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BC Builds More Jail Cells
Feb 15, 2008
Stark Raven Media Collective
BC is adding more jail cells to the provincial prison system.
More than 100 new beds will be added to each of two Maple Ridge prisons, the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre and the Alouette Correctional Centre for Women.The Prince George Regional Correctional Centre will also receive 20 new cells for women.
The government says the expansion will mean women being held at the Surrey Pretrial Centre will be able to move to ACCW. Surrey currently has one wing for women and is know as a hellhole of a jail.The government says the new prison beds are to accommodate a rising number of prisoners and will help reduce overcrowding.
BC’s prisoner population has risen by more than 500 over the past three years. The province's nine jails currently incarcerate about 2,700 people.
More than half of these prisoners are in jail awaiting trail. This means less than half of those in the provincial system have actually been convicted of a crime.The provincial prisoner population is expected to continue to increase in the coming years. With all the new tough on crime bills being introduced at the federal level, provincial prisoner rates could skyrocket.
Activists are questioning this plan for prison expansion.Community advocates argue that instead of expanding and building new prisons, the money could more effectively be spent on housing, treatment for addiction and toward alleviating other factors that lead people to break minor laws.
Sources Articles:Dramatic Increase in Numbers of Prisoners on Remand (prisonjustice.ca)
www.opinion250.com
www.canada.com
www2.news.gov.bc.ca