Thank you, Mr. Vice-Chair.
I would like to thank our witnesses for being here today. Your testimony is extremely important in navigating this issue of drugs and alcohol in prisons. It's very complex.
We've had opportunity to hear from many witnesses over the last few weeks and had an opportunity to visit a prison this week, to see firsthand what a prison environment is like and to hear from the prisoners. This was actually a very good experience and one that I think is necessary to be able to begin to understand the issue of drug and alcohol abuse in prisons.
It's clear that the problem is a complex one that requires a comprehensive, balanced approach, including a focus on effective programs and rehabilitation.
Having visited the prison this week, we heard prison officials and inmates themselves talk about the drugs that are available in the prison and the cost of those drugs compared to what you would pay for drugs outside. It's a significantly higher cost for drugs, if you're purchasing inside. It's significant, maybe 10, 15, or 20 times higher, which is what we heard from officials. It may be more than that.
There was a document entitled “A Flawed Compass: A Human Rights Analysis of the Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety”. I'm going to quote from it and ask you for your analysis of it. Quoting from that document, it states:
...that even if the flow could be successfully reduced, this increased scarcity would significantly increase the value of drugs and competition for them with the result that the drug trade in prison could become more lucrative, desperate and, therefore, more violent.
Mr. Thompson, would you agree with that, or what do you think about this analysis?