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The
Conservative government in Ottawa continues to act tough against
crime in Canada by announcing a pilot program of close surveillance
on federal offenders in Ontario who are paroled in the community.
Public Safety
Minister Stockwell Day told a news conference in Atlantic Canada in
August that the pilot project is aimed at "previous and violent
offenders."
The minister said,
"We want to make sure that people who have a history of violent
or previous offending, or sexual offenders, are properly
monitored," and said, "We want to reduce risk."
The reason for
testing surveillance ankle bracelets on federal parolees lies in the
statistics released last month, which said, "In 2006 and 2007,
about one out of eight federal inmates on release committed a
violation."
(In the USA
inmates on parole have been wearing radio surveillance devices since
the 1980s, and the system there requires the inmate to pay for the
privilege of wearing it, about $11 a day in some precincts.)
The Canadian
Public Safety minister noted that the pilot project for surveillance
follows other federal crime fighting initiatives in 2008 that
produced mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes and stricter bail
conditions.
At later media
conferences held to announce the pilot project in August the minister
Day said many of the parole violations cited were minor, like blowing
a curfew by missing a bus. Others were more serious, "and
innocent people were hurt," he said.
Starting with Nova
Scotia (in 2006), some provinces are presently using ankle surveillance
‘bracelets’ to monitor provincial system parolees. Other provinces
have since followed suit with such monitoring programs and
techniques.
In fact the
federal program will draw heavily upon Nova Scotia’s experience with
surveillance of offenders. The system involves ankle bracelets
equipped with Global Positioning Satellite.
The government
chose Ontario as the site of the Public Safety department's pilot
project because of a larger provincial population, in a province
which statistics say had 80 federal offenders breach parole in the
province last year.
Across Canada
8,000 federal offenders (sentenced to two years or more) are living
in society. The minister admitted it's doubtful that every federal
inmate on parole would be equipped by an ankle bracelet.
On the other hand,
if the federal pilot program proves successful, said Day, it could be
used across the country. As many as 30 federal parolees beginning
September (2008) will be wearing an electronic ankle bracelet in
Ontario complete with GPS receiver.
Corrections
Services Canada works with other agencies that run the actual
monitoring network. A receiver strapped to an ankle will track the
offender's position by GPS; if the offender violates curfew,
residency, or location restrictions, a warning will be sent to the
CSC. At this point police may be called.
Day said,
"Those who would be at risk of re-offending or who have a
history of violence would certainly be high on a list to be on this
program." The pilot project is intended to improve public safety
by:
Monitoring
offenders under court orders; detecting violations of parole
conditions; improving the work safety of parole officers responsible
for late-night checks of parolees.
"We have
listened to police and victims groups who have been requesting such a
tool for years," said Day. "Compelling offenders to abide
by the conditions of their release is a key aspect of our reform of
Canada's prison system."
National news
reports put the cost of the pilot project at about $600,000. The
first selections for the surveillance will depend on the seriousness
of the convict's crime and potential for violent reoffending.
The pilot program
was announced amid a backdrop of an impending provincial election in
Ontario.
Earlier in the
summer, Progressive Conservative Opposition Leader John Tory
announced that he would expand the use of electronic monitoring ankle
bracelets to crack down on violent crime if elected October 10, 2008.
Tory promised to
spend $6 million to acquire 500 such devices. He wants to make the
surveillance equipment available in the parole of criminals convicted
of homicide, sexual assault, domestic violence, and gun crimes.
According to Tory
judges would decide when to use the expansion of surveillance to
monitor offenders either on parole or bail.
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