A
call to faith communities
from the Church Council
on Justice and Corrections
(CCJC)
(Please find CCJC’s letter to the Prime
Minister here .
The following text from the
Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC) outlines the development of
this most recent request for support.
Dear Friends,
Recently The
Church Council on Justice and Corrections has worked in collaboration with the
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in the creation of a letter sent to the
Prime Minister expressing our concern with the government’s plans to increase
the capacity of Canada’s prison system and the introduction of new legislation
that will result in higher rates of incarceration.
The concerns
expressed in the attached letter were communicated to the PM by Bishop Gary
Gordon of the Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops in October. Furthermore,
Bishop Susan Johnson of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Canada also
wrote to the minister of public safety on the same matter.
During
restorative justice week in Winnipeg at events sponsored by the Manitoba
Interfaith Council's committee on corrections about fifty church and faith
leaders and citizens supportive endorsed and signed the letter which was then
sent to the Office of the Prime Minister.
Please find our
letter to the Prime Minister attached to this e-mail, along with church
bulletin inserts to be used at your discretion.
We encourage
all of you as individuals, as members of faith communities and as Canadians, to
consider how these changes will affect your lives and the character of our
society. CCJC urges all of our networks to take the time to also express
your opinion on these issues.
Sincerely,
The Church
Council on Justice and Corrections
Caleb Ratzlaff
Assistant Coordinator
Church Council on Justice and Corrections
303-200 Isabella Street
Ottawa, ON
K1S 1V7
T: (613) 563-1688 x 103
F: (613) 237-6129
www.ccjc.ca
CCJC FACTS on the co$t of Prisons:
(A CCJC jpg poster with this information is available and attached to this mailing.)
$23,901- average cost of provincial prisoners
13,500 is the average number of prisoners in remand
This means that 57% of those kept in jail are there without conviction
The ratio between sentences resulting in going to federal vs provincial prisons in 2008-2009 is 4% federal and 96% provincial
In
Federal prisons, 31% of inmates are determined to be non-violent, 69%
are determined to be violent; in provincial prison, 78% are determined
to be non-violent and 22% are determined as violent.
Here's one of the real questions to ask:
If the majority of prisoners are non-violent, and at least 57% have not even been convicted, why is imprisonment the solution?
Perhaps it is for financial reasons...
Let's see!
In
2003-2004, the average cost of holding a federal prisoner was $83,376.
In 2008-2009, the average cost was $101,666. On the other hand, the
average cost when the offender is maintained in the community is
$24,825.
Community maintenance is 75% less expensive!!!
A provincial example of costs:
Average Cost of remand per day in Ottawa in 2008-2009 - $153.38
Average cost per individual in the community is:
$3.29 for supervision; $54 per day for supportive housing
Total
is $57.29 or more than double the cost of remand when we house in jail
before trial those who could be safely supervised in the community.
WHO SAID
BUILDING MORE JAILS
AND FILLING THEM LONGER
IS A GOOD USE OF OUR TAX
DOLLARS?
The
federal government has a “tough on crime” policy which in the near future will
result in spending more than $11 billion dollars on building more prisons for
more people jailed for longer sentences.
Then the operational costs are likely to add another $5 billion over the
next five years, all while crime statistics are going down and have been for
the last decade. At a time when deficits
are high and will likely drain funds from social services, it’s time for all to
acknowledge that tough on crime simply means spending more and more money on an
approach to crime that does not work for victims, offenders, their families or
their communities.
RESOURCES...
Here
are some of the sites you can visit that lay out the concerns of a growing
number of faith communities and their leaders.
Church
Council on Justice and Correction web page is found here (CCJC):
CCJC
Letter to Prime Minister Harper: http://ccjc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/CCJC-letter-to-PM-re-prison-building_Dec-2010.pdf
Globe
and Mail Commentary: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/coalition-of-churches-condemns-ottawas-justice-plan/article1884171
CBC
As it happens Interview (cf Part 2) with Lorraine Berzins, Chair of Community
Justice, CCJC: A very helpful exposé of
the concerns http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/episode/2011/01/27/thursday-january-27-2011
2010
Restorative Justice Material: http://www.ccjc.ca/restorative_justice.html
Western
Catholic Reporter: “Clang those prison doors shut!” http://www.wcr.ab.ca/WCRThisWeek/Stories/tabid/61/entryid/151/Default.aspx
(CCJC has also prepared a bulletin insert for
our prison facts graphic and our letter. Both can be found here: infographic bulletin insert pdf
& jpg, CCJC’s
letter bulletin insert, Infographic poster pdf & jpg) Go here .
To be in touch with CCJC:
Lorraine Berzins lberzins@ccjc.ca or Caleb Tatzlaff cratzlaff@ccjc.ca
Let us pray and work for the conversion of heart spoken by
Ezekiel 11:19:
“I will give them a different
heart and put a new spirit into them; I will take the heart of stone out of
their bodies and give them a heart of flesh.”
ISARC Editor’s Note:
(Ordinarily,
ISARC is pre-occupied with provincial anti-poverty affairs, not federal. We make an exception here for a disturbing
development that sees us adding to the fiscal (and social) deficit for futile
advantage while people go hungry in our Canada. The matters raised by Bishop
Gary Gordon of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Lutheran Bishop
Susan Johnson, Omega Bula, Executive
Minister, Partners in Mission Unit, The United Church of Canada, and the appeal by the Church
Council on Justice and Corrections are matters for conscience. As the documents so rightly point out, 57% of
those in jail are not yet convicted of any crime and most of these are held in
provincial institutions. Jail separates
and isolates all involved in the justice process; jail is a punishment approach
to crime and a self-perpetuating institution that further harms victims,
offenders, their families and their communities. Community response to crime is desperate for
resources while we as a nation are spending huge amounts of money on an
approach that has been repeatedly demonstrated as further harmful. ISARC invites your listening heart and
whatever actions you may decide in support of the CCJC campaign. While CCJC is an ecumenical rather than an
interfaith coalition, the issues are of deep concern to all faith communities.)
