In Canada, prisons exist to punish and counsel offenders. Prison conditions have worsened over the years and the need for prison reform has become a serious issue. Canada’s prisons are not meeting the needs of inmates and society.
In Canada there are many changes that need to take place within the prison system in order to meet the needs offenders. The government needs to recognize these issues revolving around the prison system and address them. The article “What is a ‘healing lodge’ and why does Canada’s prison system need more” written by Andy Johnson addresses the issue aboriginals are having with establishing healing lodges.The article “Record-high prison numbers sparking violence,” written by Maureen Brosnahan talks about overcrowding in prison’s.
The way prisons are running now and the conditions in prison clearly show there is a need for prison reform. Due to the fact that establishing healing lodges has been an issue since 1992, inmates have to deal with poor living conditions in prison, and regular prisons are not fulfilling the needs of the Aboriginal society, which shows that the issues need to be addressed by adding more healing lodges and prison cells. To start off, the issue of establishing healing lodges has been an ongoing problem since 1992.Healing lodges are correctional facilities which meet the needs of aboriginal offenders.
In 1992, parliament passed a law that allowed aboriginals, to establish and run healing lodges. However, the issue is that since then only 4 agreements have been made to operate new healing lodges. According to an article by Andy Johnson (2013), Howard Saper, Canada’s correctional investigator, says, “In 1992 when the law was passed the situation was considered critical. Now it’s dramatically worse,” this shows that the issue of establishing more healing lodges is becoming a greater problem as time progresses.
This means if the government does not act now, to build more healing lodges the issue can get worse in the future. Also, the issue of not many new healing lodges being built shows that there is a need for prison reform. Prison reform in the form of building more healing lodges can help aboriginal inmates get better correctional treatment. The issue revolving around healing lodges is serious and the government needs to act now.
Next, individuals are negatively impacted by the poor living conditions they have to deal with in prison, which is the result of overcrowding in prisons.Canada’s prison population has reached an all-time high but no new prisons have been established. This results in inmates having to double bunk with other inmates, which is taking away their rights and freedoms to adequate care and protection in prison. Double bunking means that inmates are forced to share a cell fit for one, which means there is a loss of privacy.
In an article written by Maureen Brosnahan(2012), Howard Sapers says, “Putting two inmates in a single cell means an inevitable loss of privacy and dignity, and increases the potential for tension and violence.It’s a practice that’s contrary to staff and inmate safety,” which shows how bad the living conditions in prisons are getting. This clearly shows that the government is trying to reduce prison costs by putting two inmates in one cell, which is putting both the inmates and the staff at risk. Next, prisoners are not being given adequate protection because when two inmates are put in one cell there is a high chance that there will be violence between the inmates.
This is also putting the life of the staff members at risk, because they are going to be the one trying to resolve the violence.These facts clearly show that prison reform is needed to improve the living conditions of inmates in prison. These issues need to be addressed so that inmates are given the rights they deserve. Furthermore, the aboriginal society is having problems with Canada’s prison system.
Due to the lack of healing lodges aboriginals are being forced to go to normal prison, which do not meet their needs. This means that aboriginals are having their rights to an appropriate prison taken away.An article written by, Andy Johnson (2013) explains how lodges were created over concerns that regular prisons were not working for aboriginals, and that there is a need of more healing lodges. According to this, aboriginals are finding it hard to stay in normal prison and that healing lodges are more suitable to meet the needs of aboriginal inmates.
According to an article by Andy Johnson (2013), aboriginals make up about 23 percent of the population in federal penitentiaries. This means almost ? of inmates are aboriginals and a lot of aboriginals have to stay in normal prison.Since there are a lot of aboriginal inmates, the government should find ways to account for all of them by establishing more healing lodges. Also, since the number of aboriginal inmates has doubled since 1987, it is most likely that the number can increase.
Which means there needs to be more healing lodges to account for all those possible offenders in the future. Prison reform needs to take place in order to meet the needs of the aboriginal society. Finally, solutions to the problems Canada’s prison system is having would be to establish more healing lodges and add more prison cells.First, adding more healing lodges would be a very good way to help aboriginal inmates, and resolve the problems that aboriginal inmates face in normal prison.
Also, the government needs to provide funding in order to establish and maintain healing lodges, because aboriginals may not have enough money to do so. An effort can be made by people, by volunteering at the healing lodges to help the inmates. Next, adding more prison cells will resolve most of the problems inmates are having in prison.According to an article written by Maureen Brosnahan (2012) the government is planning to spend $600 million to create 2700 new prison cell across Canada, but this is going to take several years.
This is just a small step towards change; the government needs to act now. Also, 2700 cells will not be enough, the government will need to add many more cells or build more prisons. Building more cells will resolve the privacy issue inmates are having, and stop upcoming violence that can occur between inmates. Doing this will give inmates the right to adequate care and protection.
Building more healing lodges and adding more prison cells are a great way to resolve the problems in the prison system. In conclusion, the issue of establishing healing lodges has been ongoing since 1992, an individual has to deal with poor living conditions in prison, and the prison system does not meet the needs of aboriginals suggests that more healing lodges and prison cells need to be added in Canada. Prison reform is a serious issue and cannot be considered a joke. There needs to be a change now, because the tensions are just rising.
To conclude, everyone is connected to the prison system, and everyone should help improve it.
