Having lay people involved in the process brings humanity into the process. Obviously, legal minds are important, but having lay people there.... The committee also recommends that a criminal conviction not be a bar to sitting on the commission.
I think it's absolutely fine to have somebody with a conviction sitting on the commission—somebody who knows the ins and outs of what prison is all about, who knows what a sentence can do to somebody's life. It's a sentence you carry from the day it's imposed to the day you die, so people who have that kind of personal experience provide a very worthwhile contribution to the commission—in addition, of course, to that of people who are lawyers.