No wonder inmates voted Liberal in the last election. If a Liberal Government was re-elected, they would still be “entitled to their entitlements” while they were serving time in prison.
But, in spite of the luxuries they already have, it seems life is still tough for Canadian inmates these days, judging by the number of lawsuits that they have filed.
With Parliament set to open on Monday, Stephen Harper has set out five priorities, including much tougher punishments for criminals.
Hopefully, the free ride for criminals will be over and prison will once again revert to it’s intended purpose – incarceration and rehabilitation, not glorified country clubs where the norm is Cable/Satellite, electric blenders, computers and all of the other things that we as taxpayers, have to pay for – for our own homes, as well as prisoners serving time in jail.
Under The Harper Revolution, the new “get tough” plans include:
[…]repeal the gun registry; impose mandatory minimum prison sentences for drug crimes, weapons offences, crimes committed while on parole and repeat offenders; end conditional sentences
(known as house arrest) for serious crimes such as violent and sexual offences and weapons offences; repeal the Criminal Code section (known as the “faint hope clause”) that allows criminals serving life sentences to apply for early parole; try to amend the constitution to forbid prisoners in federal institutions from voting in elections. […]
Hopefully, these new reforms will stop this:
Federal Inmates Suing Ottawa for Millions
VANCOUVER – Federal inmates are suing their jailers in droves for failing to supply everything from an electric blender to cable television and CD-ROMs for their computers—and the public is on the hook for much of the court and legal costs.
Documents from the Department of Justice in Ottawa show Corrections Services Canada and the federal government are target defendants in 451 open inmate lawsuits and court petitions.
Hundreds of inmates claim damages in the thousands of dollars for injuries and trauma they say they suffered from sexual and physical assaults by other inmates, detention in solitary confinement, slips and falls, shoddy medical care, missing personal belongings, unwanted transfers to tighter security facilities, cancellation of private family visits, lack of free nicotine patches and more.
Scores of other felons are demanding judicial reviews of CSC and National Parole Board staff decisions they allege stomp on their constitutional rights. These include the denial of a religious diet, errors in calculating release dates, unwarranted disciplinary actions and libelous statements in CSC staff reports.
[…]OTHER LAWSUIT CLAIMS INCLUDE:
– An inmate was shafted by a guard who he paid under the table to relocate him to a “preferred location.”
– Staff deleted certain numbers from prisoner’s phone list.
– Inmate sustained injuries while working out in weight room.
– Someone removed inmate’s computer TV card.
– He was wrongly transferred to another institution ($1-million).
– CSC failed to deliver cable television services when promised.
– Prisoner’s private family visit was cancelled ($168,000).
– Inmate’s photo taken at institution barbeque was published.
– He was denied a food blender.
[…]
It’s enough to keep judges and lawyers going for a long time to come, all on our dime.
The sad thing? Correctional Officials can’t stop these lawsuits, as these prisoners are entitled to the same rights we have under the legal system.
All we can do is hope that future lawsuits such as these can be drastically curtailed under the Conservative justice reforms.
Looking at the number and cost of these lawsuits, the monetary saving would be substantial and should be put toward law enforcement and compensation for the victims of these criminals.
