conservatives' hard line on crime.

"(The annual transfer numbers) show that the previous Liberal
government put criminals' rights first," Melisa Leclerc said. "We do
not. Canada's new government will always put the security of Canadians
and their communities first."

However, federal documents show the corrections agency believes
transfer programs contribute to public security. A 2005 internal
report said convicts who are transferred home fall under the watch of
Canadian authorities, who can monitor their behaviour and assess their
risk to society.

"The alternative is that the offender is deported to Canada without
correctional supervision/jurisdiction and without the benefit of
programming and a gradual structured release into the community," the
report found.

Canada's law says the minister has discretion to refuse transfers if
the applicants are a threat to the "security of Canada," if they have
abandoned Canada as their place of permanent residence, or if they
lack family or social ties in this country.