It'll move towards privatisation… wait and see.

Mind you, Kingston Pen has been a hellish, toxic anachronism for decades: it was built in the 1830s.

I lived for several years within sight of the front gate of the Kingston pen. I was a doctoral student at the time. I still remember the cold morning  my first child was born. I got in my VW to drive to the hospital. I had just reached the prison when my engine seized. I stopped right in front of the gate.

I was flat broke - and saw no hope of money on the horizon. I couldn't afford the bus.  it was minus 30. I pushed my car to the curb just past the prison, and walked to the hospital. That was, I think, the lowest point of my life. And I still associate it with the grimness of that gate to the Kingston pen.

Yes. I expect privatization. In the US, it has led to prison investors bribing judges to ggive longer sentences, including to chldren. It has also proven more expensive that public prisons - and less effective.

For all the above reasons, Harper will probably begin privatization.

I understand that they are expanding existing prisons like Collins Bay. They can do this without a consultation process, and apparently the plan is to put all levels of security in each prison. I can't remember where I read that, maybe CBC news. While I agree that it might be a good time to close Kingston Pen after almost 200 years, it does seem stupid on the heels of the passing of the crime bill. 

Rumor has it that this corp has lobbied the conservative gov't for quite some time.

http://www.geogroup.com/

Why am I not surprised?

I used to borrow a dinghy to go sailing. The passage from the mooring to Lake Ontario was a narrow one. The wind was blowing in from the lake. One side of was a bit of land by the prison wall. Some dozen convicts were working there. And calling out invitations to me.

Suddenly, the wind change, and I was carried closer to the shore....more to follow....

putting hardened criminals in double bunks will also make it much more dangerous for the prison guards. They will have to come in two's and three's just to enter the cell for one prisoner.

*****

Why am I not surprised?

I used to borrow a dinghy to go sailing. The passage from the mooring to Lake Ontario was a narrow one. The wind was blowing in from the lake. One side of was a bit of land by the prison wall. Some dozen convicts were working there. And calling out invitations to me.

Suddenly, the wind change, and I was carried closer to the shore....more to follow....

***

WHEN?? Don't keep us waiting!

Graeme: master of the cliffhanger.  

Actually, I able to turn within a boat's length of the shore. But I was pretty worried for a w hile.

Less likely. Already tried in Ontario in the Damned Harris Tory days. It was an expensive failure.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2006/11/10/private-jail.html

You're assuming, of course, that the Harris Tories in Harper's cabinet (including Finance Minister Jim Flaherty) actually accept that failure as a sign that private jails are bad in principle rather than just a specific project gone wrong.That sounds like a bit of a leap for hardcore ideologues like the Harris Conservatives. After all, it was the Liberals who made the decision to close it down. Who knows what would have been done if the PCs had remained in power?

Agreed that story is a good argument against the idea. Just not sure that Harper and Co. will buy the argument rather than simply saying "we'll do it differently next time".

Mendalla

Well, hopefully, this will encourage competition and bring aboot some really neat prisons

Like the Village with no walls

Or one based on Dr Timothy Leary's prison experiments

Or one made entirely of candy

look at this bizarre prison-and-Conservative-gov't story

"Inmates at the Milner Ridge jail were able to watch clear-as-day commercials on an explicit channel that was otherwise blocked by their satellite TV service, Justice Minister Andrew Swan said Thursday."

The porn was too dangerous for these inmates????

Well, you don't want them to learn bad things in the pen.