By Ryan Pilon

Plan to relieve overcrowded jails turned down by feds

Feb 24, 2011 | 5:49 AM

A report commissioned by the provinces, which suggests a way to relieve the overcrowded provincial correctional facilities, has been turned down by the federal government.

The report called the Changing Face of Corrections suggested sending prisoners serving more than a six-month sentence to a federal penitentiary. Currently, inmates sentenced to less than two years serve their sentence at a provincial jail.

“It was just put forward as a proposal that we’ve had a look at. We don’t know the consequences of the proposal, so it’s something that would need far more study,” said Yogi Huyghebaert, Minister of Corrections, Public Safety, and Policing.

The government rejected the proposal because it would involve opening up the constitution and making a constitutional amendment, said Prince Albert MP, Randy Hoback.

He said he believes the new legislation eliminating a two-for-one credit for time served will free up space at the correctional centres.

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“You’ll see more people automatically go into the federal system because there’s no gain in the days they served prior to sentencing,” Hoback said.

“When they’re sentenced for, say, two and a half years or three years, they’re actually going to serve the three years, where before they only served two-thirds of their sentence, they actually would’ve ended up in a provincial institution.”

While Huyghebaert said he’ll have to wait and see if the new legislation frees up space or not, he said he does applaud the government’s initiative.

“There’s been an awful lot of people that have been playing (the system) in the remand side, and being there for a long time, but now eliminating the two for one, I think it’ll speed up cases going through the courts,” Huyghebaert said.

It will take time before new legislation frees up space at the correctional centres or not.

In the meantime, Judy Orthner with Corrections, Public Safety and Policing, said both the men’s and women’s centres in Prince Albert are overcrowded.

“We have around 300 male offenders in the Prince Albert Correctional Centre, which was designed to accommodate 154 inmates,” Orthner said.

They were able to build dorms to house the additional male inmates, she said.

However, places like the Pine Grove Correctional Centre, which houses the female offenders, doesn’t have the space for expansion.

“We’re using program areas, for example the library, the gym, to house a count of 141 female offenders, when Pine Grove was designed to house 63,” Orthner said.

Hoback wouldn’t speculate as to if the federal government would revisit the proposal by the provinces If the new legislation turns out not to be the solution.

rpilon@panow.com