EDMONTON – A study of Alberta’s corrections programs announced today by the Solicitor-General Department is a waste of taxpayers’ money, says the president of the union that represents provincial jail guards, case workers and probation officers.

"Most of the issues that have been announced as topics for this study have been studied to death for years and it’s crystal clear what the province needs to do," said Dan MacLennan, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees.

"We don’t need another study to show us that guards need stab-proof vests, we need stab-proof vests," MacLennan stated.

"In fact," he added, "the department has already agreed to supply them – so why is this an appropriate topic for yet another study?"

The department itself conceded in its news release this morning that Alberta’s jails are the most cost-effective to run in Canada, MacLennan observed. "So we have to wonder why we are spending tax dollars to study them when there are far more pressing issues, such as health care and education, on society’s agenda."

MacLennan said AUPE members are particularly concerned by suggestions in the release that the panel of three government MLAs will be asked to study privatized correctional programs in Ontario and possibly elsewhere.

"Jail privatization has been a failure wherever it has been tried," he said. "If Alberta goes that route, it will be bad news for everyone except the people who sell deadbolt locks – because Albertans will need to be buying plenty of deadbolts for their homes," he said.

Jail privatization leads to increased violence in jails, greater chances of escapes and less-safe communities, he said.

"It’s shocking that this idea would be contemplated when Alberta’s jails are the best run and the least expensive to run in Canada," he said.

"Alberta’s jails are no-frills institutions and their staff do an excellent, highly professional job," said Local 003 Chair Mike Rennich, a guard at the Edmonton Remand Centre. "You don’t get prisoners hiding for seven weeks in the walls of any Alberta provincial correctional facility."

Rennich said that because of poor pay in private jail facilities in other jurisdictions, professional correctional officers will not work in them. Safety and security standards decline accordingly.

Rennich said the suggestion that privatization is a possibility will be extremely upsetting to employees of Alberta’s correctional facilities, many of whom will feel the need to look for other work.

MacLennan said AUPE believes the three MLAs chosen for the study – Mary Anne Jablonski, Red Deer North, Ray Danyluk, Lac La Biche-St. Paul and Thomas Lukaszuk, Edmonton-Castle Downs – will try hard to do a responsible job and issue a fair report.

"But we believe it is essential that they talk to front-line correctional workers," he said.

"AUPE members will co-operate with this study, as we have with all the previous studies," MacLennan vowed.

"We urge the committee members to make sure they talk to our members, who are the people who really know how Alberta’s jails operate."

Local 003 will be requesting a meeting with Solicitor-General Heather Forsyth as soon as possible to discuss the concerns raised among jail employees by today’s announcements, Rennich said.


For more information, contact:
Dan MacLennan, President, AUPE, 789-930-3301 or 780-910-8392 (cellular phone)
Mike Rennich, Chair, AUPE Local 003, 780-717-4800 (cellular phone)
David Climenhaga, Communications Director, AUPE, 780-930-3311 or 780-717-2943 (cellular phone)

Click below for links to stories about private prisons:

The Prison Industrial Complex: Part One - The Atlantic Monthly, December 1998

The Prison Industrial Complex: Part Two - The Atlantic Monthly, December 1998

The Prison Industrial Complex: Part Three - The Atlantic Monthly, December 1998

Private Prisons - The Nation, January 1998

Privatizing Prisons Is a Risky and Costly Scheme - Alternatives, Summer 2001

Bailing Out Private Jails - The American Prospect, September 2001

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