PENETANGUISHENE - No Canadian companies will be able
to qualify to run the new 1,200-bed maximum-security institution in
Penetanguishene, OPSEU has learned. The province’s first “superjail”
is slated to open on June 1, 2001.
At a public meeting held in Midland on Feb. 9, 2001,
one of the qualified bidders admitted that under the terms of the Request
for Proposals (RFP), there aren’t any companies in Canada that can meet
the qualifications necessary to operate the facility.
OPSEU President Leah Casselman is calling on the
Ontario government to stop the sell-off of Ontario’s first superjail to
a foreign company.
“U.S. and British corrections companies have a
horrifying track record of escapes, murders and assaults,” Ms. Casselman
said. “Why would we want to import these kind of problems, especially
when our tax dollars are being used so that a foreign company can turn a
profit?”
Robert Crawford, president and CEO of First Nations
Protective Services of Toronto, told attendees at the Feb. 9 meeting that
his company has had to affiliate with an American corrections company in
order to meet the requirements. Mr. Crawford would not reveal which U.S.
company is involved.
Barry Scanlon, provincial representative for Ontario’s
6,000 correctional officers, said that this confirms the suspicions he has
had all along.
“We were fairly sure that there wasn’t a
Canadian company with the experience necessary to run an institution of
this magnitude,” Scanlon said. “If the privatization of the superjail
goes forward, we will have a foreign company calling the shots.”
-30-
For more information:
Barry Scanlon (416) 562-7252
Don Ford, OPSEU Communications (416) 448-7442
