Harris Tories won't invest in private jails for Kingston

The City of Kingston is off the province's list of sites for future correctional investments.

City council endorsed a union resolution several weeks ago criticizing the Ontario government for plans to privatize jails.

Corrections minister Rob Sampson - a Kingstonian - replied promptly to the city, guaranteeing to take Kingston off the list of communities where future investments may occur.

``They asked me to absolutely guarantee there would never be a privately-operated jail in their jurisdiction,'' Sampson told The Whig-Standard Thursday. ``This is the only way I can guarantee that.''

Sampson has come under heavy fire for his innovative use of the private sector in building and operating provincial facilities.

Along with a number of other municipal councils, Kingston supported a resolution of the Ontario Public Sector Employees Union condemning private jails.

The province has no facilities in Kingston. The closest jail is Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee.

The ministry provides local funding for facilities, treatment and programs. Most, if not all, of those services are delivered by the private sector, Sampson said.

``My guess is that somewhere in Kingston, private or not-for-profits are providing services to one or more of the federal institutions as well.''

Though unions have been vocal in their opposition to Sampson's use of the private sector, the minister insists he is not breaking any new ground in the field of privatization.

Councillor Steve Garrison was infuriated by a letter from the minister received by the city this week.

``Our government can certainly respect the local wish. I will take steps to make your determination of this issue a matter of record, and ensure that no planning for future correctional institutional investments in the City of Kingston will occur,'' Sampson wrote.

Garrison said he was ``absolutely appalled'' by what he called ``democratic blackmail.''

Councillor Leonore Foster - the only one who voted against endorsing the OPSEU resolution - said the city simply got what it asked for. Sampson should not be criticized for doing exactly as requested, Foster said.

``It's to be expected. We voiced an opinion,'' she said.

The government is often in trouble for its failure to respond to municipal motions. ``Then they're in trouble when we don't like the reply,'' Foster added, ``and that's what has happened here. We didn't like the reply.''

In some cases, endorsing blanket resolutions is appropriate, Foster said, pointing to a council motion to support laid-off Ministry of Transportation workers who live in the community.

The city ran the risk of drawing the minister's ire when it criticized a ministry that has almost nothing to do with Kingston, Foster added.

``There was no apparent reason for endorsing the resolution, apart from objecting to another level of government's actions that didn't concern us.''

October 19, 2001

Members keep Millbrook safe
Union action prevents possible uprising

A potential bomb was defused at Millbrook Correctional Centre last week when union officials forced management to lock down the institution and search for weapons and drugs in Ontario’s only maximum-security correctional facility.

A health and safety work refusal on the morning of Thurs., Oct. 11 triggered the searches, after union officers learned that management had information indicating that inmates were planning to take over the facility. It is alleged that the employer had been in possession of the information many days prior to informing union officials.

On Wed., Oct. 10, management finally revealed to union officials that they had learned of the inmate plans. Incredibly, the union was asked not to reveal anything to the members. The union refused to withhold the news, and health and safety refusals were initiated the next day.

After a few hitches with the Ministry of Labour, searches began by 3 p.m. Thursday. Searches of the institution uncovered sharpened weapons and a few drugs. In the main yard, at least 15 “shanks” were discovered. Officers also seized large hoards of tobacco, attributed to the fact that Millbrook goes smoke-free on November 2.

Also aggravating the situation at Millbrook is the inclusion of remanded inmates from the Peterborough Jail. As a result, inmates who were previously housed in separate cells are now sharing bunk space.

Pete Wright, chief steward of Local 341, was flabbergasted that management withheld the information as long as they did.

“The safety of our members, the inmates and the institution is our only priority,” Wright said. “There are no secrets between the local executive and the members who elect us, especially when it comes to their safety. Our members stood solidly together, and got the job done.”

Wright also blames a lack of official standing orders and policies at the jail for the unrest.

“We still do not have any firm procedures to deal with remanded offenders,” Wright said. “This facility was never designed for remands, and the confusion isn’t helping the situation.”

It is our firm belief that action by union members at Millbrook C.C. averted what could have been a very dangerous situation. Hats off to the members who made the stand.

Corrections staff at the Windsor Jail are assessing the damage after rampaging inmates took control of a section of the Brock Street lockup Saturday night.

About 25 inmates managed to breach the security door of a cell block shortly before 10 p.m., holding correctional staff and elite tactical officers at bay for several hours while they trashed prisoner areas, including cells and other rooms. Police are still investigating and cannot say what caused the disturbance.

But damage to the jail was sufficient enough that "several" prisoners had to be transferred, Staff Sgt. Neal Jessop said Sunday.

"I'm not calling it a riot," Jessop said. "There's a considerable amount of damage. Obviously it was a very tense situation."

Some prisoners awaiting court appearances today were transferred to holding cells at police headquarters and others transferred to facilities out of town.

No one was injured in the incident and no charges have been laid, Jessop said.

Police set up a perimeter around the jail Saturday night in case the violence spilled outside the prison gates.

Four ambulances were parked outside in case they were needed.

An officer at the scene said the inmates were contained in one section of the jail and not a threat to escape.

"We're just here if we're needed," he said. "It's being handled by corrections people."

At 11:45 p.m., elite correctional service security personnel arrived at the jail from out of town, including negotiators and members of the Ontario Correctional Services Institutional Crisis Intervention Team (ICIT). Dressed in tactical gear and carrying weapons, batons, riot shields and helmets, about 12 of these officers entered the building shortly after midnight.

The situation inside the prison was defused without injury early Sunday morning.

Windsor Jail and Ontario Corrections officials remain tight-lipped about the incident, refusing to answer questions about the rampage.

Jessop said he didn't know how long it will take to repair the damage.

Inside sources attribute the overcrowding of the jail and the government's decision to eliminate tobacco as the cause of the disturbance.
Inmates are down to one package of cigarettes a week and in a short period of time that will be eliminated completely.
The government has instructed their ICIT teams to be ready for the Nov. 1st target date when tobacco is deemed contraband.
CAPP expects there will be problems province-wide.

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Subsidizing of private prisons questioned in report

'May not provide much bang for the buck'

October 22, 2001

WASHINGTON -- Politicians have invested heavily in private prisons, but their communities are not necessarily seeing an economic payoff, a new report shows.

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington-based research center, is urging leaders to end subsidies for prisons.

Over the past 15 years, privately run prisons have popped up around the country, as officials looked for alternatives to crowded government facilities.

The institute's Good Jobs First project found that most of the prisons were built with incentive packages that included things such as property tax breaks, government financing, training grants and construction help.

"Given the relatively low wages paid by the industry and its limited ripple effect on the larger economy, subsidizing private prisons may not provide much bang for the buck," said the report, which was released today.

About three-quarters of the large private prisons had government subsidies, the report found. The study involved 60 private prisons with 500 beds or more in 19 states. Subsidies were given in 17 of the 19 states.

California, which had 24 private prisons as of 1999, is second to Texas, which had 43.

The institute said $628 million in tax-free bonds and other government-issued securities financed some of those private prisons. Voters should have been permitted to decide whether to allow those bonds -- and should be consulted about any future financial help, the institute said.

In the Mississippi Delta, state Sen. David Jordan said a subsidized 1,000-bed state prison has created jobs and brought inmate labor for community projects.

Philip Mattera, an author of the study, said poor communities were frequently chosen for prison sites.

"It's not as if they had a choice between a prison and a factory or a Wal-Mart distribution center. Their only choice may have been a prison or a toxic waste dump, and a prison looked pretty good," he said.

The study focused on incentives, but when the institute contacted officials in most of the areas with private prisons, none had data that showed a prison helped the area's economy, Mattera said.

"A lot of small struggling communities have spent a significant amount of money to bring these prisons into existence," he said. "There's no evidence there's been any payoff for them."

Mattera said 78 percent of the facilities built by Corrections Corporation of America and 69 percent constructed by Wackenhut Corrections Corp. were subsidized.

The same companies that got government assistance on the front end are now being paid by states and the federal government for housing inmates.

Many of the financing packages came from state and local governments. But federal agencies such as the Commerce Department, the Agriculture Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development gave help for some projects, the report said.

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