The Conservatives in Ottawa are being unfairly selective in letting some Canadians convicted of crimes in the USA back into Canada, but not others. This endangers public safety because when you serve your time in the USA and return to Canada, the authorities here have no record of your jail time. Plus you get no treatment while you are in a US jail because Canadians don't qualify for any programs for rehabilitation.
They showed on the news how Conrad Black's ex-chum, David Radler, who ratted on Black to the SEC and got a shorter sentence was allowed back home. While a minor drug mule wasn't. A case of discrimination here.
All applicants for transfer used to be allowed back to Canada, now only some make succeed.
CBC News - Canada - Prison transfer denials may risk safety: critics
They showed on the news how Conrad Black's ex-chum, David Radler, who ratted on Black to the SEC and got a shorter sentence was allowed back home. While a minor drug mule wasn't. A case of discrimination here.
All applicants for transfer used to be allowed back to Canada, now only some make succeed.
CBC News - Canada - Prison transfer denials may risk safety: critics
Prison transfer denials may risk safety: critics
Last Updated: Monday, October 25, 2010 | 11:30 PM ET Comments228Recommend71
CBC News
The government may be compromising public safety by rejecting the applications of Canadian citizens who are incarcerated in the U.S. and seek transfer to prisons in this country, some critics claim.
Since coming to power in 2006, the Conservative government has rejected applications at rates ranging from 14 to 62 per cent per year, compared with the Liberals' zero per cent denial rate from 1998 through to 2005.
Stockwell Day, the Tories’ first public safety minister, said the change was part of the Conservative tough-on-crime policy.
According to a document obtained by CBC News, of the 49 applications investigated in 2006, seven were denied. In 2007, 43 per cent of the applications were rejected, 15.5 per cent in 2008 and 62 per cent in 2009.
Applications for transfer are investigated and the minister has some discretion in deciding whether to reject a transfer, including taking into consideration the offender’s family living in Canada.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews says his office has dealt with the backlog of prisoner transfer applications to Canada. (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press) John Conroy, a B.C. lawyer who has represented dozens of applicants, said the policy is actually worse for public safety.
“In my opinion, public safety is much better served by a transfer than by a denial,” he said.
Canadians convicted of crimes in the U.S. and serve their entire sentence there have no criminal record in Canada after they're deported back to their home country and are not given a supervised release.
This means that a criminal record would not show up on the Canadian Police Information Centre if that person were ever stopped by authorities.
While Canada and the U.S. do share information about criminal records on occasion, an American criminal conviction would not be entered into the CPIC database — the most common tool police use when doing background checks.
Part of the idea behind transfers is to get the prisoners close to their families prior to release so they have a support system, Conroy said.
“All these people want to come back to Canada because they’re Canadians. Their families are in Canada. They’ve committed an offence. They’ve been a bad citizen. But their whole purpose of their offence is not to simply warehouse people. We’re supposed to work with these people and assist them so that they will be better citizens in the future,” he said.
Conroy added that Canadians are not eligible for most rehabilitation programs in the U.S. because they are aliens.
On its website, Correctional Service Canada says the “purpose of these agreements is humanitarian to enable offenders to serve their sentence in their country of citizenship, to alleviate undue hardships bore of offenders and their families and facilitate their eventual re-integration into societies.”
It also states that in general, gradually releasing any offender into the community “is essential because experience has shown most criminals are more likely to become law-abiding citizens if they participate in a program of gradual, supervised release.”
Dick Atkins, a Philadelphia, Pa., lawyer who specializes in the transfer of international offenders, said Canadians are wrong if they think the refusals make Canada safer.
“It would be different if the people didn’t come back, but they’re going to come back and then there’s a likelihood that they’ll re-offend. They’ll be frustrated they haven’t seen their families, they haven’t gotten any treatment though it was ordered … and they’re back.”
A Correctional Service Canada report maintains that "paroled offenders are far less likely to commit new offences than offenders who are released after serving their sentence in custody."
The report considered Ontario offenders over a five-year period beginning in 1991 and showed that the "readmission" rate of non-parolees was almost double that of parolees.
U.S. complains about delay
Since coming to power in 2006, the Conservative government has rejected applications at rates ranging from 14 to 62 per cent per year, compared with the Liberals' zero per cent denial rate from 1998 through to 2005.
Stockwell Day, the Tories’ first public safety minister, said the change was part of the Conservative tough-on-crime policy.
According to a document obtained by CBC News, of the 49 applications investigated in 2006, seven were denied. In 2007, 43 per cent of the applications were rejected, 15.5 per cent in 2008 and 62 per cent in 2009.
Applications for transfer are investigated and the minister has some discretion in deciding whether to reject a transfer, including taking into consideration the offender’s family living in Canada.
“In my opinion, public safety is much better served by a transfer than by a denial,” he said.
Canadians convicted of crimes in the U.S. and serve their entire sentence there have no criminal record in Canada after they're deported back to their home country and are not given a supervised release.
This means that a criminal record would not show up on the Canadian Police Information Centre if that person were ever stopped by authorities.
While Canada and the U.S. do share information about criminal records on occasion, an American criminal conviction would not be entered into the CPIC database — the most common tool police use when doing background checks.
Part of the idea behind transfers is to get the prisoners close to their families prior to release so they have a support system, Conroy said.
“All these people want to come back to Canada because they’re Canadians. Their families are in Canada. They’ve committed an offence. They’ve been a bad citizen. But their whole purpose of their offence is not to simply warehouse people. We’re supposed to work with these people and assist them so that they will be better citizens in the future,” he said.
Conroy added that Canadians are not eligible for most rehabilitation programs in the U.S. because they are aliens.
On its website, Correctional Service Canada says the “purpose of these agreements is humanitarian to enable offenders to serve their sentence in their country of citizenship, to alleviate undue hardships bore of offenders and their families and facilitate their eventual re-integration into societies.”
It also states that in general, gradually releasing any offender into the community “is essential because experience has shown most criminals are more likely to become law-abiding citizens if they participate in a program of gradual, supervised release.”
Dick Atkins, a Philadelphia, Pa., lawyer who specializes in the transfer of international offenders, said Canadians are wrong if they think the refusals make Canada safer.
“It would be different if the people didn’t come back, but they’re going to come back and then there’s a likelihood that they’ll re-offend. They’ll be frustrated they haven’t seen their families, they haven’t gotten any treatment though it was ordered … and they’re back.”
A Correctional Service Canada report maintains that "paroled offenders are far less likely to commit new offences than offenders who are released after serving their sentence in custody."
The report considered Ontario offenders over a five-year period beginning in 1991 and showed that the "readmission" rate of non-parolees was almost double that of parolees.
U.S. complains about delay
In many of the transfer cases, the federal government hasn't made any decision, prompting dozens of requests to pile up.
On Dec. 30, 2009, the U.S. Justice Department sent a diplomatic note to Canada complaining that the Public Safety minister was mishandling the international transfer of offenders.
Canadian Embassy spokesperson Hani Nasser said Canada sent a diplomatic note six months later, on June 28, promising Canadian applicants would in fact be assessed and decisions on their applications would “be rendered as expeditiously as possible.”
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he has dealt with the backlog.
“I have considered over the last six months over 100 applications and in fact the number of individuals being repatriated back to Canada is about 50 per cent so it is a significant number.
The government has also been accused of inconsistency in its granting of requests.
For example, Robert Ashley Williams was pulled over on a Missouri highway in 2005 and the van he was riding in was found to be carrying 22 kilograms of ecstasy pills.
He pleaded guilty in United States federal court to drug trafficking and was sentenced to nine years, plus three years supervised release.
He immediately began the process of applying for a transfer to serve out his time in a Canadian penitentiary.
Williams's transfer application was rejected by then Public Safety minister Peter Van Loan, who claimed a link could be made between Williams and organized crime, even though three separate background checks showed no such links.
But a Canadian co-defendant, who was charged with the same crime as Williams, also pleaded guilty, and received an identical sentence. His transfer was granted by then Public Safety minister Day, who said he did not see any link to organized crime.
Conroy also said that in the last year, the Federal Court has thrown out some decisions in which the Public Safety minister declined the transfer request.
“In many cases, the court has found that his staff has said there is no evidence to support that this person will commit another criminal organization offence and the [minister] has said, 'Oh well, in my opinion, he will.'"
On Dec. 30, 2009, the U.S. Justice Department sent a diplomatic note to Canada complaining that the Public Safety minister was mishandling the international transfer of offenders.
Canadian Embassy spokesperson Hani Nasser said Canada sent a diplomatic note six months later, on June 28, promising Canadian applicants would in fact be assessed and decisions on their applications would “be rendered as expeditiously as possible.”
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he has dealt with the backlog.
“I have considered over the last six months over 100 applications and in fact the number of individuals being repatriated back to Canada is about 50 per cent so it is a significant number.
The government has also been accused of inconsistency in its granting of requests.
For example, Robert Ashley Williams was pulled over on a Missouri highway in 2005 and the van he was riding in was found to be carrying 22 kilograms of ecstasy pills.
He pleaded guilty in United States federal court to drug trafficking and was sentenced to nine years, plus three years supervised release.
He immediately began the process of applying for a transfer to serve out his time in a Canadian penitentiary.
Williams's transfer application was rejected by then Public Safety minister Peter Van Loan, who claimed a link could be made between Williams and organized crime, even though three separate background checks showed no such links.
But a Canadian co-defendant, who was charged with the same crime as Williams, also pleaded guilty, and received an identical sentence. His transfer was granted by then Public Safety minister Day, who said he did not see any link to organized crime.
Conroy also said that in the last year, the Federal Court has thrown out some decisions in which the Public Safety minister declined the transfer request.
“In many cases, the court has found that his staff has said there is no evidence to support that this person will commit another criminal organization offence and the [minister] has said, 'Oh well, in my opinion, he will.'"