QUEBEC JAILS NEARING CRISIS: REPORT

January 26, 1999
From the Montreal Gazette
letters@thegazette.southam.ca
http://www.montrealgazette.com/
http://forums.canada.com/~montreal

By Sean Gordon and Kate Swoger

After a year-long study of Quebec prisons, ombudsman Daniel Jacoby finds dangerous overcrowding, rampant drug use and a tension-ridden system that must be fixed immediately.

Quebec prisons are in a terrible mess and on the brink of crisis, says a wide-ranging 80-page report released yesterday by the provincial ombudsman.

After a year-long study of the system, Daniel Jacoby’s findings paint a dismal picture of dilapidated jails, rampant drug use, dangerous overcrowding and a tension-ridden corrections system.

"It’s a mess," said Jacoby, a former Quebec deputy minister of justice and lawyer. "I don’t know if I would yet call it dramatic, but there is a situation of crisis."

The report, compiled after visits to the province’s 17 correctional institutions, features 53 recommendations.

Among the key findings, Jacoby calls for the immediate suspension of proposed budget cuts in the penal system, an examination of the prison drug policy and the closing of at least one institution.

"The budget cuts have seriously compromised the system’s ability to provide for the safety of inmates and guards," Jacoby said.

"We have noticed an alarming increase in the number of substantiated inmate complaints.

"We find that many disciplinary methods are abusive and the level of training and counseling for inmates is unacceptable," he said.

"There is a commercial enterprise of drug dealing in the prisons," he said.

(Marijuananews note: The Canadian dollar is around 65 cents US.)

Another startling conclusion: the inmate population in Quebec has the highest suicide rate of any prison system in the country - a rate that is seven times that of the provincial average.

And Jacoby found the overcrowding problem is worst in Montreal’s Bordeaux jail and Quebec’s Orsainville prison.

Provincial figures show there are 3,700 prison inmates in Quebec at any given time. Most are incarcerated for very short periods of time, in fact, the law mandates that only inmates serving sentences shorter than two years be housed in provincial prisons. About 35 per cent of inmates currently housed in provincial jails are awaiting trial.

Reacting to the report, Public Security Minister Serge Menard told a press conference yesterday that the main problems with prisons is overcrowding.

"We’re in the strange situation where criminal activity is going down, but the number of prisoners is going up," he said.

But Menard said he was skeptical that Quebec would find more money in its next budget for spending on prisons.

"I can make a request - like the other ministers," he said. "But I’m realistic. We will continue to cut (the budget) for at least one year."

Menard pointed out that, for example, jailing those who cannot afford to pay fines for traffic violations adds to the overcrowding problem.

He added that such prisoners are also taking up much needed space in rehabilitation programs.

He said the recent increase in convictions of organized criminals has also contributed to the troubled prison environment. Menard explained that his government’s policy of zero tolerance for organized criminals, like bikers, has meant many of them are being put in prison for minor infractions. They go to provincial jails rather than federal penitentiaries, he said.

Menard agreed that drug use and drug sales run rampant in jails. His department, he said, will work harder to tackle this problem.

When asked if he thought Quebec needs more prisons, Menard said the province needs to consider alternatives to putting people behind bars.

"I can’t say we jail people too much, but I can say one thing, we jail people more than other (Western) countries, except for the United States."

He said he has already promised the ombudsman the co-operation of all his department’s staff to attack the most serious problems.

The ombudsman’s report held few surprises for both the union representing the province’s prison guards and a Quebec inmate-rights group.

"The thing that I find striking about this report is the similarities it bears toward a 1985 ombudsman’s report by Yves Labonte," said Jean-Claude Bernheim, of the Prisoners Rights Office of Quebec. "We’ve been saying for years that there’s a crisis. There’s nothing new to these concerns."

Bernheim cited the report’s conclusions that prisoners’ rights are systematically violated as the most damning.

"We’ve always found these difficulties with guards abusing the rights of the inmates, most of whom, we have to remember, are there for an average of three months," Bernheim said.

Bernheim said his office’s research shows that nearly 40 per cent of inmates sent to jail each year are locked up for failing to pay fines.

Gilles Bergeron, head of the Syndicats des Agents de la Paix en Services Correctionels du Quebec, which represents about 1,900 guards, presents a different interpretation.

"For years, we’ve been putting a Band-aid on the wound hoping it will go away.

"Our biggest problem are the budget cuts. We just don’t have the resources to separate inmates. At mealtime, there are 180 inmates, with sometimes only four guards watching them," Bergeron said.

He said that deteriorating conditions are the result of increased drug and gang activity, particularly on the part of the legions of warring gangs housed in the institutions.

He admitted that sometimes the prison situation escalates to the point where guards act inappropriately and circumvent the prisoners’ rights.

"There comes a time where the violence is so great that officers aren’t reacting the same way anymore. Nobody thinks that’s good, but it’s how it is," Bergeron said.

Despite their differing views on the report, the guards and the inmate-rights group were united in their appeal for action from Menard.

"We would hope that the minister will take this seriously, and move ahead and act on them," Bergeron said.

His sentiments were echoed by Bernheim, who said the government will either "take the ombudsman seriously, or show they don’t care what he says, like other governments have done."

The Liberals’ corrections critic also said it’s incumbent on the government to act.

"It’s completely inconceivable that inside these detention centres it’s no longer possible to ensure total and adequate protection for inmates," said MNA Jacques Dupuis, a former crown prosecutor who worked closely with the province’s biker task force.

Jacoby recommended that the province abolish 23-hour confinement, renovate a handful of institutions where conditions are a threat to the inmates’ health and not house more than two inmates per cell.

The province cut $5.2 million from its prison budget last year and 600 jobs have been lost in the prison system.