|
|
| Canadian Prisoners Hate Decaf |
| By The Globe and Mail |
| Published: 10/24/2005 |
|
First, the color televisions were removed. Then cigarettes were banned. But when coffee was next on the government's hit list, prisoners and officers in Alberta's jails staged a revolt to save their daily jolt. The Canadian Government quickly nixed a scheme yesterday to remove all beverages containing caffeine or sugar from its correctional and remand centers, within hours of the decision becoming public and a prison-riot-like uproar ensued. The ban would have been the first of its kind in Canada. Ms. Bidniak said Mr. Cenaiko came up with the controversial idea after visiting the United State's so-called "toughest sheriff" last spring. In Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio opened the largest "tent city" for prisoners in 1993. The canvas compound is for saving taxpayers money, not for "coddling criminals," he said. Inmates are forced to wear old-fashioned prison stripes and are denied access to cigarettes, porn, television (with certain educational exceptions) and coffee. Nixing the caffeine fix, Mr. Arpaio figures, saves taxpayers $150,000 (U.S.) a year.Ms. Bidniak said that cost-savings weren't a factor in the minister's original decision to go ahead with the ban, which was supposed to be phased in starting next week. Instead, the government wanted to test the health and safety benefits of removing stimulants from prisoners' diets. The government was planning to give inmates decaffeinated coffee and soft drinks to help fill the void, Ms. Bidniak added. Despite the arguments for the ban, Premier Ralph Klein hated it and told Mr. Cenaiko and his ministry to immediately pour it down the drain. He told reporters in Red Deer last night that he first got wind of the caffeine and sugar ban when he read about it in the paper yesterday morning. Mr. Cenaiko is on a business trip in Washington and wasn't available for comment yesterday. Cec Cardinal, a union leader who represents Alberta correctional officers, was relieved that the government backed off on the plan to take away the inmates' soft drinks and daily cup of Joe. Last year, Alberta banned cigarettes in prisons and remand centers, and officers are still dealing with the fallout from that measure, he added. Mr. Cardinal said he's miffed that the government didn't consult the union. He would have recommended that nicotine patches, which prisoners have been given to curb their smoking habits, should be banned -- if anything else needs to be taken away, he said. Prisoners, desperate for a drag from a cigarette, are now taking apart the patches, watering them down and rolling them with potato and orange peels into something to smoke. While lighters are also banned, crafty inmates are hot-wiring electrical outlets to make a flame. The last time the Klein government created a similar uproar by taking something away from prisoners was in 1993, when the solicitor-general replaced inmates' colour television sets with black and white models. The policy has since been reversed because black and white televisions have become too rare. Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason called the failed coffee and soft drink ban "mean-spirited." "This government seems to think it is good politics to beat up on prisoners. Why can't these guys have their coffee?" he said. "If someone took away my coffee, I'd have to leave politics," he joked. |
MARKETPLACE search vendors | advanced search
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
|
Comments:
No comments have been posted for this article.
Login to let us know what you think