Panel to urge curbing early prisoner release
Report will recommend inmates show why they should be let out after two-thirds of time served
Oct 22, 2007
Sue Bailey, THE CANADIAN PRESS

A prison review panel will recommend scrapping the virtually automatic release of federal inmates who've served two-thirds of their time, The Canadian Press has learned.

Curbing statutory release may well ensure extra money is needed. Observers say the inmate population would swell, quickly.

"There's some onus back on the offender to want to get out, and to work towards getting out," said a source familiar with the panel's report to be made public by Oct. 31. Release for most inmates would no longer be assumed after two-thirds of a sentence, said the source and others who are following the review.

"You don't just get out because the law says they have to let you out. At two-thirds, you'd have to show why you deserve to be released. It'll put more people in, so they're going to need more resources."

A spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day would not confirm or deny such details. "I won't comment on speculations," said Melisa Leclerc.

Inmate advocates say restricting the two-thirds release policy would pack already stressed penitentiaries. Mentally ill offenders, a disproportionately high number of native inmates, and those with uneven access to rehabilitation would likely be most affected.

Any prisoner increase would be on top of Tory law-and-order bills which, if passed, would put more people behind bars for longer. These would include tougher bail provisions and higher mandatory minimum sentences for various gun crimes.

Sampson was correctional services minister in the Mike Harris government that introduced Canada's first privately run boot camp for young offenders. The provincial Liberals did not renew its contract.