Canada’s prisons overcrowded, increasingly violent: ombudsman

Canada’s prisons are overcrowded, increasingly violent and lacking in rehabilitation programs, says a new report from Canada’s prison ombudsman. “It is a sobering and cautionary experience to walk through any of Canada’s federal penitentiaries or provincial jails today,” the report said, which was authored by federal correctional investigator Howard Sapers. The watchdog also reported that corrections staff are showing and drawing their guns more often, and lockdowns are becoming routine. The number of inmates sharing cells has also increased by 50 per cent in the last five years. Sapers’ message to a news conference today was that “conditions are undermining corrections,” and stated that an increase in minimum mandatory sentences has led to the overcrowding.

Montreal Gazette