A new correctional centre for Nunavut?

It’s highly unlikely that any politician in Nunavut will ever get elected on a platform built on promises to build more jails. Unlike new schools and new hospitals and new craft centres, new jails make for unappealing ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

Unfortunately, the need for a new correctional centre in Nunavut is undeniable and unavoidable.

Nunavut’s decision-makers already know they have to deal with this question. Officials within the Nunavut government’s Department of Justice have formed a corrections planning committee, which will study that and other ideas aimed at improving Nunavut’s corrections system, including the expansion of community-based programs.

Last week, the Kivalliq region’s legal services board raised the issue publically, saying that convicted offenders from their region should be able to do their time at a corrections centre in their region. They suggested that an under-used military FOL building there might be easily converted into a prison.

Though the idea of using Rankin’s FOL building as a correctional centre may not be realistic, the idea of building a correctional centre in the Kivalliq certainly is — provided that the Nunavut government can find the money to construct and operate it.

The Nunavut government is now searching for a stand-alone “institution” to locate in Baker Lake, to fulfill that community’s job target under the Nunavut government decentralization plan. It’s obvious then, that if a correctional centre is ever to be built in the Kivalliq, it should be located in Baker Lake, not Rankin Inlet.

But why does Nunavut need a new correctional centre? After all, there are many Nunavut residents, including some who have worked for years within the justice system, who believe that the government should invest in restorative justice, community healing, and other community-based concepts rather than pay to put even more Nunavut residents in jail.

The answer to this concern is that it’s not an either-or issue. The division of the Northwest Territories left Nunavut with a serious shortage of correctional space. Even if the territorial justice department is able to mount a major program aimed at diverting offenders away from jail, Nunavut will still need another correctional centre to house inmates, especially violent offenders, who are deemed unsuitable for milder community-based initiatives.

Nunavut’s only adult prison, the Baffin Region Correctional Centre, is badly overcrowded. So are the institutions in the Northwest Territories that still receive Nuanvut’s overflow.

Since the rate of convictions for crimes of violence against others in Nunavut is several times higher than the national average, it’s reasonable to assume that in the future we will still see many dangerous offenders entering the court system. It’s also reasonable to assume that most communities will be unwilling or unable to handle such people within community programs.

Jails may or may not be be much good rehabilitating criminals. But locking dangerous people inside them is an excellent way of ensuring that the innocent feel secure — a benefit that should never be underestimated. JB