* On this page you'll find prison an police issues and the ocap letter on target policing

Tory Privatized Jails – Will the Mob be Running Them?
-articles on prison privatization and Tory law and order plans -

Privatize Jails — Let the Mob Run Them
by Tony Formo

It is stupid to want to have governments run like businesses. Of course it is desirable for governments to reduce wasteful spending, but there are some things that governments should do that it would be undesirable to have done by private interests.
 Health care is a good example of something it is better to have governments do. When health care is a responsibility of governments, it is to everyone’s advantage to reduce health care costs (except for the pharmaceutical industry and a few other interests). If health care is privatized, there are powerful interests that would have an economic stake in having more ill-health. In much the same way that interests that profit from automotive dependence use political influence to limit competition from public transit and railroads, interests that could profit from ill-health could maximize their market by using political influence to stop enforcement of pollution regulations, encourage use of firearms, or even allow the same private interests that profit from health care to control public water supplies. If health care is privatized, there is far less motivation for programs that prevent ill-health because they would become public expenses that would no longer pay for themselves elsewhere.

If jails were privatized, there would be interests who would profit from there being lots of crime to maximize their market. Empty jails wouldn’t make money for private interests. Such interests could use political influence to create social conditions in which there would be lots of people desperate for money with little hope for non-exploitive employment — in short, the sort of conditions the Common Censors at Queen’s Park have created.

As well as the dangers of not wanting anyone to have a vested interest in there being more (rather than less) crime, privatizing correctional facilities is a bad idea because of the potential role of organized crime. The mob would probably be delighted to run prisons at an operating loss to have control over what goes on inside, which would make it difficult for anyone that isn’t a front for organized crime to compete in a bidding process to run privatized prisons. Privatized correctional facilities would have less public accountability than the present system. No doubt the Tories can find people who could run the corrections system at less short term cost than the Government of Ontario (they’ve most likely found each other years ago).

It is rather disgusting that some of these issues related to privatizing the health care and corrections systems were not given more public attention during the recent provincial elections, but it seems likely that interests that could profit from ill-health and crime are non-partisan and do their best to purchase political influence in all the major parties.

Prisons for Profit and Mass Incarceration make a mockery of Freedom and democracy in the Western World
H. Bruce Franklin review in the Guardian Weekly: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN AMERICA By Elliott Currie
Holt/Metropolitan

THIS IS a very unfashionable book.  Elliott Currie does not believe that we need to build more and more prisons,impose longer sentences, make  prisons as harsh as possible, eliminate  educational opportunities for prisoners, reinstitute chain gangs, treat  juvenile offenders as adults, and divert still more funds from social  services to penal institutions. He clings to the old-fashioned notion that we should concentrate more on the prevention of crime. He even goes so far as to accept the hopelessly outdated idea that widespread poverty is the main cause of violent crime. If all this were not antiquated enough,  Currie also evidently assumes that rational argument based on scientific  knowledge -- i.e. reason and facts -- can change social policy. Even his prose style is anachronistic: earnest, free of jargon, lucid.   When Currie, who has taught sociology and criminology at Yale and Berkeley,  advanced similar arguments in his 1985 volume Confronting Crime, the New York Times reviewer noted that the "biggest incarceration binge in American history" had increased the nation's prison population from fewer than 200,000 in 1970 to 454,000 by 1984. What may have seemed an astonishing number of inmates back in 1984 is dwarfed by the current prison population of 1.2 million, plus an additional half-a-million people in local jails. The United States now has by far the largest prison system on the planet. There are more prisoners in California alone than in any other country in the world except China and Russia. The present U.S. rate of incarceration is six times the global average, seven times that of Europe, 14 times that of Japan, 23 times that of India. European rates of incarceration are consistently well below 100 per 100,000 population; the rate of incarceration of African-American males is close to 4,000 per 100,000.

As Currie puts it in the present volume, "mass incarceration has been the most thoroughly implemented government social program of our time," and we have thus been conducting a gigantic social "experiment," "testing the degree to which a modern industrial society can maintain public order through the threat of punishment."   Has this experiment worked? Media attention has recently highlighted the falling rate of crime for the past four years. As Currie demonstrates, this decline has come during a period of unusually low unemployment and relative prosperity, actually bolstering his thesis that extreme poverty is the main cause of crime. Moreover, he notes that the crime rate has
been falling only in relation to the extremely high levels of 1990-93. If we compare 1996 with 1984, the year cited in the review of Currie's earlier volume, we discover that the crime rate (according to the FBI's annual Crime Index) has actually risen 13 percent. The costs of this social experiment are immense. As Currie points out, the money spent on
prisons has been "taken from the parts of the public sector that educate, train, socialize, treat, nurture, and house the population -- particularly the children of the poor." Currie if anything understates the consequences elsewhere in the public sector. For example, California now spends more on prisons than on higher education. Crime and Punishment In America cogently debunks what Currie labels the "myths" that rationalize and legitimize the prison craze. The "myth of leniency" (the prevailing notion that criminals are being let off too easily or let out too soon) is
shown to be based on phony statistics, "unless we believe that . . . everyone convicted of an offense -- no matter how minor -- should be sent to jail or prison, and that all of those sent to prison should stay there for the rest of their lives." The "myth" that "prison works" ignores the soaring crime rates during most of the quarter-century of the incarceration experiment; it also assumes that the only alternative available to us has been doing nothing at all about crime.   This leads to the parts of the book dearest to the author's heart: alternatives to mass incarceration. With thorough documentation from recent research, Currie describes a number of social programs that have indeed dramatically reduced rates of crime or recidivism, even among groups of people generally considered beyond hope. Examples he gives range from prenatal and preschool home visitation targeting child abuse through enriched schools for high-risk teenagers to successful community programs for youths who already have multiple arrests. The modest costs of these programs, together with their tangible benefits, offer a stark contrast to the enormously expensive mass incarceration model, with all its attendant social devastation.   This is a book that ought to be read by anyone concerned about crime and punishment in America [or CANADA}, especially our political leaders and representatives.

******* to add to this piece it should be mentioned that mass incarceration is mainly to do with prisons for profit. Private prison companies in the USA get subsidies and profit from every person jailed. And then the same corporations lobby for harsh laws and spread propaganda about jailing to decrease crime.
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Jury Recommends Watchdog for Prisons - KINGSTON PEN (June/99) - Robert Gentles was asphyxiated through a combination of factors, including suffocation from being held chest-down on his bed, a coroner's jury concluded yesterday. Also contributing to his death were the effects of Freon 113. The chemical agent was outlawed by Environment Canada in 1991 but was contained in the Mace that guards sprayed at Gentles through his cell bars in 1993 in a bid to subdue him.
Recommendations made by the jury include:
Creating a Civilian prison watchdog
Psychological screening of guard recruits.
Killing a union deal that shields guards who use excessive force. And a contract clause that allows that information to
be wiped from their personnel files after two years.
Cell extractions should be videotaped and performed by trained emergency response teams, with a doctor, nurse or paramedic present.
A confidential 1-800 number should be established for guards who are unable to publicly admit they need help with
job-related stress.
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Squeegee Kids Idea -- Centre for Youth -- This item cut from federal Tory Leadership Candidate Hugh Segal's Newsletter is something the nasty Ontario crew of Harris, Lastman and company should look at in its dealings with the Toronto homeless panhandlers and squeegee kids. In the post below the answer is to deal with the problem and not build a fortress. Tory MPPs and some of our councilors want to make Toronto a police state rather than deal with the  issue of poverty.
    The Dufferin Mall in Toronto is an example of a partnership that has helped build a caring community.
Situated within the catchment area of six schools, the mall is a meeting place for teens.  There was a growing incidence of crime and more frequent disturbances involving attacks on customers and store break-ins.  The manager of the company, which ran the mall, was faced with a difficult choice: Either he could turn the mall into a fortress with multiple security systems or could address the problem in a more constructive way.  He chose the latter route.
     The mall management met with the schools in the area as well as a group of 12 youth-serving agencies.  After discussions about the problem and possible solutions, a one-stop social services centre for youth was set up at the mall.
  Today, the centre provides individual and family counselling, information and referral, job training and community outreach.  In addition to the youth centre, the mall merchants are involved in various programs, which teach work skills to students and provide co-op placements.  The mall also has become the base for a theatre group, sports groups and other activities for teens.
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Comments on the Broken Window Policing Theory
that police in the States have used to sweep up the poor, causing a 500 percent increase in the prison population. According to Joe, the neo-con right has used an incorrect interpretation of this theory on urban decay.
from in an essay in Atlantic Monthly

"Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken," wrote academics James Q. Wilson and George Kelling in their landmark article.

"One unrepaired window is a signal that no one cares."  In other words, if a neighborhood goes to seed through a combination of neglect and minor crimes, chances are it'll become a magnet for low-lifes and felons. I had the chance to read that article in its full form, and what they were suggesting was not a full blown crack down on petty criminals, but a full blown crack down on absentee landlords, wrecked autos, broken city infrastructure and so on.

  Now where all of this current myth about the theory comes from is one part of the story. As a social science experiment a car that was in good condition was left on the street with other cars in good condition, except the one car had a broken window (this, folks, is where the term broken window comes from - the experiment, not a social condition). What was found that this one broken window seemed to give "permission" to young people to break the other windows, and then go on to do further vandalism. The conclusion was that if there were no visible signs of permission" (e.g. no broken things kept around) there would be no crime. What our wonderful conservatives have done is said "Hey, why even give the punks permission, just lock them all up ahead of time and you have no crime".

Now, if you want to see the real application of the true "broken windows" approach go down to Buffalo NY, and see how they have been renewing downtown neighbourhoods by fixing them up and giving them back to people (as opposed to Niagara Falls NY who is selling off their down town to David Crombie and the Waterfront Renewal Project -
Yea Toronto's own). What you will find there is that all abandoned buildings have every single window boarded up to prevent damage and vandalism. You will also see old buildings torn down and replaced by new ones.
Again. This is the real application of the theory.
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Aug 5th, 1997 -- Toronto the Good Samaritan has Gone Away -- Ontario Coalition Against Poverty's Neighbourhood Tour:

    The weather is unseasonably cool for August 5th and that means it is actually quite nice.  About 200 people march under an evening blue sky. The setting sun filtered by the boughs of the maples. The snare drum rattles, the bagpipes play, people fill the street as they stride down to one of the stops on tonight's neighbourhood tour.
    The tour started in Allan Gardens with speeches from John Clarke and others, then it went to the Seaton House hostel, Tedra (Toronto East Downtown Residents Association), SOBRA ( Seaton Ontario Berkeley Residents Association), Struthers Paints, and Pigeon Park.
    Cabbage Town is the area I lived in when I first came to Toronto, and the people marching are fairly ordinary citizens, some poor, some just getting by. Others work with the poor in drop-ins, and some of them have been harassed and fired for doing just that.
    From beginning to end, the citizens boldly march into the road and block traffic as they move. Police are everywhere, walking beside you, on bicycles, in unmarked cars and undercover. This is something I discovered the first time I went to an OCAP event -- the police have assigned an army to hem these people in and you would think they were the  most the dangerous people alive. But that is not the case. The police and the residents know they represent the poor and many are the poor, and this is what they will not tolerate.
    At each stop, there was a different speaker, outlining the problem as it exists and will exist for all of us in MegaCity. The two residents associations, aided by councillors Pam McConnel and Kyle Rae, have launched a merciless attack on the poor. They have succeeded in getting funds cut for drop-in centres, blocking the good Samaritan work of churches like All Saints and getting activists fired. Centres like Central Neighbourhood House have gone along with the yuppies and police, co-operating in cutting services, and threatening staff with dismissal should they be recognized at an OCAP meeting or protest. One man in the march wore a mask to prevent such a reprisal.
    At Struthers Paints, the owner is a vocal opponent of the poor who wants them dumped in remote and abandoned areas of the city. Pigeon Park has long been place for the homeless, but over the last year 51 Division police launched operation BREW. A relentless harrassing of the poor by officers. You can get a number of tickets just walking down any street, and if you stop in the park you are grabbed and accused of drug pushing and more. The residents associations aid the police in surveillance as they try to rid cabbage town of the poor.
    The most frightening part of this is that this neighbourhood is the most traditional home of the poor in Toronto. If they can't dwell here, they can't dwell anywhere.
    OCAP to its credit, led the march  to the homes of the leaders of these associations, and there with speeches, chants and shouting the people denounced them and their discreditable tactics.
    The Megacity election pits Rae and McConnell against Peter Tabuns and Wendy Forrest. Peter and Wendy are backing the poor, Kyle and Pam are backing the rich yuppies and gays.
    I think the issue here is a very important one -- they started just trying to sweep away the poor and now they are trying to kill drop-ins and all services for the poor. Using police state tactics and political clout to do it.
    Toronto has a 19 percent poverty rate, and in the Megacity the residents associations will all begin to attack the poor. Homelessness is going to mean the cruel gutter and death. In this neighbourhood, even the Wellesley hospital is shutting, so there won't even be a hospital for the poor.
    Democracy started as the will of the people, then some people realized that their ill wishes shouldn't be carried out and democracy became the good will of the people or the better qualities of the neighbourhood. Society itself must be a Good Samaritan that cares for its members, and to have society, you cannot have people who are cast out and do not belong. Toronto the Good Samaritan has gone away, and now we have police, and spies, closed doors, hungry people in the streets.
    When it gets dark the hooded reaper in the alleyway has a face like Mike Harris, and he laughs because he has the councillors in his hands.
    Don't step over the poor, step on their faces, he whispers. And by the way - I do Hate Toronto, but more than that, I am seeing to it that you hate one another.
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Back to Safe Park

From OCAP
Here is a letter putting the mayor and city hall on notice as to our demands....
ONTARIO COALITION AGAINST POVERTY
249 Sherbourne St. Toronto, Ontario  M5A 2R9
Phone (416) 925-6939  Fax (416)925-9681
August 18, 1999.
NOTICE TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL

    Last week both the City and the Police faced a crisis in dealing with OCAP's Safe Park at Allen Gardens.  The grievances of the homeless were simple and clear:  the shelters are full and undignified, "Community Action Policing" is a thinly veiled attempt to drive the homeless from the downtown core, and most importantly, there is no decent affordable housing in Toronto.  More than 100 homeless and supporters bedded down each of the 3 nights for protection and solidarity in a park with a history of battles between the poor and the police.  Regularly hateful public figures like Mayor Lastman, Norm Gardner & Kyle Rae could do little to hide their discomfort beneath confused statements to the media.  Although the decision to evict the homeless Tuesday morning from Allen Gardens was said to be made by the Police and Parks & Recreation, the responsibility lies in the actions and inaction of the Mayor and City Council.  The Safe Park publicly challenged Toronto's paid apologists of homelessness, but what frightened these apologists most was the growing political power of the homeless each day the Safe Park continued.

  In the aftermath of the crackdown, the City's obvious lack of political will to end the suffering on the streets has sparked a new and growing outrage amongst the homeless and poor.  We recognize that this City's enthusiasm for the interests of the business community is the primary factor in the way it consciously fails to deal with homelessness.  There would be little point in reminding you of your declaration last October calling homelessness a 'National Disaster' when endless "upscale living" developments and the Yonge-Dundas Redevelopment proceed with lightning speed as people sleep in the streets, hounded by police and left to die.

  OCAP puts Mayor Lastman, City Council and the upscale business community on warning: we are prepared to regularly and systematically disrupt the conspicuous money-makers that profit from the attempted 'disappearing' of the homeless.  Our targets will include, but will not be limited to: posh downtown Hotels, movie shoots, trendy restaurants, high-priced stage theatres, large conventions & banquets and other establishments known to make more of a buck when homelessness is made invisible.  For every dollar that does *not* go to providing for needs of the homeless, we will take another ten dollars from the precious cash registers of Toronto's merchant and developers.  We will directly attack the reputation of this city as a place to visit, invest in or potentially host the Olympic Games.  We guarantee that large numbers of tourists leave Toronto this summer with stark images of the homeless loudly interfering with their enjoyment of what the commercial tourist-traps have to offer, growing in volume until the Mayor and Council begin conducting themselves with some honour and meet the following demands:

1.  An immediate end to targeted policing.  A standing order to police to terminate harassment and the illegal detention and interrogation of homeless people.

2.  An end to public remarks by the Mayor and other public officials that seek to criminalize the homeless, panhandlers and squeegeers.

3.  Five hundred shelter beds to be opened in the area bounded by Bloor/Danforth, Lakeshore Blvd., Bathurst Street and River Street (not to the exclusion of providing needed space for the growing number of homeless outside the downtown core).

4.  A Charter of Rights for Hostel Users to be drawn up that will include an end to arbitrary barrings.

5.  The policies and practices of Toronto's welfare offices to be revised so as to ensure that the groundless denial of income no longer dumps people on the streets.

6.  All social housing under municipal control to adopt policies that reduce evictions to the level of utter last resort.

7.  The elimination of any and all zoning practices that limit or threaten low income housing stock.

  The first action in this campaign will take place August 25th at 5pm. Consider this date your deadline.  Contact us when you are ready to discuss our just demands.

Sincerely,
Stefan Pilipa,
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty