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ON MPP Carries On Jail Fight

November 17th, 2011
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Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson has enlisted the help of Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey in her fight to save the Walkerton jail.

Bailey, who is the opposition Progressive Conservative critic for safety and corrections, and Thompson made a brief visit to see conditions at the Walkerton institution, which is set to close Dec. 4. Report by The Sun Times.

The provincial Liberal government announced in its March budget it was closing what it called “underutilized jails” in Walkerton, Owen Sound and Sarnia in a bid to reduce the deficit.

But that’s not what the Conservative MPPs said they saw during their 90-minute visit on Wednesday.

“The Walkerton jail is in good shape and we saw that it’s filled to capacity again. Last weekend it was at capacity as well with people serving intermittent sentences . . . the information that I am going to present next week will show that there isn’t a viable business plan for correctional services in rural Ontario,” Thompson said during an interview after Wednesday’s visit.

“It was just a knee-jerk reaction to address the deficit ahead of the election and it caused (the Liberals) to jump to conclusions without any justification. They needed to follow through with stakeholder consultations, which they totally ignored,” she said.

In a bid to prevent such things from happening again Thompson is preparing a private member’s bill that would require adequate community consultation before a provincial institution is closed, and that the closure can be justified.

“Using the Walkerton jail as an example, it is serving a purpose. It is an economic driver in rural Ontario. There are many reasons to keep it open,” she said.

Bailey described the jail as well-kept, well-managed and with a very friendly atmosphere, with correctional officers working well with inmates.

“I come from a small town in rural Ontario and I could see if I was an inmate I would rather spend time in a facility like Walkerton than go to a larger centre,” he said.

Earlier in the day Bailey visited the Elgin Middlesex detention centre in London. He plans to visit the Sarnia jail later.

The government has promised to keep the Sarnia jail open until a new regional detention centre is completed in Windsor in 2013.

“It’s all about getting more information to help us do our job as we continue to keep this facility and the one in Sarnia open,” said Bailey.

Bailey said his efforts to get the background information used to justify the government’s decision to close jails in Walkerton, Owen Sound and Sarnia through freedom of information legislation have gone nowhere.

“The (Ontario) Ombudsman is looking into the lack of consultation, not only of just our facility in Sarnia, but the other municipalities as well with the stakeholders, the community and powers that be. The freedom of information people are looking at this. The privacy commissioner also. Everybody is involved,” Bailey said.

“At the end of the day it will be proven that there were no numbers. It was just something that someone added into the budget to try and justify some numbers,” he added.

Thompson said she plans to seek a meeting with Madeleine Meilleur, the minister of community safety and corrections, once the new session of the legislature begins next week.

She promises that she and other Conservative MPPs will keep the issue of closing the Walkerton jail alive on the floor of the legislature.

“We’re going to keep driving home the fact that this decision to close the Walkerton jail is not well thought out and there’s time to revisit it,” Thompson said.

Tammy Canada, Prison, Jail, Facility Closures

With Fewer Kids Held, Colorado To Close Two Juvenile Detention Facilities

October 6th, 2011
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Spring Creek2

The Spring Creek Juvenile detention Facilty in Colorado Springs at the ribbon cutting ceremony and open house in 1998. (Denver Post file photo)

Colorado is closing two youth detention centers after the number of kids being sent to such locked facilities dropped to levels not seen since 1998.

The closures come as the total number of youths in the detention system dropped 32 percent, from 1,480 to 1,000, since 2006. Report by Denver Post.

“That’s a pretty dramatic shift in youth corrections,” said John Gomez, state youth corrections director. “It is good news. There are fewer kids going to detention.”

The reduction in Colorado juvenile detentions follows a national trend, Gomez said.

He credited programs that identified substance abuse, delinquency and familial problems earlier with reducing the number of youths entering the juvenile justice system.

The Division of Youth Corrections will close the 20-bed Sol Vista Youth Services Center in Pueblo and the 24-bed Marvin W. Foote Youth Services Center in Englewood.

The Sol Vista building, which is on the grounds of the Colorado Mental Health Institute, will be used for a substance-abuse program.

Youths now at Sol Vista will be transferred to other detention centers, and those at Marvin W. Foote will go to Mount View Youth Services Center in Jefferson County.

Reggie Bicha, executive director of the Department of Human Services, said the state will try to place employees in vacant department or state positions.

The decrease in the number of kids going to secure youth facilities also happened as the state moved more kids out of locked facilities and into private community-based residential programs.

Youths who primarily have a substance- abuse issue are getting treatment at a community facility instead of going to detention, he said.

“The right kids get the right level of intervention,” he said.

Officials are weighing the risks that kids pose to the community and making decisions whether to send them to detention or treatment based on those assessments, Gomez said.

“We don’t want to over-incarcerate kids,” he said.

Doug Wilson, Colorado public defender, attributed some of the reduction in detentions to a push to reduce the number of juvenile offenders with lesser offenses being sent to locked detention facilities.

“Why would you put truants in there?” he said.

There has been an emphasis on identifying which kids need help when they are very young and addressing their needs before they get deeper into trouble, Gomez said.

Social workers are meeting with juvenile justice professionals to intervene with kids early, he said.

Garcia said closing the juvenile facilities won’t necessarily result in cost savings, however, because the money is being shifted to treatment programs designed to keep kids out of detention.

Tammy Colorado, Juvenile Justice, Prison, Jail, Facility Closures

FL Belle Glade Prison Expected To Close Dec. 1

September 26th, 2011
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The state Department of Corrections has decided Glades Correctional Institution in Belle Glade will close Dec. 1, the state representative for the area said last week, marking yet another blow to the already struggling region.

State Rep. Mack Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, said DOC Secretary Ken Tucker told him and others that the 250 employees of the prison will get notice of the closure on Oct. 15. Those employees will be eligible to apply for openings elsewhere in the state prison system, including other South Florida prisons that are being privatized this fall. Report by Sun Sentinel.

The Glades Work Camp near the prison will remain open, and the 50 employees there will retain their jobs, Bernard said.

The loss of jobs in the area could cripple the area’s economy, where the unemployment rate is as high as 40 percent.
“Looking at the numbers in the Glades, where you have such high unemployment and high percentage of people in poverty and high percentage of sub-standards housing, the reaction is sad that GCI is going to close,” Bernard said. “But at the same time we have to move forward with a strategic plan to move the Glades in a different direction.”

Belle Glade Mayor Steve Wilson said he hoped that state officials would work quickly to find another use for the prison building.

“I am hoping that people have the wits to understand if you are going to close it, that we find ways and means to utilize the structure to put people to work, Wilson said.

State Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, Palm Beach County lobbyist Todd Bonlarron and Gov. Rick Scott’s legislative affairs director, Jon Costello, also were at the meeting with Tucker, Bernard said.

The group was told that the state hoped to have a contract in place for privatization of South Florida prisons by Nov. 1 and that employees would have the option of applying for positions at the privatized prisons, meaning they would have to move out of the area, Bernard said.

GCI was not designated for privatization.

Closing the prison will significantly worsen the already dire budget shortfall facing the fledgling Glades Utility Authority. The utility’s budget assumes that the prison, its largest customer, will continue to pay base water and sewer charges, even if it closes its doors.

County Commissioner Jess Santamaria, whose district includes the Glades, said the region needs federal money to help keep it afloat.
“It is just never ending, one calamity after another,” Santamaria said. “To me, this is what the government is supposed to help. It is no different than a flood, or a hurricane, or an earthquake. You come to the aid. It just doesn’t make sense.”

Jim Baiardi, president of the Police Benevolent Association for state correctional officers, said that DOC officials had not yet contacted the PBA about the decision to shut down Glades. The union will probably ask to bargain with the department to ensure GCI workers get other jobs within the state prison system, but some guards may not be willing to relocate, Baiardi said.

The shutdown of the prison will be difficult for the community to absorb, he said.

“It’s hard to deal with that situation particularly because there’s not a lot of options for them to go to work somewhere else,” Baiardi said. “They’re not only hurting the officers who work there and the facility itself, but also the community. There’s just no winner in that. It’s just a lose-lose all the way around.”

Tammy FL Palm Beach, Prison, Jail, Facility Closures