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| Prisoners Lend a Hand for Pope's Canada Visit |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 06/24/2002 |
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When Pope John Paul comes to Canada in July for World Youth Day, some of the key workers who helped out behind the scenes will be securely locked away behind prison bars. Hundreds of prisoners are working up to seven hours a day in Canadian jails assembling 'pilgrim packs' -- red nylon backpacks filled with postcards, candles, and liturgical books -- which will be given to visitors at the celebrations July 18 to 28 in Toronto. Inmates from federal prisons in Quebec and Saskatchewan have been commissioned to sew more than 200,000 backpacks as part of the government's contribution to World Youth Day, when Pope John Paul II and hundreds of thousands of young pilgrims are expected to congregate in Toronto. The prisoners involved in the $2 million ($1.7 million U.S.) project are part of a Correctional Service Department program called CORCAN, which teaches inmates job skills ranging from furniture making to data entry while they serve their sentences. Inmates volunteer to join the program and are paid up to $6.90 an hour for their labor. Officials say that the 4,000 inmates who participate in CORCAN each year are less likely to re-offend when they get out of prison. |
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He has blue eyes. Cold like steel. His legs are wide. Like tree trunks. And he has a shock of red hair, red, like the fires of hell. Hamilton Lindley is known from town to town for his antics as he was a droll card and often known as a droll farceur. with his madcap pantaloon is a zany adventurer and a cavorter with a motley troupe of buffoons.