In a slow but determined shift, Canada’s Conservative government has been making an effort to emphasize punishment in the correctional system. While this is more akin to the justice philosophy of the United States, our system still focuses on rehabilitation.
The kind of philosophical changes the Conservative government wishes to initiate can take time. But while they’re waiting, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has decided to bypass our own system and, where possible, use our neighbours to the South to take care of Canadian criminals.
This past October, three Canadian prisoners were refused transfer back to Canada from the United States. Although both the previous Liberal government and the U.S. had approved these transfers, Day denied the requests of two of these criminals on the basis that they were a “threat to the security of Canada”. He also refused a third, a former NHL player convicted of hiring a hitman to kill his agent.
According to the Correctional Service of Canada, Day approved 37 transfers in 2006-2007; the lowest number since 1993-1994. In 2006, legislation was introduced to raise the age of consent and to impose mandatory sentences for those who commit gun crimes. In the 2007 Speech from the Throne, the Harper government promised to get tough on crime, and one of the focuses of this past election was dealing with young offenders more severely.
The legislation introduced and the attitude expressed concentrate more on punishment and retribution for victims, despite a correctional system which focuses more on rehabilitation rather than punishment. But whatever Day perceives as flaws in our justice system, since when is it appropriate to sentence Canadians in another country because of unhappiness with our own? Admiration of a justice system which favors punishment is not a good enough reason to refuse Canadian prisoners re-admittance.
Two of the offenders refused transfer to Canada were drug dealers. In their case, Day suffered a hand-slap from Federal Court Justice Michael Kelen for his liberal use of the designation of security threat. As a general rule drug dealers don’t inspire a lot of sympathy, but the label of “security threat” was deemed a little alarmist.
The other offender refused transfer was former NHL player Mike Danton. Danton hired a hit man to kill his agent, Robert Frost, who is currently embroiled with a sordid sexual exploitation case involving previous NHL players under his wing. U.S. correctional facilities have noted that Danton has been an exemplary inmate.
Canada is leaving prisoners to a country which has rising crime rates and higher incidence of recidivism. One of the more recent recidivism studies, conducted by the United States Bureau of Justice Statistics showed that in a survey of 300,000 prisoners released in 15 states in 1994, 67.5 per cent were rearrested within three years. In Canada, a Correctional Service of Canada study conducted from 1994 to 1997 found that there was a reconviction rate of 44 per cent among federal offenders.
The prisoners refused transfer this past October are just the ones on the top of the list. There is a varied bouquet of criminal ex-patriots. Many have complained we are giving up on rehabilitation. Others have complained that these prisoners are finally getting the treatment they should have received long ago. But regardless of which philosophy wins out, outsourcing criminals hardly seems the best way to take care of the problem.