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| Canada Pulls the Plug on Prison Call Centers |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 12/24/2002 |
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Canadian prisoners will have to find other ways to gain job skills after the government canceled a call center program that featured inmates pitching holiday time shares to U.S. residents over the telephone. The government scrapped the program after an external review raised concerns -- and eyebrows -- about security and privacy issues. At one prison an inmate received mail from an American woman who liked his voice and asked for his address. Meanwhile, other inmates involved in promoting time shares at resort properties were instructed to obtain names, age and family income and other personal information. 'It seemed like a good idea five years ago but we have decided to discontinue the line of business,' Guy Campeau, a spokesman for Corrections Canada in Ottawa, said. 'We don't want to have any type of risk associated with our operations especially with this, the only type of operation where you had the inmates working directly with the public.' The review was sparked by complaints from opposition politicians. The government opted to shut down its three prison call centers even though the review praised the operations overall, and suggested improvements could be made to fix security problems. The call centers, located at two prisons in Ontario as well as one in New Brunswick, where the time share business was conducted, were run in partnership with private market research companies. Campeau said inmates could be reassigned to five other businesses run at federal prisons in the agriculture, construction, manufacturing, textile or services sectors. 'It's always good for inmates to gain personal experience in working,' he said. 'Most of them have never had a steady job before going to prison.' |
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