Stockwell Day announces $15M, 96-bed prison expansion in Mission

By Christina Toth, The Times

 

Mission Institution will be the first federal prison in the Pacific Region to see expansion to take in an expected increase in inmates, following a change in federal law regarding time served prior to conviction.

 

On Monday morning, Okanagan-Coquihalla MP Stockwell Day made the official announcement at the federal prison, outlining the new $15-million, 96-bed unit to be built on the south side of the medium-security institution's perimeter. Day, the former Minister of Public Safety, was filling on behalf of the current minister, Vic Toews.

 

The increase is due to the federal Truth in Sentencing Act passed in February, which ends the two-for-one credit for time served by inmates while they are in remand and on trial in provincial custody.

 

(For instance, Michael Froese was sentenced two weeks ago in Abbotsford to four years for the fatal stabbing of Paul Denis, but will serve two years due to the credited time he was in custody prior to his trial.)

 

"Citizens are not impressed with discount crime," said Day. "It's an injustice to the victims and to the community."

 

The new legislation will apply to offences committed after Feb. 3, 2010.

 

Earlier this month the District of Mission released a letter by facility warden Diane Knopf regarding the expansion.

 

Knopf wrote the Correctional Service Canada is expected to put out a request for contract proposals in August, with construction to begin in the fall. The living unit is based on an existing plan, which should shorten the tendering and building process, she added.

 

To provide services for the additional inmates, CSC will also build a professional building at Mission Institution for programs, education, health care and office space, as well as another parking lot.

 

Knopf said 30 more employees, including correctional officers, psychologists, aboriginal elders, office staff and others will be hired.

 

Mission Mayor James Atebe told Day the $15-million project, along with other federally-funded stimulus work in the district, will have a long-term economic spinoff locally.

 

"The economic multiplier effect is good for the community. The $15 million, once invested, will have a trickle effect in terms of jobs and services," Atebe said.

 

The system has about 13,767 inmates under federal jurisdiction at its 57 prisons, housing offenders serving two years or more. It's expected to absorb an additional 3,400 offenders nationally over the next three years, CSC commissioner Don Head wrote in public communiqué this June.

 

The in-custody inmate population is expected to jump by about 30 per cent by 2013.

 

Until the new units are built, some inmates at Mission Institution may be double-bunked, where two inmates are required to share one cell due to space restrictions.

 

"There will be an increase in shared cell accommodation and the addition of over 2,700 spaces across our penitentiaries to handle this population growth," Head wrote.

 

The practise is not new to the federal system, but double-bunking has been criticized in the past as it adds to tensions in the prison environment and can create safety risks for correctional officers.

 

However, CSC spokesman Alain Charette said Monday that "inmates will be carefully chosen to ensure they are compatible," before they are bunked together.

 

As well, CSC will make "every effort" to get inmates in the appropriate programs they need as soon as possible, he said.

 

Mission's minimum security Ferndale Institution may also be expanded, but Day would not confirm that.

 

He would only say that CSC will assess its needs over the next few years to determine where the expansions will be.

 

Mission Institution currently has 275 inmates, and is "pretty well at capacity," said Knopf.

 

Springhill Institution in Nova Scotia will also be expanded, and calls for bids went out two weeks ago.