Minister rejects new jail proposal
Building a bigger jail to ease overcrowding at Ottawa’s jail is too “simple” a solution that would fail both taxpayers and society as a whole, Ontario’s minister of community safety and correctional services said Friday.
Yasir Naqvi said critics like former Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin, who have called on him to build a bigger jail, are proposing expensive solutions that would take years to build and only create a situation where even more people can be locked up.
“We have to focus on the root causes. We all have to understand that the issue is overcrowding, there are more people in our correctional institutions than there should be,” said Naqvi. “By building more jails, you are essentially building more capacity, and five years from now you’ll be at square one. You haven’t really addressed the real problem. What we need to focus on is to reduce the demand for jails. That’s where my focus is. That’s where real transformation takes place.”
Naqvi said the challenge now is finding solutions so that “not everyone who comes into contact with the criminal justice system gets sent to a correctional institution.” Those solutions should include bail reform so that fewer people are held pending trial and better services for those who are mentally ill.
“It’s to see who’s coming in, what circumstances are they coming in to our care and custody, and is a correctional institution the right place for them or not,” said Naqvi, who participated in the announcement of $1.5 million in provincial funding toward the construction of a new 30-bed residential youth addiction treatment centre Friday.
“If someone has serious mental health or addiction challenges, is sending them to a correctional institution, is that the right place?” he asked.
Naqvi said the ministry’s hands are “a bit tied” because they have to take people who are sent to them by the courts, but the ministry is exploring ways to reduce the strain on overcrowded jails like the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre.
Naqvi said the ministry has launched a pilot project to build a centre to handle weekend prisoners in London, Ont. with the goal of reducing overcrowding on weekends and the amount of contraband that comes in. However, no such capital projects have been planned for Ottawa.
“For me transformation of the system is not just building more jail space. I think we are failing our society, I think we are failing our taxpayers, if that’s the solution we think is appropriate. I think our real challenge is how to reduce the demand for jail,” he said.
Naqvi said he is encouraging everyone to give him ideas about how to accomplish those goals.
“I will be the first to say the status quo cannot continue,” he said.