Debate On Canadian Prison Service Plan To Close Farms
Correctional Service Canada’s (CSC) recent announcement that it plans to cut farm operations at six prisons, two of which in Kingston, Ontario, has raised eyebrows in some circles. Report from Kingston This Week.
Craig Jones, executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada, said the decision could prove beneficial if the money from the sales are used on new educational and rehabilitation programs for inmates. “I have no idea what they’re going to do with that land, but it’s extremely valuable real estate,” said Jones, from his Kingston office. “If it’s sold and the money goes into new educations programs, I’ll be standing on the sidelines and cheering.”
Jones stressed he has nothing against the concept of inmates working a farms – something the National Farmers Union (NFU) says is an exceptional way for an inmate to learn life skills. The question that lingers in his mind is whether the farming experience is beneficial enough that the government shouldn’t consider selling the land. He said he honestly doesn’t know the answer, as, to his knowledge, no recent studies have been done on the programs. “I have not been able to locate a body of peer-reviewed evidence endorsing the prison-farm program, particularly given the huge demand for things like basic adult education,” he said …
The NFU believes the decision was short-sighted. Its president, Stewart Wells, wrote to Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, expressing displeasure for writing off agriculture “as fundamental cornerstone of the Canadian economy.” NFU executive-secretary Terry Pugh elaborated on issue, saying that inmates on penitentiary farms learn machinery skills and responsibility and social skills that can translate into any profession they may enter upon release.“The attitude that these inmates aren’t learning anything useful because farming is an obsolete career path is very upsetting to us,” he said.