2011:03PU REFORM OF CANADIAN CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM
Whereas 1 previous policy dealing with the correctional system called for the Government of Canada to:
- appoint a senior officer responsible for the treatment of women
- improve education, rehabilitation and recreation; improve facilities; and construct regional; prisons
- allocate more resources for women in conflict with the law
- study eight listed sentencing reform policies
- protect society from dangerous offenders by denying them parole, confining those on parole to local correctional institutions with appropriate programmes and supervision
- appoint a representative Task Force and engage in broad consultation to plan and implement better accommodations and programmes for women and call on NCWC to undertake study of eight sentencing policies, reporting back to subsequent AGM,
but none of these policies dealt with the penal system as a whole; and
Whereas 2 the Government of Canada has recently made clear its intention to expand the Canadian prison system at significant cost to meet the expected increase from its recent “get tough on crime” legislation, at a time of fiscal restraint, and when crime rates in Canada have been trending downwards for the last two decades; and
Whereas 3 it is estimated that 13 percent of male offenders and 29 percent of female offenders suffer some form of mental illness, but most treatment of the mentally ill in prison is sub-standard or, especially for women offenders, non-existent, and
Whereas 4 most criminologists agree that longer sentences neither improve public safety nor lead to positive outcomes and successful re-integration into the community for offenders; and
Whereas 5 the money which the government is proposing to spend on expanding the prisons could more usefully and effectively be spent on: a. better facilities and treatment for mentally ill offenders; b. measures to reduce the poverty which is the background of so many of the marginalized people who become offenders; and c. community programs to support at-risk families and youths; therefore be it
Resolved 1 that the National Council of Women of Canada adopt as policy that Canada’s penal systems be based on:
a. a rehabilitation model including probation, sentencing treatment and parole of prisoners which takes into account not only community safety but also the rehabilitation of offenders;
b. appropriate facilities for mentally ill offenders, both male and female;
c. alternative approaches to sentencing which not only protect the community but also work towards the rehabilitation and more positive outcomes for offenders; and
d. work with other levels of government to ensure that poverty reduction strategies as well as community programs for the support of at-risk families and youth are in place; and be it further
Resolved 2 that the National Council of Women of Canada urge the Government of Canada to:
a. postpone plans for further prison expansion until there has been thorough study of the need for expansion and the associated costs and effectiveness;
b. provide separate facilities for appropriate treatment of mentally ill offenders, both male and female;
c. explore alternative approaches to sentencing and treatment which will not only protect the community but also work towards rehabilitation and more positive outcomes for offenders; and
d. work with other levels of government to ensure that poverty reduction strategies as well as community programs for the support of at-risk families and youth are in place.