I was hitchhiking outside Calgary when a cop pulled up to give me grief. Above me was a giant billboard advertising how many people Calgary Police put in jail that year. This was a decade ago.

It sounds messed up, but Ontario jails are overcrowded. People end up getting reduced sentences, so they're back out sooner having received little to no rehabilitation. Many find their way back in after another crime.

But they could've framed it so much better...

Or you know, Ontario could just put money into ensuring that there social support systems for people so they don't have to resort to crime in the first place. But nah, let's just build more prisons like the fascists that we are.

Why is that an "or"?

There's a problem with overcrowding in prisons right now. It's not that we expect more crime with population growth or anything, it's that the vast majority of prisons in Ontario have 25% more people than they're equipped to handle.

People are "rushed out" partially due to space constraints, and yet many of the people who leave end up back in prisons.

Other countries have transformed their prisons into other facilities, so it's not like we'll end up with wasted buildings when we solve the underlying problems.

And they believe they're so different from their scummy neighbour

Because there are limited resources available, and endless studies show that providing social support reduces crime which in turn reduces the need for prisons. The underlying problem is austerity.

How long does it take for providing social support to reduce crime by more than 25%? And keep in mind that probably more is needed because when we get them down to capacity, people will be able to serve full sentences without the pressure to have them churned out)

If it's faster than building sufficient prison capacity, by all means, I'm on board. But the longer it takes, the longer we have prisoners facing human rights violations and getting worse rehabilitation (thus increasing their chances of returning to jail later).

Even if it was faster to build prisons, that's obviously not a solution to the problem. All it does is create a further burden on the society while providing nothing productive in return. Simply giving that money directly to people in form of basic income would be an infinitely better way of spending it.

The underlying problem is austerity.

True. Can't build affordable housing. Let's build prisons instead.

Have you seen the video ads? They are straight up eerie. Parents sitting around talking about how closing safe injection sites keep playgrounds safe for kids.

yeah it's pretty messed up

Jails are used for summary offences and people on 'remand', i.e. those who are not let out on bail.

From: https://globalnews.ca/news/11774018/ontario-jail-capacity-figures/

New documents obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws reveal Ontario’s correctional facilities are operating at an average of 130 per cent full, with just five of the 25 facilities on the list reporting less than 100 per cent occupancy.

...

The same data from The Canadian Press found that roughly 80 per cent of all inmates at Ontario’s jails were awaiting trial — and therefore innocent under the country’s legal system.

The ad is refering to massive expansion projects at jails and building new ones like the one proposed in Kemptville. You can read about opposition to the project here: https://cappontario.ca/

I grew up in the neighborhood of the South Toronto Detention Centre. It was supposed to improve upon the former Mimico Detention Center, but they didn't staff it adequately, so lockdowns were common and the benefit of the new facilities was not given to the inmates.

That area has a long legacy of horrific practices in the name of the prison industrial complex, and you can see scars people carry from it.

The Toronto Youth Assessment Centre was on that site. It was a nightmare of a place. I wasn't criminally involved, but I was involved with the mental health care system and I was always so scared I'd be sent to a place like that if I didn't behave. After all, that was always the threat in school for kids who acted out.

It was also the site of the Victoria Industrial School. Industrial schools and industrial farms are absolutely fascinating and horrible concepts. I'll spare you the info dump, but I often think of Angela Davis's book Are Prisons Obsolete and how prisons and the carceral system was initially intended as a kind reform to how criminal behavior was dealt with. I don't think history is going to judge us kindly for building more prisons to house people in remand and then fail to staff them or care for those people.

Finally, the Lakeshore Psychiatric Hospital cemetery is very nearby. Another reminder of the fate of people society deems problematic.