Evidence of meeting #10 for Public Safety and National Security in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was inmates.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:30 p.m.
NDP
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
We talked about some of the ways we can reduce supply. Can you suggest some of the ways we can also reduce the demand for drugs in prison?
12:30 p.m.
As an Individual
I just have to reflect what Mr. Putnam said: better and more effective programs and having inmates who buy into them and want to do them. That would be the biggest change and the best start.
12:30 p.m.
NDP
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
For the programs in place right now, if they want to enrol in a drug treatment program, for instance, how long do they have to wait?
12:35 p.m.
As an Individual
Some are waiting for a while. It's not as readily available as it should be, or as we'd like to see. There does need to be a little bit more done--at least in Whitehorse. I'm not sure what it's like in federal prisons. They might have a little better timeline than we do in Whitehorse.
12:35 p.m.
NDP
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
When an inmate who comes into your facility is addicted to a drug, would it be fair to say that in order to reduce the demand we should have a program available for them right at the beginning?
12:35 p.m.
As an Individual
Yes, once he's detoxed and can make a proper decision, it would be good.
12:35 p.m.
NDP
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
It would be critical to have the program available if a person comes in with an addiction; they would want some drugs at the outset. Yet if we provide them with a proper treatment program, available right at the beginning, would that help reduce the demand?
12:35 p.m.
As an Individual
It would, if he were getting help and it works. It all starts with the need for him to want to do it as well. It's not just—
12:35 p.m.
As an Individual
I don't know right now. At Whitehorse it could be a couple of weeks or a couple of months; I'm not sure. We have a lot of remand inmates who are only there awaiting their court cases. There are a lot of short-term people there. We have people who are in on Monday and out on Friday—that type of deal—and for a short couple of months, and this and that. It's hard to fit it in for many of these people, because they are in and out in such short periods of time.
12:35 p.m.
NDP
12:35 p.m.
NDP
Jasbir Sandhu NDP Surrey North, BC
Would you say the violence in prisons has increased or decreased over the last three years?
12:35 p.m.
As an Individual
It has decreased. When I first started there, we were getting calls quite often to go and break up fights. We have had arsons, fires. We work four days on and four off, and I went through a four-day set when every day there was something, whether it was a fire, an attempted suicide, or a fight. Now we can go for months without any kind of incident whatsoever. So yes, things are getting better.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
I've been so intrigued with your line of questioning, Mr. Sandhu, that I have let you go way over, and that's a terrible thing.
12:35 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
12:35 p.m.
A voice
We won't go over this time.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Rick Norlock Conservative Northumberland—Quinte West, ON
I know you certainly won't from this end.
Mr. Putnam, there was a reason my questioning was going along those lines, that it worked its way back to drugs and alcohol in the prison.
It's of interest to note, perhaps for some of my colleagues who may be new to the criminal justice file, that your institution is for sentences of two years less a day; in other words, it's the same as a provincial institution. It is not a federal institution, but there are a lot of similarities between the two. One of the problems, we know, in our provincial institution is that if you want a drug program to work, the person needs to be in that actual state of addiction—and Mr. Putnam can come into this after you say yes or no to what I am saying.
For people who are addicted, especially with serious addictions to drugs and alcohol.... I have friends and relatives who have an addiction to alcohol; they have been a part of AA for 20 years and it's still a battle for them.
Would you not agree with me that it would be difficult in a provincial institution to provide the kinds of substantive addiction programs that one might find in a federal institution? Is that not a common theme?
12:35 p.m.
As an Individual
Yes, that would be a common theme for territorial and provincial institutions.
12:35 p.m.
Conservative
Rick Norlock Conservative Northumberland—Quinte West, ON
Mr. Putnam, would you agree with the statement that drug programs—in other words, to get someone back relatively healthy and off drugs—are lifelong, that it's just not a two-year course and then you get a certificate and you're drug free forever?