Why the Military should be in charge of Canada's prison sys

If this wouldn't help Improve Canada, nothing will!

Inside Canada's military prison
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, NATIONAL BUREAU

Strict discipline, hard work and spartan quarters await handful of Canadian troops sentenced to time behind bars

Stripped of rank, rifle and pride, she has traded her crisp military uniform for an orange jail jumpsuit.

Armed now with a meticulously polished cleaning bucket, the disgraced soldier keeps shoulders straight and eyes trained firmly ahead as she marches by rote around the sterile compound.

Strict rules bar her from uttering any words except those requesting permission to pass by staff and superiors.

Here in Edmonton, at Canada's only military prison, every day begins early and each waking moment is crammed with marches, repetive drills and scrubbing chores.

Ultra-strict discipline is the code -- and even modest privileges must be earned. New arrivals aren't allowed to talk or smoke or display pictures of loved ones inside their stark cells. And if they step out of line, they could spend excruciatingly long days sitting or standing -- but never lying down -- in a barren solitary confinement cell stripped down to socks and underwear.

"This is the end of the spectrum, the last step in the disciplinary chain," says Maj. Ron Gribble, the commandant in charge of the prison.

Those sentenced to fewer than 14 days in custody usually do time at a detention unit on their home base.

Offenders come to the Canadian Forces Service Prison and Detention Barracks from bases across the country and from deployments abroad, serving longer stints for serious violations of military rules or criminal convictions.

On this day, there are only four offenders, including the first female in three years. Outnumbered by on-duty staff, the inmates are divided in institutional wings by gender and status of sentence; officers and privates are peers and subject to the same tough discipline and basic cell quarters.

"There is no rank," says Gribble. "Everyone here is an inmate. They are either a service detainee, a service prisoner or a service convict."

Detainees returning to the military are all paid the same private's basic rate, whatever their rank, while those turfed from service receive a meagre prisoner's allowance of $1 to $5 a day.

Wayward soldiers who have made a mistake are here for rehabilitation, a reality check and a second chance. Those convicted of serious crimes are kicked out of the military and transferred to a civilian Corrections Canada penitentiary after serving as much as two years at the CF jail.

In 2007, there were only 39 inmates admited to the CF prison, and only 24 the year before.

"It speaks well for the discipline of our men and women in uniform overall. But it's also indicative of the size of our force too. We don't have a huge force," he said. "When you think of the British army or the American forces, they have huge militaries, so of course they are going to have a lot more discipline issues and they have a lot larger facility with a lot more offenders."

Each day here begins with a wake-up at 6 a.m. and ends with a mandatory lights out at 9 p.m. The hours in between are packed with duties and drills required to earn marks that allow the inmate to advance to the next level or stage of their sentence.

Most offenders lose weight during their stay due to rigorous physical activity.

No privileges are granted at the first stage. When they eventually reach the next level -- an average of 18-19 days -- family visits are permitted but without physical contact like hugs or kisses.

Inmates can be penalized -- most often for idleness, laziness or "illicit communication" in the shower or during a scheduled smoke break. But only top officials can administer punishment; custodians can only "correct" behaviour.

The regime includes a series of careful inspections in the morning and throughout the day. The offender must strip his or her cell bare of bedding and clothes, folding them all neatly into a tight rectangular box stowed outside the door until the day's end.

The busy grind continues with a schedule of meticulous personal hygiene mixed with washing floors, shining brass pipes and belt buckles and performing manual grounds work. All the while, their every move is closely monitored by CF guards called "custodians" and cameras that watch every open spot and hidden corner except for washrooms and private cells.

Security is tight, too, with steel bars, iron-locked doors and shatter-proof windows.

Inside each drab cell is a small window, a steel toilet and slender bed topped with a thin cot-style mattress.

That's luxury compared to the confinement cell, a completely barren whitewalled room where inmates are sent for severe reprimand for as many as two days at a time, left alone with their thoughts. A bread-andwater diet remains on the books for those in segregation, though Gribble said the severe punishment has been in "abeyance" for some years.

Under the National Defence Act, rules and laws apply to all Canadians deployed with the CF, which means a civilian working on mission could wind up at the prison. There have been three CF members transferred from deployment in Afghanistan, but Gribble stressed it's uncommon and would not divulge what offences were committed to warrant the detention.

"It's not for showing up late for work, let's put it that way. You can't take people out of a theatre of operation without creating a hiatus. They have to backfill that individual because it's mission-critical," he said. "This is the extreme. The last thing we want to do is send a man or a woman here to go in to detention, because it is harsh. You are taking away their liberties and retraining them, so we don't want to do that lightly, especially in a theatre of operation."

Master Warrant Officer Robert Gagnon, the prison's chief disciplinarian, said a high percentage of inmates arrive with drug or alcohol problems that are often linked to their offences. They are forced through immediate detox, with counselling and a multi-faith centre on site to help them break bad habits.

Blind to race, gender and the type of crime committed, Gagnon's job is to get the bad soldiers all back in line. He does it by working on "individual minds," while treating them all the same.

"You have to put your personal feelings and biases on the side and do your job," he says. "I don't care who it is, male or female or what colour they are. My instinct is to make sure this person is released a better soldier, a better person."

Getting there isn't an easy road. Upon admission, every inmate must forfeit all personal belongings, including wallet, jewelry and cigarettes.

The only item permitted is a plain wedding band.

Brass have recommended changes to "modernize" the rules, including the ability to admit or release on a Sunday and to extend the day so lights out are at 10 p.m. There are also plans to practise more military skills for those returning to the Forces, and focus on vocational, job-finding and life skills for those not going back to the military after release.

"We're concerned about sending solid people back to the military but we also have a duty to Canada to send people back out that are going to be productive citizens," Gribble says. "Depending what they've done in the military, we don't want to send problems back out into Canadian society."

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PRIVILEGES FOR INMATES OVER TIME SERVED

STAGE ONE

- no talking

- no cigarettes

- no visits

- no phone calls (except one 5-minute phone call to next of kin within 48 hours of admission)

- no TV

- no computer

- no personal eff ects in cell

STAGE TWO, Level 1

- talking allowed after meal and during smoke breaks

- three cigarettes a day

- no TV

- one 30-minute visit

- one 10-minute call per week

- 30 minutes of computer time daily to email family, visit military links and do educational or legal research

- two photos and one book permitted in cell

STAGE TWO, Level 2

- five cigarettes a day

- visits permitted

- two 10-minute phone calls or 1 20-minute call per week

- 60 minutes TV viewing

- 30 minutes+ computer time

STAGE TWO, Level 3

- as many as seven cigarettes per day

- visits permitted

- three 10-minute phone calls per week

- as much as 120 minutes TV viewing

- 30 minutes+ computer time

I imagine the per inmate costs of a system like that would be out of reach for regular prisons with thousands of inmates.

Here we go again. First they want to have a "national service" and dilute the Forces with useless conscripts. Now, it's useless criminals. Since when are the Forces a babysitting service? This sort of nonsense reminds of the Trudeau era.

Yeah, that's it. if we just make prison stark enough, we'll be releasing a bunch of rehabilitated people who will never transgress again. And they'll be empty anyway, because nobody will want to wind up there in the first place.

What a right wing wet dream.

Crime is way down, recidivism for serious crimes is OK. Homicides at lowest level since 1964. But no it's not working now because we should be spending much more effort and money on rehabilitation, both in prison and when they get out. That would save us a bunch of money in preventing more crime, never mind the human cost for the victims.

Even the US is backing off on its harsh prison system, because they found it doesn't work and costs too much. But I know, it's just so gratifying to think that if we just punish the bastards enough we won't have anymore bastards.

Yes. There are lots of factors why the rate is down. The fact that young males have been reduced by half as the population ages is probably the biggest one.

Put the military in charge of the school system (for boys anyway) and the immigration system and later on there might not be a need for such a massive prison system.

Nice idea. At the moment, adults can't collect welfare and go to school, much as some would like to.

Addressing addictions - very good idea. Pretty well everybody thinks we should be putting way more money on treatment. Take it from enforcement, where it's not producing results. Prevention would be even better, but that would require truly long term thinking, where putting money in supporting people before they ever get addicted will save a lot of money down the road that it costs to deal with addicts.

What about emotional damage. PTSD is as common in people living in poor urban environments as it is for returning war vets. Poverty causes brain damage. Want to keep people out of prison and gainfully employed, this would be the place to start.

Here's the thing that you must remember:

"Wayward soldiers who have made a mistake are here for rehabilitation, a reality check and a second chance. Those convicted of serious crimes are kicked out of the military and transferred to a civilian Corrections Canada penitentiary after serving as much as two years at the CF jail."

The only reason those people put up with the rules and pointless tasks and (because the media always gets discipline and moral wrong) order is because they want their job back.

That's it.

If you were to be removed from the CF, you wouldn't go to military jail other than briefly for holding.

Every one of those people is going back to a middle class paying job with a government pension plan, full dental.

If I was put in military jail and they said now is time to polish a bucket I'd say thanks and then for something to do polish it. If they said you can not sit down you must stand I'd sit on the floor and then what?

Are they going to rush in and physically hold me standing up? Strap me down as punishment? Beat me? I'll look forward to my civil suit against the government and my early retirement.

I don't smoke and I'm happy enough without talking to anyone. Why play the game if I don't want the rewards? PT training at some stupid early hour, if I feel like it. Matching around? I'd do it but only to fuck with the staff by getting stuff wrong.

The military prison system only works because the people in it, want their job back. It's just more abuse thrown at people like they get in training, or at a unit when someone fucks up. They did something wrong and now they have to put up with BS until they go back to their unit and are treated as if nothing happened.

It's highly effective for the alpha jerk assholes in the military, that are about social status, and being respected. But for the people that don't go down that path it's just a labor to be completed. And if you don't care it's reforming effect is more or less useless. But on the upside people that don't care tend not to be convicted and sentenced to military jail, they either get in unit punishment or dodge official notice altogether.

To quote from the movie: Idiocracy

Pvt. Joe Bowers: Why me? Every time Metsler says, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way," I get out of the way.

Sgt. Keller: Yeah, when he says that, you're not supposed to choose "get out of the way." It's supposed to embarrass you into leading - or at least following.

Pvt. Joe Bowers: That doesn't embarrass me.