Major campaign launched to save prison farms

Dating back to the 1880s, the program includes two operations in the Kingston, Ont. area, and others near Dorchester, N.B., Stony Mountain, Man., Prince Albert, Sask. and Innisfail, Alta.

Ottawa (30 June 2009) - A major campaign has been launched to stop a Harper government plan to close six farming operations run by Correctional Service of Canada (CSC).

Conducted by the Union of Solicitor General Employees (USGE), a component union of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the campaign features an online petition allowing supporters of the farms to send messages directly to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The farms are to be closed over the next two years. The union is working with organizations such as the National Farmers Union (NFU).

Called Save Our Farms, the campaign will include meetings and community support events in communities most affected by the proposed closures. Access to information laws will also be used to try to force the government to disclose its rationale for the closures.

Another privatization scam?

For example, does the government plan to privatize the farms by selling them off – at customary Conservative clearance prices – to its friends in the agri-business community?

USGE president John Edmunds calls the closure plan incomprehensible and short-sighted. “It is outrageous that this major decision was taken without a proper accounting of the true costs and benefits,” he says.

Edmunds argues that the prison farms make a positive contribution both to inmates and to the communities where they are located. Benefits include:

• Training inmates in skills that directly or indirectly boost employment chances upon release.
• More effective rehabilitation and integration of former inmates into the community.
• A low-cost source of food products for all federal penal institutions, saving money for taxpayers.
• Creating a positive and visible presence in local communities through contributions to food banks and other charities.

“Rather than eliminating prison farm programs, the government should be moving Correctional Service Canada in the other direction, increasing the availability of such programs and widening their scope,” he added.

About 300 inmates take part in everything from milking cows to fixing equipment and producing food fed to fellow offenders. The farms, which cost CSC about $4 million a year, have been providing work for inmates since the 1880s. Two are located in the Kingston, Ont. area. The others are near Dorchester, N.B., Stony Mountain, Man., Prince Albert, Sask. and near Innisfail, Alta.

NUPGE

The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE

More information:
Save Our Farms Website