More prison cells do not make society safer

Remand project a return to old ways, says Shawn Fraser.

On June 17, the government of Saskatchewan announced its plan to spend $120 million on 430 new remand beds at the Saskatoon Correctional Facility.

The Saskatchewan justice system has a real fondness for remand. In fact, Saskatchewan puts more people in remand than nearly any other province, and at a rate almost double the national average, 100 per 100,000 adults in

2019 vs. an average of 50 per 100,000 across the country.

It is important to remember that remand beds are not actually for people who have been convicted of a crime. They are for people who have been accused of a crime and are just waiting, usually without access to programming, until they can see a judge in our congested court system.

While overcrowding is a serious issue in Saskatchewan prisons, trying to solve the problem by adding more beds is like dealing with some unwanted pounds by buying a bigger belt.

Along with not making our streets safer, investing in more prison beds is the most expensive response to crime. In this case, to the tune of more than $500,000 per cell.

Some in Saskatchewan might sleep more soundly knowing there will soon be more people locked away. Others see 430 new prison beds as preparation for 430 people who we have already given up on: 430 people in our communities; 430 youth in our schools; 430 of our future children and grandchildren with a bunk there waiting for them. We keep immaculate statistics on race in Saskatchewan prisons. We know with some certainty that at any given time around 344 of these 430 beds will be filled with Indigenous men. There is such a thing as a hand up. There is such a thing as a hand out. But there is also such a thing as a hand that pushes people down. That is what this investment feels like to many of us.

The truth is that more cells do not make communities safer. Less crime does, and we

But there is also such a thing as a hand that pushes people down.

should focus our efforts there.

Rather than building more remand spaces, we should be addressing the root causes of crime.

The path to get into our prison system often involves some combination of personal choice and social determinants of incarceration. Our governments thankfully have little control over most of our personal choices, but they have a huge responsibility when it comes to the social determinants that help account for who and how many people end up in prison.

This includes:

■ Investing in education;

■ Investing in rural and northern communities; Helping to build trust in our policing and justice systems;

■ Providing access to employment for those leaving the criminal justice system so that they do not come back;

■ Providing access to mental health and addiction treatments, which currently do not nearly meet the need of individuals and families desperately seeking help;

■ Ending homelessness.

The government definitely needs to find ways to stimulate the economy right now, helping to create needed jobs in these very uncertain times. It also needs to be strategic with our money. When thinking of outcomes, this scale of investment in homelessness or mental health and addictions could have a far greater impact on crime than warehousing people in remand.

The pandemic has provided many challenges for the Saskatchewan Justice system. Some important lessons have also been learned. Since March, the province has quietly released or deferred more than 30 per cent of the Saskatchewan prison population, more than 500 people who would otherwise be behind bars, without causing a corresponding spike in crime or decrease in public safety. This has brought Saskatchewan’s remand incarceration numbers down to a rate that, while still higher, is more similar to that of Ontario’s and Quebec’s regular rate.

We do not have to go back. Though these new beds are a clear signal of a return to old ways. If you build it, they will come.

Shawn Fraser is CEO of the John Howard Society of Saskatchewan.