Frank Addario, president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association, says the American experience shows mandatory minimums don't work.
"The most law-and-order states in the United States have turned away from muscular sentencing and mandatory minimums on the basis that no reasonable state budget can manage the level of incarceration that those laws require," Mr. Addario said. The annual average cost of keeping a Canadian inmate incarcerated is $93,030.
The possibility of using the farm land for prisons was first confirmed by Mr. Van Loan in a written response tabled recently in the House of Commons replying to a question from Liberal MP Mark Holland. The minister's response also revealed the annual budget for "corrections infrastructure" has grown from $88.5-million in 2006-07 to $195.1-million this year. It is projected to peak at $211.6-million in fiscal year 2010-11.
Mr. Van Loan has embraced the recommendations of a controversial 2007 advisory report prepared for the federal government by Rob Sampson, a former minister of corrections in Ontario's Mike Harris government.
Among the report's wide-ranging recommendations was a call to create large new regional correctional facilities that would house high-, medium- and low-security prisoners in one location - though physically separated from each other.
The report said this would lead to administrative savings by sharing common services like food. While other recommendations from the 2007 report are already government policy, the government until now has been silent on the call for new prisons.
A report by prisoner-rights advocates Michael Jackson and Graham Stewart warned last month that some of the recommendations contain "draconian implications" for human rights, yet are being implemented with little public or parliamentary debate.
The Jackson-Stewart report acknowledged the need for upgrades to aging facilities, but said the call for regional complexes was "ill advised" and not well thought out.
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PRISON NUMBERS
Offenders serving a sentence of less than two years, as well as adults held in custody while awaiting trial or sentencing (known as remand), are the responsibility of provinces and territories. Ottawa is responsible for the detention of offenders serving two years or more.
Provincial custody
- In remand: 12,888
- Serving sentences: 9,750
Federal custody
- Serving sentences: 13,304
Incarceration rates
2007/08
- Canada: 117 people in custody for every 100,000 (including youth)
- United States: 762 in custody per 100,000 (not including youth)
Annual budget for prison infrastructure
- 2005-06 $88.6-million
- 2007-08 $103.1-million
- 2008-09 $151-million
- 2009-10 $195.1-million
- 2010-11 $211.6-million
- 2011-12 $163.2-million
- 2012-13 $113.1-million
Farewell to the farms
After more than 150 years, Ottawa is shutting down the Prison Farm Program, which teaches inmates to take care of animals and provides products to the prison population. The government notes that of 25,000 offenders released over the last five years, less than 1 per cent found work in agriculture.
Sources: Responses tabled in the House; Statistics Canada
