Daily BrewOvercrowded jails cause problems inside Canadian correctional system
Everybody stop committing crimes, we are running out of places to put you.
New details suggest that half of Ontario's jails are overcrowded and holding more prisoners than they were designed for.
On top of that, recent figures outline an issue of overcrowding across Canada's federal prison system as well, with an influx of new inmates likely to put further strain of the system.
The Canadian Press reports 14 of Ontario's 29 jails were at more than 100 per cent capacity, while the system overall sat at 98.5 per cent capacity.
Among the most packed institutions are Toronto's Don Jail at 117 per cent, the Windsor Jail at 111 per cent and London Jail at 105 per cent.
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“Due to capacity issues the facility had three inmates to each cell and one cell with five inmates,” reads an internal memo, obtained by CP, regarding the London Jail.
But the issue of prison overcrowding is by no means limited to Ontario jails.
Last year, Canada's prison population reached an all-time high. As of July 31, 2012, there were 15,097 inmates in federal prisons. A report on prison overcrowding from that year suggested 1,000 new inmates had entered the system without beds to put them in, leading to a practice of sharing single cells known as double bunking.
A recent report from the Union of Canadian Correctional Services Officers suggested that prison overcrowding will become a national issue over the next few years.
By March 2014, the report suggested, the national penitentiary population would be 18,684.
The report further called out the act of double bunking as unsafe and likely to lead to dangerous conditions for correctional workers.
Double Bunking is an unsafe, ineffective means by which to address a population management, and will inevitably prove problematic for correctional officers, correctional staff, offenders, CSC and, finally, the general public.
The report notes that, as the ratio of correctional-workers-to-inmates decreases, the prevalence of sexual violence inside prisons increases. Overcrowding also leads to less predictable behaviour by inmates, increased demand and decay of the infrastructure and substantial mental strain for those incarcerated and those working in the facility.
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The good news is that Statistics Canada reports a decrease in both criminal activity and the severity of criminal activity across the country. The crime rate reached its lowest point since 1972 and the "Crime Severity Index" dropped for the third straight year.
And the expansion and construction of new jails should help us lock up more people with somewhat more comfort. Although recent Conservative bills have increased prison sentence lengths, so it is all a bit of a balancing act.
Perhaps it is time to consider introducing some alternatives to prison sentences, or perhaps people could continue committing fewer crimes until overcrowded jails is no longer an issue.
But seriously. If y’all could stop committing crimes it would help us out a lot.
