Day says new prisons needed for 'unreported crimes'

[mingless]

When it is clear that crime rates are going down, why do we need more people in prison, anyway?

Who will they fill those new cells with if there aren't enough violent criminals? We know they won't be left empty.

I think this is the argument Day is trying to address. People say "why do we need more prisons, when crime rates are on the decline?" He says, in response, that crime rates aren't really on the decline. Only the reporting rates are, for some reason.

Not that I'm saying I agree with him - our prison system is incredibly ineffective, and more prisons would solve nothing, even if Day were right.

I just think that's where he's coming from.

[Fabulous Fred]

Maybe he plans to round up all the illegal immigrants .....

That made me laugh.

[mingless]

Whoops! I see I'm not the first person to make that point.

[The Gooch]

Crime rates may be going down, but our population is increasing so it could be a mathematical exercise that results still in an increase of incarcerated individuals. When talking about actual number cells the rates of criminality is not very useful unless the population size remains the same.

[The Gooch]

The money should be spent on secure and non-secure mental health facilities. Ask any cop or guard--they are tired of having to deal with the mentally ill because the govt won't.

The money saved from the government largesse that deals with homelessness could easily fund most of these facilities as well. More savings and we would actually be helping these people. WIN/WIN

[styky]

The money should be spent on secure and non-secure mental health facilities. Ask any cop or guard--they are tired of having to deal with the mentally ill because the govt won't.

The money saved from the government largesse that deals with homelessness could easily fund most of these facilities as well. More savings and we would actually be helping these people. WIN/WIN

then you'll love this little bit of news.....

Families fear worst as groups homes cut


By Jody Paterson, Times Colonist July 30, 2010



I met with three families recently who are frightened by rumours they're hearing about the group homes where some of their family members live. They're not alone.

Back when B.C. was closing the big institutions like Woodlands and Glendale in the 1980s and 1990s, group homes housing four to six people were touted as the way of the future for people with severe mental handicaps -- and money-savers to boot.

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/health/Fam ... z0veSW3qkY

[The Gooch]

The money should be spent on secure and non-secure mental health facilities. Ask any cop or guard--they are tired of having to deal with the mentally ill because the govt won't.

The money saved from the government largesse that deals with homelessness could easily fund most of these facilities as well. More savings and we would actually be helping these people. WIN/WIN

then you'll love this little bit of news.....

Families fear worst as groups homes cut


By Jody Paterson, Times Colonist July 30, 2010



I met with three families recently who are frightened by rumours they're hearing about the group homes where some of their family members live. They're not alone.

Back when B.C. was closing the big institutions like Woodlands and Glendale in the 1980s and 1990s, group homes housing four to six people were touted as the way of the future for people with severe mental handicaps -- and money-savers to boot.

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/health/Fam ... z0veSW3qkY

I swear the governments always use these types of situations to justify a tax increase. We want more money so we tell the public unless they pony up there will be an increase to their safety concerns. There are many places to cut, but they certainly don't get people to empy their wallets like a scare to their security or that of their children.

[Salty Bob]

This government is giving me the creeps.

I'm going to frame that post.

[Harry]

The logic escaped me as well.

I think he's implying or he believes that the conservatives are going to solve this unreported crime problem.

I think the Tories are getting ready to get touch on sentencing and longer sentences mean more people in prisons at any given time. Also, they intend to clamp down on judges letting people go who really should be in jail. I am all for it. Get them off the streets.

[NeoLuddite]

Stockwell Day is a latter-day Don Quixote -

Tilting at windmills

[J.B. Stone]

"Build it and they will come".....



For Sale: $4,000,000

[Shibumi 2]

Take a pill folks.

This current crime bill is getting rid of the 2 for 1 or 3 for one credit while awaiting trial, therefore longer sentences. Then Stat release is going bye bye, therefore longer sentences. To be more correct I guess it is not longer sentences, just longer time frames served behing bars. The system really needs to go back to the old time ERD, but that was done away with by Liberals back in their soft on crime days.

My Institution has approved double bunking now as we are jammed to the rafters and no end in sight. That is when the trouble really begins. We are fast-tracked for a new 96 unit addition which will probably take a couple of years to get built so yes I can see why the politicians are talking about building new jails. It would be irresponsible for them to just take the hard line on crime and then have nowhere to put them once convicted.

As for not reporting crime, I have had my vehicles broken into three times over the last five years. I didn't report any of them. Police in Edmonton have a bad reputation and a certain stigma attatched to them. Some of it very well deserved and some not. Prime example, I stopped off at a convenience store on my way home from work two winters ago. It was a blizzard type day and I find a cell phone in the parking lot. I take it into the store and inquire if anyone is missing this cell phone. No one was so three days later I take it to the police station. At this point I am in full uniform and I explain to the cop behind the desk where and when I found it. All he says to me is along the lines of "well that took you long enough". I am thinking to myself well next time I will just throw it in a garbage can and you can stuff the attitude up your @ss.

[Kate Shaw]

I once had someone steal the battery and point plate off my motorcycle. When I reported it the cop askd, *Do you know who did it?* I informed him that if I DID know who did it, I would be over at his house with a gun and not pestering the cops.

It is truly no use reporting most crime. If they do manage to catch the bad guys, the judge lets them out instantly and they go right back to what they were doing. And they likely come back to your house and teach you not to report them.

Just find them yourself and beat the crap out of them. They will not arrest you either.

[LAR]

It sure looks like deciding they want to build new prisons and then making up any reason they can think of for doing it.

[Connie Fournier]

It sure looks like deciding they want to build new prisons and then making up any reason they can think of for doing it.

Well, they can't very well tell us they are making room in there for US, can they??