2704...Jail Jail Jail

Thoughts thoughts thoughts.

For starters fifteen per cent of prisoners are affiliated with gangs; twenty per cent have killed someone and are doing life for that murder.

From the Kingston Whig-Standard:

Gangtypes

2,079

prisoners

are affiliated with gangs.

- - -

Organized Crime 11.83%

Motorcycle 19.53%

Street 32.13%

Asian 4.67%

Aboriginal 24.82%

Other .02%

O

- - -

Costs of keeping an offenderincarcerated, 2007-08

$135,870

maximum security, males only

$87,498

medium security, males only

$89,377

minimum security, males only

$182,506

women's facilities

- - -

Reported physical injuries toInmates, 2009-2010

1,656inmates (approximately 8.3% of the population) sustained 2,258 injuries in 2009-2010

41%of injuries were the result of inmate assaults and inmate fights

19.7%of injuries were self inflicted

17.7%of injuries were the result of an accident

736incidents of self harm were reported (self inflicted injuries, attempted suicides, threats to commit suicide and overdose interrupted), up 32% from the previous year

- - -

Offenders

Corporate facts

2010-11 total annual budget:

$2,460.2 M

Approximate number of employees:

16,587

Amongst the 16,587 employees:

7,297Correctional Officers/ Managers

2,761Parole/Program Officers (Welfare Programs

$109,699

Annual average cost of

maintaining a federal offender in an institution

$29,476

Annual average cost of

maintaining a federal offender in the community

National headquarters:

Ottawa

5 regional headquarters

(Moncton, N.B., Laval, Que., Kingston, Ont., Saskatoon, Sask. and Abbotsford, B.C.)

57 penitentiaries

(eight maximum level, 20 medium level, 16 minimum level and 13 multi-level security)

84 parole offices

(including 8 Parole District Offices)

16 Community Correctional Centres (CCCs)

200 Community

Residential Facilities (CRFs) Of those currently incarcerated:

23%are serving life sentences

3%of the total incarcerated population are designated as Dangerous Offenders

20%are serving time for first or second degree murder

14%are sex offenders

27%have a robbery conviction

21%are drug offenders

57%have substance abuse problems identified in their current needs assessment

56%have no high school diploma

13%of men have mental health problems

9%were associated with gangs or criminal organizations.

The Stephen Harpers say we have to put more people in jail; the voice of reason,

>"Craig Jones, executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada, blames the war on drugs for escalating problems in prisons.

'What we are seeing is the fulfillment of the promise of drug prohibition,' he said.

'We're seeing more people with gang affiliations -- that's a consequence of the fact 102 years of drug prohibition has brought about the proliferation of drug-trafficking gangs. I view this as the chickens coming home to roost.'

Gang affiliation inside and on the street gives people -- from aboriginal kids to drug-trafficking bikers -- status, protection and money they can't get in 'straight' society, Jones said."

Thems the facts.

Look, the facts are that the laws that pander to the Tory base sound great to the upper and middle classes but don't work so well in the projects.

Ca va?

One last thing to think about: "'When politicians get tough on crime, it has the perversely opposite effect of cementing the coherence and integrity of these crime gangs, because they now have a common enemy,' he said. They can unify with each other and with other gangs against the cops.'"

As if the police did not have a tough enough job.

WFDS