Canadian taxpayers are about to spend billions to reform the country’s prison system.
What we will get for that substantial investment — estimated to be $7 billion to $10 billion over the next five years — is debatable.
The Conservative government argues the price tag, whatever it may be once the cost of the various bills before Parliament are tallied, will be worth it. The reforms will keep dangerous people off the streets and, by extension, make Canadians safer.
The Correctional Investigator of Canada is the latest official to challenge the Conservative’s claim that locking more Canadians up for longer stretches of time is the most cost-effective way to create a safer Canada.
On Wednesday, Howard Sapers said MPs should be questioning whether or not the Conservative’s proposals will give Canadians the best return on their investment.
Judging by the 19 recommendations in his 2008-09 annual report, Sapers’ answer to that question is a resounding no.
The top four “areas of key concern” in the investigator’s report are: mental health, addressing incidents of self-harm, a health-service review and correctional programs and case preparation.
Of those four areas, Sapers singles out correctional programs as a key contributor to public safety.
Offenders who complete their programs are “significantly more likely to be granted a discretionary release and are less likely to re-offend following their release,” he writes.
In terms of value, Sapers argues the vast majority of correctional programs evaluated were cost-effective: “On average, every dollar spent on programming resulted in a return of one to eight dollars (due to earlier community releases or extended stays in the community).”
However, only two per cent of Correctional Service Canada’s total annual budget is allocated to offender programming. This creates bottlenecks in the system because inmates are unable to complete their required programs, Sapers says.
If Correctional Service Canada is having difficulty fulfilling its mandate to provide adequate correctional programming now, boosting the prison population will only put more pressure on the system, Sapers concludes.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says he has a rough idea of what the total cost of the government’s prison reforms will be.
But he has been unwilling to tell Canadians what that figure is.
The public safety minister also may have a rough idea of the return on investment he expects from his reforms.
If he does, he hasn’t shared that figure with Canadians either.
The safety of Canadians is of paramount importance. If we are prepared to invest $10 billion to guarantee that safety, then we should also guarantee that we get the best return on that investment.
The Conservatives believe we will get the biggest bang for our safety buck by handing out lengthy sentences to more offenders.
It’s a politically attractive solution that ignores a simple truth: no matter how many offenders we lock away in Canadian prisons, be it for two years less a day or 10 years, almost all of them will eventually return to the community.
Investing in the care and rehabilitation of the offenders while they are there is the only way to ensure that reintegration is safe, gradual and structured with appropriate supervision and supports.
Cameron Kennedy is an Advocate editor.