Dear Editor,
Regarding the recent column by Editor David Shanahan entitled “Ford vows to build more jails,” he lays out some excellent reasoning as to why this is the wrong way to go on this issue, when 8 out of 10 people currently in prison have not been convicted of anything, as they haven’t had their day in court. Many are there because they cannot afford bail, or have no fixed address, basically those same people who have been driven to desperation in no small part by the defunding of social programs by the same Ford government.
The same article goes on to suggest that the answer is to fix the bail system, which local groups CAPP and JOG, along with their experts, have been advocating for the last three years. However, we have seen time and again with this government examples of where ideology trumps logic and common sense. During COVID, 30% of inmates were released temporarily, and there was no uptick in the crime rate, which just goes to prove the irrationality of incarcerating people who have ended up on the wrong side of the law simply out of desperation, and because their social safety net had been shredded due to funding cutbacks.
It costs $365 per day to incarcerate someone, $10,950 per month, $131,000 per year. It has long been known that for every $1 that you spend on prevention, you save $7 on the cost of police, courts, cages, and victim services. Ideology not only trumps common sense, in this case, it is also fiscally irresponsible. Being tough on crime by building more jails is not the answer. This is just another of the many examples of Ford and his government doing a major disservice to the people of Ontario.
Colin Creasey, Kemptville
