mr.x
Mar 15, 2009, 5:32 AM
3 provinces to study joint remand centre for gangsters
Maximum-security, high-tech facility sought by premiers, Campbell says
By Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun
March 14, 2009
Canada's three westernmost provincial governments will consider whether it is possible to jointly build and operate a remand-centre jail to house gangsters in custody as part of cooperative efforts to combat organized crime.
The premiers of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan unveiled the idea of a tri-provincial jail on Friday in Vancouver following the first ever joint cabinet meeting involving the governments of all three provinces.
"What we're talking about is a maximum-security remand facility for adult gang members where we actually have the proper technologies in place so we keep them out of the sort of traditional remand facility where they can actually infect others and bring others into their gang activities," B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said during the concluding press conference after the cabinet meeting.
Campbell did not flesh out logistical details of operating such a centre and did not offer possible locations for the jail, other than to say it would be "somewhere in one of our three provinces."
Wherever it might be, Campbell added, "All of us are ready to participate.
Campbell said ministers from all three provinces will look at "everything that they can do to deal with gangs and stop gangs from proliferating."
Gang violence has been in the forefront of public attention in B.C., where a string of 34 gunfire incidents across the Lower Mainland have left 15 people dead and another 16 wounded.
A possible regional gang remand centre was just one idea among others that are to be fleshed out in agreement to be finalized by the end of 2009.
Campbell said the premiers vowed to cooperate on intelligence sharing among police forces, Crown prosecutors and corrections departments, joint law enforcement projects and shared training.
The governments also agreed to jointly lobby the federal government for changes to the Criminal Code, including bail reform and updating wiretap laws to adapt to 21st-century technologies.
"It's time for the federal government to prohibit the kind of two-for-one remand credits to people held in jail awaiting trial," Campbell said. "We think that's not right."
Campbell and his counterparts, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, called the joint cabinet meeting to tackle economic issues as their economies struggle to deal with a global recession.
The premiers signed an economic partnership agreement in which they agreed to work cooperatively on a wide range of issues from labour mobility between provinces to infrastructure development, fostering technological innovation and boosting trade in the Asia Pacific region.
Campbell said the premiers called the unprecedented joint meeting "in response to some of the emerging [economic] trends taking place."
The premiers unveiled their agreement the same day Statistics Canada released its latest labour force survey showing increases in unemployment in all three provinces.
Alberta alone recorded 24,000 jobs lost in February, raising its unemployment level to 4.7 per cent from 4.1 per cent in the previous month. B.C.'s unemployment rate climbed to 6.7 per cent in February from 6.1 per cent in January.
"We live in a new world," Campbell said in preamble to the closing press conference, "and it's important for us to respond to that new world in a way that's positive, constructive and takes full advantage of the opportunities before us."
Recent economic forecasts have estimated that Saskatchewan will be the only province of the three to record positive economic growth in 2009.
depenner@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/provinces+study+joint+remand+centre+gangsters/1389009/story.html
Maximum-security, high-tech facility sought by premiers, Campbell says
By Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun
March 14, 2009
Canada's three westernmost provincial governments will consider whether it is possible to jointly build and operate a remand-centre jail to house gangsters in custody as part of cooperative efforts to combat organized crime.
The premiers of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan unveiled the idea of a tri-provincial jail on Friday in Vancouver following the first ever joint cabinet meeting involving the governments of all three provinces.
"What we're talking about is a maximum-security remand facility for adult gang members where we actually have the proper technologies in place so we keep them out of the sort of traditional remand facility where they can actually infect others and bring others into their gang activities," B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said during the concluding press conference after the cabinet meeting.
Campbell did not flesh out logistical details of operating such a centre and did not offer possible locations for the jail, other than to say it would be "somewhere in one of our three provinces."
Wherever it might be, Campbell added, "All of us are ready to participate.
Campbell said ministers from all three provinces will look at "everything that they can do to deal with gangs and stop gangs from proliferating."
Gang violence has been in the forefront of public attention in B.C., where a string of 34 gunfire incidents across the Lower Mainland have left 15 people dead and another 16 wounded.
A possible regional gang remand centre was just one idea among others that are to be fleshed out in agreement to be finalized by the end of 2009.
Campbell said the premiers vowed to cooperate on intelligence sharing among police forces, Crown prosecutors and corrections departments, joint law enforcement projects and shared training.
The governments also agreed to jointly lobby the federal government for changes to the Criminal Code, including bail reform and updating wiretap laws to adapt to 21st-century technologies.
"It's time for the federal government to prohibit the kind of two-for-one remand credits to people held in jail awaiting trial," Campbell said. "We think that's not right."
Campbell and his counterparts, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, called the joint cabinet meeting to tackle economic issues as their economies struggle to deal with a global recession.
The premiers signed an economic partnership agreement in which they agreed to work cooperatively on a wide range of issues from labour mobility between provinces to infrastructure development, fostering technological innovation and boosting trade in the Asia Pacific region.
Campbell said the premiers called the unprecedented joint meeting "in response to some of the emerging [economic] trends taking place."
The premiers unveiled their agreement the same day Statistics Canada released its latest labour force survey showing increases in unemployment in all three provinces.
Alberta alone recorded 24,000 jobs lost in February, raising its unemployment level to 4.7 per cent from 4.1 per cent in the previous month. B.C.'s unemployment rate climbed to 6.7 per cent in February from 6.1 per cent in January.
"We live in a new world," Campbell said in preamble to the closing press conference, "and it's important for us to respond to that new world in a way that's positive, constructive and takes full advantage of the opportunities before us."
Recent economic forecasts have estimated that Saskatchewan will be the only province of the three to record positive economic growth in 2009.
depenner@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/provinces+study+joint+remand+centre+gangsters/1389009/story.html