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June 15, 2001

Billboard launch exposes tax break

A billboard launched this week by Citizens Against Private Prisons (CAPP) will send a loud and clear message to all residents of Simcoe County. The message should be hard to ignore, especially by Simcoe North Tory MPP Garfield Dunlop.

The billboard features a large black and white photo of Dunlop along with this message: “Simcoe residents are paying for a U.S. prison firm’s $1 million dollar tax break. Ask MPP Garfield Dunlop: WHY?”

The billboard should receive a wide audience. It is posted on Highway 11, south of Orillia, and will be viewed by most area residents as well as thousands of cottagers every weekend.

CAPP chair Sharon Dion wants to alert all Simcoe County residents of the enormous tax break being given to an American private-for-profit prison firm.

“This has been a hot issue here in Penetanguishene, but all other residents of Simcoe County need to know that they have lost over $400,000 in tax revenue thanks to the policies of Garfield Dunlop’s Tory party.”

Corrections Minister Rob Sampson promised residents at a public meeting in April, 2000 that the private company selected to run Penetanguishene’s 1,200-bed superjail would pay normal business taxes, as does every other business in the province. Despite that promise, Sampson failed to make a legislative change to allow the taxation to happen. As a result, Management and Training Corporation of Ogden, Utah will dodge $1.1 million dollars in taxes, $400,000 of which would have been paid to the County of Simcoe.

“It is appalling that our property taxes are rising while a foreign company gets this kind of hand out,” Dion said. “Even worse, our tax money will flow south of the border as profits to a U.S. firm. It’s corporate welfare at its worst. Obviously, MPP Dunlop is more concerned with staying buddies with Mike Harris than he is representing the citizens who elected him.”

When asked about the billboard by reporters earlier this week, Dunlop is quoted as saying, “Quite frankly, there may be legal action. If it is slanderous, then I’m not taking it.” However, Dunlop also stated he hadn’t seen the board yet.

We’re not exactly sure on what grounds Dunlop would take this so-called legal action. Really, Garfield, summer isn’t a good time to develop a thin skin.

Six hurt in Whitby riot

An inmate disturbance at the Whitby Jail on Tues., June 12 has resulted in six officers being injured and a living unit severely damaged.

The uprising, which began at 11 a.m., wasn’t quelled until later that evening. Institutional Crisis Intervention (ICI) Teams from Whitby and Toronto East D.C. were activated to respond to the disturbance.

The commotion began when eight inmates in Corridor 5 refused to clean the unit or return the meal cart. The situation then escalated as the inmates began tying off the doors to the unit, fashioning weapons and breaking windows. The inmates also ripped a toilet from the wall and set fire to plastic meal trays and mattresses. Inmates then tried to stab officers who attempted to extinguish the flames.

Two officers had to be taken to hospital for smoke inhalation, and a third suffered a leg injury while moving into the unit as part of the Whitby ICI Team. Three other officers were also injured while moving inmates out of the area due to falls on wet floors.

The exact cause of the disturbance is not yet known. However, management at the jail instituted a policy a year ago to remove from regular units any inmates labeled as “troublemakers” and house them all together in Corridor 5. The union has fought this policy since its inception, and, just weeks ago, the provincial OPSEU Health and Safety Team made recommendations to split up this group of inmates.

“We’ve had three major disturbances here in two years,” said Local 359 steward Troy Brittain. “The union has tried to get management to change this policy, but they refuse to listen to us.”

Liberal MPP and Corrections Critic David Levac was quick to praise the members who were involved. “These officers have my utmost respect and admiration,” Levac said. “I am proud of the professional job they did under such dangerous circumstances.”

As the investigation into the incident gets underway, disturbing questions are being raised: If eight inmates can cause this kind of destruction, what will happen when 1,200 inmates arrive in the new superjails? And what happens in a privatized facility that doesn’t have the ability to call on other institutions for back up?

“Reckless” purchases nixed by Minister

Purchase requisitions for the female unit of the Maplehurst superjail were vetoed this week by Corrections Minister Rob Sampson after copies of the requisitions were leaked to the Toronto Star.

The purchase orders, submitted by Superintendent Sherri Cybulski, included 13 Bunn coffee makers for $7000, a CD player for $1,200, three barbecues for $1,000, two volleyballs for $173, two basketballs for $173 and coloured bed covers for $17,000. Reasons for the inflated costs were not given, but there is an unconfirmed report that the volleyballs in question are close relatives of “Wilson,” the volleyball co-star of the film Castaway. Hence, the hefty price tag.

Sampson was outraged at the cost of the items, and perturbed that these items were going into his “no-frills” jail.

The Minister appeared at a press scrum the following day holding two basketballs he apparently purchased for the photo-op, one which cost $5 and the other which cost $80. Sampson drove home the point that the extravagance was unnecessary, and he had the balls to prove it.

Barry Scanlon, chair of the OPSEU Corrections Ministry Employee Relations Committee, said that this amount of spending has much better uses.

“We have nothing against these types of items in general,” Scanlon said. “But that kind of money could buy a lot of female inmate programming which would be of much greater benefit.”

Sampson, however, made a rather disturbing comment in the Toronto Sun that “reckless spending is the reason that private operators are being brought in to run provincial jails.”

Whoa, hold on a minute. These are senior bureaucrats that are under direct ministerial control. With the stroke of a pen, the Minister could ensure that this doesn’t happen again.

The bottom line is that with the volume of purchase orders generated by the Ministry on a daily basis, it is unlikely that the Minister would have caught this one, had it not been leaked to the press.

Members are losing their jobs because of cost-cutting and privatization. It will be interesting to see how the Minister handles this issue.

Resolution Watch

After a brief hiatus, the resolution machine has cranked up again with the addition of five new municipalities.

The Municipality of Huron Shores (southwest of Elliot Lake), the Town of Grimsby (east of Hamilton), the Town of Pelham (west of Niagara Falls), the Township of Havelock-Belmont-Methuen (east of Peterborough) and the Township of Coleman (near Cobalt) have added their names to the list of municipalities opposed to privatized corrections. This brings the total count to 206.

Thanks go to the Resolution Warrior, Len Mason of Local 737 (Thunder Bay Jail) for taking time out to continue this worthwhile campaign.

For campaign information, call Don Ford (ext. 442) or Pam Doig (ext. 687) at 1-800-268-7376 or (416) 443-8888.
e-mail: dford@opseu.org or pdoig@opseu.org

Ontario Public Service Employees Union
100 Lesmill Road, Toronto, Ontario M3B 3P8
www.opseu.org

Original authorized for distribution by Leah Casselman, president.

Ontario Public Service Employees Union, 100 Lesmill Rd. Toronto, ON M3B 3P8  (416) 443-8888  www.opseu.org