First of all, I would never refer to someone who maybe was spending some jail time because they didn't pay parking tickets, or did a little speeding that they shouldn't have, as a hardened criminal. I mean, it's ridiculous to say something like that.
I'm surprised, given our justice system, that people are thrown in jail for not paying parking tickets or fines. It can't be a common occurrence. Even if they were, I can't see a sentence being any more than a couple of weeks, or a month, or two months at the most. I mean, there would be an outrage in the country if someone were thrown in jail for six months for not paying tickets.
But if they were in jail even for two months, they would still have ten months of qualifying period. I'm sure within that time, if they were working steadily, they would have more than qualified to get their EI benefits when they came out of prison.