Public Safety committee  Thank you. I certainly agree with my colleague before me that oversight is critical with anything that happens within corrections because, sometimes, that is certainly missing. I bring to the table my years of experience. I have over 30 years in corrections. I started off as a

Public Safety committee  Certainly $448 million is a significant amount of money. As we move forward, will it be enough? We're not sure, but certainly it will start the process, without a doubt. Of course, as time goes on and more money is required, that $448 million is spread out over six years, I bel

Public Safety committee  On the resources themselves, for example, if you can only deliver programs to one to three people at a time, you're going to need more program officers. As there are more programs and things that are delivered in the structured intervention units, that will almost certainly mean

Public Safety committee  My understanding is that there is $448 million being put towards doing what this bill is asking to be done. That's a significant amount of money. Is it enough? I'm not sure. Is it too much? I'm not sure. Until we actually start the process inside corrections and put in place the

Public Safety committee  Working in the prison environment is always an unsafe environment. As long as the personnel and the tools are there, I don't see why this would be significantly less safe than it was before. Another thing we see is, if you create an oppressive environment and you're oppressing p

Public Safety committee  If there's a lack of funding, we're very concerned that the cycle will continue. You're absolutely correct. The number of psychologists and psychiatrists, particularly psychiatrists who are working with these men and women, are very few and we absolutely need to increase that.

Public Safety committee  Certainly solitary confinement, administrative segregation, have been used in order to manage offenders who they struggle to manage using other tools. That is very disappointing because putting people in solitary confinement does not help.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. Just imagine putting somebody in a cell for 22 hours a day. If they already struggle with mental health issues, that's just going to exacerbate those issues. As they continue their journey towards reintegrating into the community, if those are not dealt with at the ap

Public Safety committee  I think that would help, whether it goes in the regulations or not, because you're absolutely correct that talking through a meal hatch or through a crack in the door is not meaningful interaction at all. You need to have a much more normal interaction with these men and women, i

Public Safety committee  Thank you. Yes, there is certainly always a need. There are always individuals who are too violent or too disturbed to take quickly and move them back into the general population or even to allow them to mingle with two or three. There are those times when you need to do that.

Public Safety committee  I haven't been on core training for almost 40 years. I would say no, at this point in time we are not. I speak from my experience of seeing new correctional officers come off core training and start interacting, and they do seem to lack those skills. The people I represent, pr

Public Safety committee  They're more experienced in that type of thing. Yes, they could use more training.

Public Safety committee  Yes, I think so. I come from an era where I was a correctional officer and we didn't have vests or anything such as that. We had the clothes on our backs. That how most of the people I represent interact with the offenders in the institutions. I don't see many of our people thi

Public Safety committee  Yes, I certainly do. Having worked quite a bit in administrative segregation and the hole, if you have sufficient staff you can certainly manage the risk reasonably well.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. I think it'll be much better than the current system where there is very little meaningful interaction.