Douce CoLLins

© on the other hand e

IF YOU were a criminal}, would you rather be in jail than
out? The question is not a silly one. Because now, for the
greater comfort and well-being of prison inmates, the so-
called Correctional Service of Canada is going to provide

condominium-style residences.

The idea, apparentiy, is to make
bank-robbers, thugs, muggers,
rapists and murderers feel more at
home and thus more likely to
become good lads. Or so the
theory goes.

I’m not joking. The first of
these desirable residences is to be
built at William Head, near Vic-
toria, and all it will cost you is $14
million, Which, in terms of the na-
tional deficit, isn’t much. It will
only increase that deficit by the
merest fraction, whereas the Great
Baloney’s gift to the Caribbean
hikes it by $180 million.

It’s all part of the modern Ca-
nadian trend. Led, in this case, by
a former Danish do-goode; named
Ole Insgtrup who is now a Cana-
dian do-gooder and the above-
named service's chief commis-
sioner.

Ole has also thought up some-
thing called the Mission Statement,
meaning that the prison service’s
mission is to remove all traces of
prison from prison — and I use the
word “‘prison’’ with some timidity,
because these days it may have
become a no-no word, the use of
which could lead to charges under
the hate literature law. .
_-Let’s Talk, a magazine publish-
ed by our fine humanitarian jail
managers, describes the ‘‘philo-
sophical roots’’ of the.great new
idea. I quote: :

‘*The essence of the new concept
is the provision of small iden-
tifiable housing units of six to 10
rooms, clustered together to form
a local neighborhood atmosphere
.-.‘Each house attempts to embody
the elements and ambiance typical
of a residential environment. Each
neighborhood features common

Giant crane

From page 8
struction three months
schedule.

The first shipment of Red Dog
lead and zinc concentrates is ex-
pected to arrive by barge at Van-
couver Wharves this summer.

The new crane will transport the
ore from the barges to newly-built
sheds at the terminal, and the min-
erals will then be transported by
rail to Cominco’s smelter in Trail,
B.C,

“‘For my company, this has been
one of the biggest projects. We're
a small Canadian company and we
compete against large international
outfits,’? said Gillardon, who
started Jagro four years ago.

behind

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program, recreation and leisure
areas.”’

There you have it. Happy hous-
ing for all. Even for Clifford
Olson, no doubt, provided he isn’t
let out of the clink for good
behavior or because some shrink
says he is now fit for the
priesthood,

° W. are fed

the nonsense,
too, that the
murder rate is
down. It’s not.”’

In case the reader hasn’t got the
message, the magazine goes on to
explain that ‘‘the idea of a new,
more humane environment for
federal offenders is an exciting step
ahead, one that promises long-
range benefits to everyone — staff,
offenders and the community.”

It does? It seems to me to prom-

‘ ise a lot of balderdash to go with

the balderdash of which we have
been targets for years. Because in
spite of the best efforts of the pro-
fessionals to serve sour facts with
sweet cream, crime has been in-
creasing, not decreasing.

In B.C. alone, violent crime in-
creased from 8.47 per cent in 1977
to 12.98 per cent in 1988.

We are fed the nonsense, too,
that the murder rate is down. It’s
not. It’s up, except that murder is
not now called murder. It’s often
called manslaughter, even though
the victim is just as dead.

Only two weeks ago, over in
Victoria, a thug ‘‘with a proclivity
for weapons’’ was charged with
murder but found guilty of man-
slaughter. He had shot another
man three times in a dark alley and
had had three previous convictions
involving firearms. But the nice
kind jury found there was ‘‘no in-
tent to kill.”

He was given five years (which
really means three years), and stiff
instructions not to use guns again.
He will occupy one of the fine new
neighborhood condominiums, no
doubt, and when he gets out on
parole the shrinks will say he’s ac-
cepted Jesus and will be good for
evermore.

Or, as Ole’s Mission Statement
puts it, ‘We recognize that the of-
fender has the potential to live as a
law-abiding citizen.”’ Similarly, in
the 1970s, when ‘‘rehab’’ became
the big buzzword, a solicitor gen-
eral of Canada said ‘‘reform’’
should and would take precedence
over the protection of the public.

Against the wishes of that
eminently sensible group, Citizens
for Safety and Justice, Ole has
more plans for improvements.

Civilian clothes must be the
order of the day for guards and
inmates. So that no prisoner will
feel unhappy, I assume. And the
public must be allowed easy access
to jaiis, ‘thereby encouraging in-
creased use of the facilities for
sports, recreational activities and
programs.”

Each prison will probably sport
a large maypole, too, so that drug
pushers inside and outside of pris-
on can dance while the guards play
the fiddle.

is Vancouver's heaviest

The company, which employs 10
people, is one of a handful of
companies that acts as both a
freight forwarder and customs

broker.

“Our slogan is: big enough to
handle, small enough to care,’
said Gillardon.

Never seen before!!!

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Horizontals — Over 100 Colours

In Home Const
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Shop at home service only.
Open 7 days a weak
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From 9am to 9pm.

9 — Wednesday, May 23, 1990 - North Shore News

CANADIAN
CLOSET
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