ort

PEOPLE

Doug Collins

® gel tis straight @

Juv can be forgiven if they were

wondering what the hell was going on last week when Mr,
Robert James Watson the escaped felon was on the loose.
marked “dangerous” by the prison authorities,

One of the meanings of the
word ‘authority’ is “the right to
control, demand or determine.”
and the prison system today has
damned Vite control, not much
command, and only sloppy deter-
mination. dt is. in short. a
Microcosm Of a society that is los
on the Wberal road.

and cushy in’ Bowden, Alberta,
which is a imediunesecunts phtce.

Bowden, indeed is not even a
federal proon, which is) where
gents ike Watson should be. ft is
aprovincial jail chat is on contract
to held some federal prisoners. In
any event, Watson surmised that
the contract didn’t appdy ta him,

“Bowden, indeed, is not even a federal prison,
which is where gents like Watson should be. [t is a
provincial jail that is on contract to hold some

federal prisoners.”’

That Watson was on the run,
terrifying an abducted woman
and scaring a whole
neighborhood, is in itself not a
condemnation of the prison
system, Prisoners have always
escaped and always will, But in
this case a dangerous offender
was practically invited to take off.

Consider the record: at the time
of his escape, Watson was serving
14 years for rape and buggery. He
had three rape convictions and a
total of 50 criminai convictions,
and had escaped three times
before. He was parolled in 1980,
but his parole was revoked
because he didn't behave himself.

The ordinary rational citizen —
as distinct from sociologists,
criminologists and other ne’er-do-
wells — might think that such a
record would warrant incarcera-
tion in a maximum-esecurity
establishment that has real cells
and walls. Instead, he had it nice

so he and another chap availed
themselves of the opportunity to
drive through the main gate in a
fire truck, just like in the movies,

He was there because he had
been ‘‘cascaded,’* an interesting
piece of officialese meaning he
had been thought nice enc ugh to
be transferred from a tougher in-
stitution. But why would anyone
think that an habitual escapee and
tapist would change his ways?
Would the bureaucrats who mov-
ed him have wanted to trust him
with their wives? And what had he
done to prove that he was now a
good boy?

There are three possible ex-
planations for what happened.
One is that there aren’! enough
cells for all of the hard cases.
(Which there would be if we
weren't lost on the liberal road.)
A second — and the one | favor
— is that Watson is a sweet-talker
who finds it easy to gull the likes

‘Booze who’ on
the North Shore

RECENT CONVICTIONS in
North Shore courts have resulted
in the following fines and convic-
tions for drinking and = driv-
ing-related offences. Mandatory
licence suspension is in addition to
published penalties.

WEST VANCOUVER COURTS:
Wayne Leonard Turpin, 4387
MacDonald Ave., Burnaby (over
.08, 100 days jail); Sruce Sidney
Tonkin, 2121 Chesterfield Ave.,
North Vancouver (over .08, $400
fine); Clifford Barry Symons,
Saanich, B.C. (impaired driving,
$350 fine); Michael Douglas Duf-
fy, 13546 61st Ave., Surrey (im-
paired, $400 fine); George Stanley
Bridge, 1471 Mathers Ave., West
Vancouver (impaired, 45 days jail).
NORTH VANCOUVER
COURTS: Daniel Robert Davis,
1201-2016 Fullerton Ave., North
Vancouver (impaired, $2,000 fine);
Lewis Jack Wakeling, 3051 Glen
Drive, Port Coquitlam (over .08,
$700 fine).

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Of psychologists, counsellors and
other prisoners’ friends whe
throne the ssstemi these dass and
Should bean the cliak themselves
fer being so simple.

{recall the case of the gas whe
Inthe most siohotis manner meals
hilied his nes North Vancouver
Wife and was sentenced to seven
years. haperts’” swore hand on
heart he was no longer a danver.
He was det out of gail is soon is
possible, promptly attacked
another woman, and then kitled
himsel! in Oaukathasd

The third possibility is that so-
meone had a vested interest in
“cascading” Watson. — don't
Know for sure, of course, but the
system) invites that sect of thing
because anyone who can point to
the improvement of mankind is
likely to get a pat on the head. The
more prisoners who are cascaded,
therefore, the more in favor some
officials will be. Put them down
as successful salesmen.

Then there's the small matter of
this man’s being labelled
“dangerous.”” According to the
news reports, he and his fellow
escaper were labelled that way the
moment they got out of Bowden.
But they had not used violence to
get away, and the only explana-
tion is that it was their records
that caused them to be classed as
dangerous.

Which completes the circle. If
they were dangerous, why were
they in a medium-security prison?

The woman who was forced to
ride across the province with Wat-
son would probably like an
answer to that query. So would
the folk of Horseshoe Bay who
were told to lock themselves in
their houses while helicopters
toured the sky and dogs searched
the ground.

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