Teb,
Do the canadian and/or European prisons have links. I would love to compare the facilities etc.

bella,

Good question! You know, I am so into the whole "US THING" because of Teddy that I tend to forget about our Canadian and European friends....

I will start to look and list what I can find...

You know this all started because I was bored in this quiet little Forum down - way down - on the list and now you guys are going to keep me busy!!! LOL

To my European friends, please let me know what countries you want listed and I will see what I can do! (Philippe - I know that you are looking for Wyoming but that is not a country...)

Honestly, I don't know if there are links to french prisons, but I will look if you are interested. I know of a female french doctor who wrote a book, after having worked some years in a prison. But, this was long before I met Joey and I started being interested in this topic. And I'm much more aware of the american system than the french one. I could now be helpful to someone looking for information about Fla DOC, and couldn't help my next door neighbor about any prison in Paris !! Now I start learning about Wyoming !!! :D

Phil,

Unfortunately I am the same - I live in Canada but don't know the difference between provincial and federal jails/prisons here but can speak freely about the American system! What has PTO done to me.

I will ask for our European member's help with this because I would assume that French prison sites will be in French and Dutch sites in Dutch. I would not know if I was posting a link to a prison or a hospital! LOL

Teb:

I thought I explained.

The provincial system is called JAIL, and the maximum sentence is 2 YEARS LESS A DAY.

The federal system is called prison, and if you get a sentence of 2 YEARS OR MORE that's where you go! Thus you get some young kid with a minor crime put in with serial killers, because the judge didn't like his corn flakes and did NOT say those magic words "LESS A DAY".

All MY Love,
Menolly

If anyone is interested in the FEDERAL CANADIAN PRISONS:

Go To:

<http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/region/regions_e.shtml>

Then click on the province you are interested in... men's prison's or women's... then the name of the prison.

You'll get dimensions, aerial maps, capacity etc.

Don't know about provincial jails, since I've never dealt with them.

All My Love,
Menolly

Menolly,

All the links are posted individually in the Prison Profiles Forum. As well all the regional Jails are there but only in address and phone number - they don't have web links.

Thanks for explaining the difference!

It was interesting to see that the Canadian Fed. facilities house a much smaller number of inmates in each facility. One thing that made me laugh was the symbol that the Pitsburg Institution uses....very interesting and I guess it kinda of somes it all up...go take a look at it ;)

Bella, the low numbers are because we only have, in the whole country, about 12,000 federal inmates!

I keep telling you guys, we're a pacifist nation! Plus we have gun control!

37% of our federal inmates are in prison for UNPAID FINES! And of that 37%, most of them it was just because they were TOO POOR to pay the fines!

All My Love,
Menolly

Just to clarify, a federal institution is called a penitentiary. A prison, on the other hand, is a provincial institution. When an offender is sentenced to 2 years or more, he/she will be housed in a penitentiary and will be eligible for:- day parole in a half way house at 1/6th of the sentence; parole at 1/3rd of the sentence, and will be mandatorily released at 2/3rds of the sentence. I personally prefer the federal system because they tend to wharehouse offenders less than in the provincial system. In addition, release to ahalf way house makes abundant sense, in particular, in cases where the offender has been incarcerated for a prolonged period of time. During the day parole period, he/she will be offered programs to address various concerns of the community:-drug/alcohol abuse; anger management; employment prospects; family dynamics and so forth. In federal institutions, as well, the quality of life is considerably better in the the ofender has access to many more programs, employment opportunities, training, counselling, physical activities and so forth. In the provincial system, however, where the offender is released at 2/3rds of his sentence, the sentence is considered to be over at that point and he cannot be required to report to a parole/probation officer.

Menolly, I wish to clarify a point you made. The judge has nothing to do with the either the institution or the security level in which an offender is housed. While the sentence imposed determines the system (i.e. federal or provincial) to which the offender will be sent, he/she has no authority to send an offender to one institution or the other. The security level is determined entirely by Correctional Service of Canada staff at Milhaven Institution after several weeks of testing, as well as, the bed space availability in any particular institution. As for a young person sentenced for a "minor crime" doing time with serial killers, that simply would not happen in the Canadian system. Lord knows our system has its problems but that is not one of them. The young person to whom you referred would, in all likelihood, serve his time in a "camp" or minimum security institution. By the way, folks, I have often requested that my clients be sentenced to 2 years plus a day even where the Crown is seeking an upper reformatory sentence and I do this because the opportunities available to the offender are far superior in a Canadian institution, not only in terms of his day to day living but, more to the point, release dates and programs in the community. Any questions, pls drop me a line.
Justin