Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Bitter old man mumbles incoherent redundancies

...about prisons and crime.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Wednesday the federal government is planning to build new units in various prisons across the country, saying the Conservatives will do what it takes "to keep dangerous prisoners behind bars."

Yes Vic, prisoners by definition are behind bars. 
 
"We believe that dangerous, repeat offenders should remain in prison until their debt to society has been paid," Toews said. "The rights of law-abiding Canadian citizens should trump the interests of [criminals]."
Uh, yes prisoners already generally serve their debts to society through their prison sentences. In prison. Because they are prisoners. Law-abiding citizens don't normally end up in prisons. 
 
What exactly are you trying to say, Vic? Mandatory life sentences without parole for all crimes? 
 
Is your prison rationale based on..on..the same sort of "principle" driving your government's decision about the long-form Census?

9 comments:

Beijing York said...

Have they bothered to put a price tag on this initiative? I'm curious how they go about calculating how many new units they need when they don't have any stats with which to make projections. F*cking assholes.

Greg said...

The important thing is that they make prisons a lot more miserable for prisoners so that fewer people will commit crimes*.


* - does not actually work.

Beijing York said...

So why is the expansion limited to Ontario and Quebec? How do they know most of the unreported criminals reside in these two provinces?

Alison said...

Rather than build more prison units, they could just decriminalize victimless crimes ie. drug use and prostitution offenses. That would open up more space than they could possibly use for dangerous offenders. But that would be sensible and financially prudent, and that would never do for the Harpie's.

Dana said...

Alison, you miss the point.

The people you mention are exactly the people the new prisons are being built for.

Orwell's Bastard said...

Hey come on now, you folks are coming at this all wrong. Think of this as an investment opportunity!

Big money in private prisons, you know.

Alison said...

Hey! There's another Alison in here!

Provinces on hook for any extra prison costs

"It's up to the provinces to find their share of the money to handle an expected surge in the prison population, says Public Safety Minister Vic Toews

The parliamentary budget officer predicts legislation that will see many prisoners serve additional time behind bars could cost more than $10 billion over five years, with the federal government shelling out $5 billion and provincial governments more."

And this despite the fact even Toews is now admitting overall crime rates are down.

double nickel said...

Yes, but unreported crimes are reportedly going through the roof.

kootcoot said...

Maybe I'm committing an "unreported" crime and will be arrested and jailed! Characterizing Toews as a bitter old man shows disrepect for genuine old people with an excuse for their incoherence.

Maybe we can follow the entire California adventure - build lots of jails, go broke and then legalize pot to make room in the jails and pay for the prisoners' meals.