Public Safety Minister Vic Toews this morning took on critics ofthe government's decision to close the Kingston Penitentiary including prison guards who attended his speech and said hemakes no apologies for the government's law-and-order agenda. The government is closing Ontario's historic Kingston Penitentiary,the Regional Treatment Centre, a psychiatric facility located atthe Kingston Penitentiary, and Leclerc Institution in Quebec by2014-2015. Toews opened his speech to the Economic Club of Canada in Ottawa bysaying he wanted to dispel "egregious myths" and "blatant untruths"that are told to the public by his political opponents and that hewanted to set the record straight. One of those myths, according to Toews, is that the government isgoing to be forced to build new prisons to house a higher inmatepopulation because of new justice legislation. Toews said thepredicted increase in prisoners hasn't materialized in the last twoyears and that in fact, the government is closing prisons.
Toews said the Kingston Penitentiary is no longer an appropriatefacility because of its "crumbling infrastructure" and costlyupkeep. But the union that represents Kingston Penitentiary guardssays it is a functioning facility that has had millions of dollarsworth of renovations. "I think we made the absolute right decision," Toews said. The government isn't building new prisons, but it is adding beds 2,752 of them in existing institutions. The inmates fromKingston and Leclerc will be displaced at other nearby prisons.Toews said he doesn't know exactly where yet because he hasn't beenadvised by the commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada,but he's sure there is room for them.
"The fact of the matter is, despite what many of you have heard, wehave the capacity," he said. When a union representative tried to ask Toews during the questionand answer period how more than 400 maximum security prisoners fromKingston will be absorbed by only 192 new maximum security beds,the public safety minister interrupted him. "These are issues that you're welcome to come and see me about. Youchoose deliberately to see me in public meetings like this. Industrial Ultrasonic Humidifier
Youhave my staff to come and see at any time you want, and what I cantell you is maximum people will go to maximum cells," Toews said. More double-bunking a concern Jason Godin, Ontario's regional president with the Union ofCanadian Correctional Officers, said Toews's comment was"humorous." "We've tried to meet with the minister on several occasions, henever seems to want to talk to us," he told reporters. "He won'tsit down and discuss the real issues." The union has a number of concerns related to the prison closuresthat it wants to discuss with Toews. The corrections officers saidother facilities do not have the infrastructure, including trainingand rehabilitation programs, to support more people and they areworried the displacement of inmates from the closed prisons willcause more double-bunking. Large Ultrasonic Humidifier
Fitting two inmates into a cell designed for one is alreadyhappening too often at facilities, the union said, and the practiceraises tensions and inmates end up lashing out at them. One of the union representatives asked Toews if they were going toface more double-bunking. "Double-bunking will be used inappropriate circumstances and I'll leave that to the commissioner.Next question," he responded. Godin said double-bunking is never appropriate. "It certainlydoesn't contribute to correctional officer safety, it doesn'tcontribute to a safe prison environment. Ceiling Mounted Dehumidifier Manufacturer
It just leads to moreproblems down the road," he said. The union also says there is "no plan" for approximately 132inmates at the Regional Treatment Centre, the only accreditedfacility of its kind in the Ontario region. Toews didn't mention closing that facility in his remarks, but hewas asked about mentally ill inmates by a member of the audienceand he said it's a problem that is getting worse. The public safety minister said building parallel mental healthsystems within penal institutions is the "wrong approach." "If mentally ill people have to be kept in an institution it shouldbe an institution that has a mental health focus rather than apenal focus. That's something that I've said over and over again,that's the direction that I want to go, I think that's thedirection that society would want us to go in," he said.
Toews said during his speech that the government's correctionspolicies will continue to emphasize mental health, but the unionsaid if that's true, the closure of the RTC doesn't make sense. Union mounting 'political stunts' Godin also rejected Toews's assertion that the KingstonPenitentiary isn't up to par. He said millions of dollars have beeninvested in it in recent years, it has a fully functioning hospitalwithin it, a new mental health unit and a new segregation unit. He said the union bought a table at the breakfast speech because itis trying to raise questions about the government's decisions andthat it will continue to stand up for public safety. "We're headed down an extremely dangerous road.
And we believe thatthe minister is not forthcoming in what is actually happening," hesaid. "The fact of the matter is he's not sitting down and talkingto the men and women that are actually tasked to take care of thesefederal institutions." Kevin Grabowsky, a corrections officer from Edmonton who was atToews's speech, said the government's math doesn't add up when itcomes to accommodating the inmates from the closed prisons. He said prisons are becoming more violent and inmates more oftenhave to be separated from each other because of gang problems.Grabowsky said Toews talked about wanting more training programsfor inmates but with the Correctional Service of Canada facingbudget cuts of $295 million, that doesn't seem likely, he said. "There's a real contradiction in what he says today and the realitythat correctional officers, and all staff generally, are livingwith working in these facilities," he said.
Toews's director of communications said the claims made by "bigpublic-sector union bosses are baseless and inaccurate," and thatthe facility closures are the right thing to do in the interest oftaxpayers. Julie Carmichael also said Toews and his staff have met with unionofficials in the last few months and that no new requests have beenmade since the prison closure announcement. She said instead. theunion is "preferring political stunts in public to productivemeetings.".
Toews said the Kingston Penitentiary is no longer an appropriatefacility because of its "crumbling infrastructure" and costlyupkeep. But the union that represents Kingston Penitentiary guardssays it is a functioning facility that has had millions of dollarsworth of renovations. "I think we made the absolute right decision," Toews said. The government isn't building new prisons, but it is adding beds 2,752 of them in existing institutions. The inmates fromKingston and Leclerc will be displaced at other nearby prisons.Toews said he doesn't know exactly where yet because he hasn't beenadvised by the commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada,but he's sure there is room for them.
"The fact of the matter is, despite what many of you have heard, wehave the capacity," he said. When a union representative tried to ask Toews during the questionand answer period how more than 400 maximum security prisoners fromKingston will be absorbed by only 192 new maximum security beds,the public safety minister interrupted him. "These are issues that you're welcome to come and see me about. Youchoose deliberately to see me in public meetings like this. Industrial Ultrasonic Humidifier
Youhave my staff to come and see at any time you want, and what I cantell you is maximum people will go to maximum cells," Toews said. More double-bunking a concern Jason Godin, Ontario's regional president with the Union ofCanadian Correctional Officers, said Toews's comment was"humorous." "We've tried to meet with the minister on several occasions, henever seems to want to talk to us," he told reporters. "He won'tsit down and discuss the real issues." The union has a number of concerns related to the prison closuresthat it wants to discuss with Toews. The corrections officers saidother facilities do not have the infrastructure, including trainingand rehabilitation programs, to support more people and they areworried the displacement of inmates from the closed prisons willcause more double-bunking. Large Ultrasonic Humidifier
Fitting two inmates into a cell designed for one is alreadyhappening too often at facilities, the union said, and the practiceraises tensions and inmates end up lashing out at them. One of the union representatives asked Toews if they were going toface more double-bunking. "Double-bunking will be used inappropriate circumstances and I'll leave that to the commissioner.Next question," he responded. Godin said double-bunking is never appropriate. "It certainlydoesn't contribute to correctional officer safety, it doesn'tcontribute to a safe prison environment. Ceiling Mounted Dehumidifier Manufacturer
It just leads to moreproblems down the road," he said. The union also says there is "no plan" for approximately 132inmates at the Regional Treatment Centre, the only accreditedfacility of its kind in the Ontario region. Toews didn't mention closing that facility in his remarks, but hewas asked about mentally ill inmates by a member of the audienceand he said it's a problem that is getting worse. The public safety minister said building parallel mental healthsystems within penal institutions is the "wrong approach." "If mentally ill people have to be kept in an institution it shouldbe an institution that has a mental health focus rather than apenal focus. That's something that I've said over and over again,that's the direction that I want to go, I think that's thedirection that society would want us to go in," he said.
Toews said during his speech that the government's correctionspolicies will continue to emphasize mental health, but the unionsaid if that's true, the closure of the RTC doesn't make sense. Union mounting 'political stunts' Godin also rejected Toews's assertion that the KingstonPenitentiary isn't up to par. He said millions of dollars have beeninvested in it in recent years, it has a fully functioning hospitalwithin it, a new mental health unit and a new segregation unit. He said the union bought a table at the breakfast speech because itis trying to raise questions about the government's decisions andthat it will continue to stand up for public safety. "We're headed down an extremely dangerous road.
And we believe thatthe minister is not forthcoming in what is actually happening," hesaid. "The fact of the matter is he's not sitting down and talkingto the men and women that are actually tasked to take care of thesefederal institutions." Kevin Grabowsky, a corrections officer from Edmonton who was atToews's speech, said the government's math doesn't add up when itcomes to accommodating the inmates from the closed prisons. He said prisons are becoming more violent and inmates more oftenhave to be separated from each other because of gang problems.Grabowsky said Toews talked about wanting more training programsfor inmates but with the Correctional Service of Canada facingbudget cuts of $295 million, that doesn't seem likely, he said. "There's a real contradiction in what he says today and the realitythat correctional officers, and all staff generally, are livingwith working in these facilities," he said.
Toews's director of communications said the claims made by "bigpublic-sector union bosses are baseless and inaccurate," and thatthe facility closures are the right thing to do in the interest oftaxpayers. Julie Carmichael also said Toews and his staff have met with unionofficials in the last few months and that no new requests have beenmade since the prison closure announcement. She said instead. theunion is "preferring political stunts in public to productivemeetings.".
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