If you need a recipe for barbecued bureaucrat, the Penetanguishene superjail liaison committee has the one of the best.

Brian Low, Ministry of Correctional Services new front man for the Request For Proposal (RFP) process, felt the wrath of the committee on Thursday, May 11 during a meeting that lasted nearly four hours.

Liaison committee members bombarded Low with questions regarding the issuance of a RFP for the Penetang facility, questions that went largely unanswered. Low’s responses contained phrases such as "increased efficiencies," and "performance measures," which made it appear that he has the same script writer as Corrections Minister Rob Sampson.

Penetanguishene town council has been in turmoil since it became clear that the Minister was completely ignoring the town’s wishes and is plowing ahead with privatization. Council members have since been engaged in a heated debate on whether to become involved in the RFP process, fearing that they would be perceived as endorsing a private facility. In the end, council decided to become involved in the RFP, but with a twist.

"Make no mistake. We are dead set against privatization, not only in Penetanguishene but across the rest of the province as well," said Doug Leroux, Penetanguishene Deputy Mayor. "Our intent is to submit a lengthy list of items for the RFP and demand, not suggest, that the Ministry include them. We will then make that list public, so that it can be compared to what is in the Ministry’s final document."

Liaison committee members made sure that Brian Low knew exactly how they felt about the treatment they had received from Rob Sampson. "I really, truly feel abused to the end," said Midland Mayor George Macdonald. "Sampson has not listened to one word we have said yet. Why would we believe he will listen now?"

Angry members of the community who attended the meeting Thursday also had pointed questions for Low. Sharon Dion, chair of Citizens Against Private Prisons (CAPP) in Penetanguishene, demanded that the Ministry exclude private operators from bidding if they have poor safety and security records. "We do not want companies like Wackenhut, Corrections Corporation of America and Cornell Corrections being allowed to bid when they have proved themselves so unreliable and dishonest," Sharon said. When she asked if the Ministry would exclude such companies from the RFP process, Lowe could not answer.

Sampson’s actions in Penetanguishene have created such an enormous amount of distrust, it is unlikely that the Minister will ever be able to repair the damage created so far. Not that it appears that Sampson is even trying to repair it.

One interesting note from the meeting Thursday night was that ministry liaison Eric Chandler was frowning less than usual. Perhaps it was because he was not the person on the hot seat (for a change) trying to defend Rob Sampson’s complete lack of respect for the citizens of Penetanguishene.

The number of municipalities opposing privatized corrections has now reached 67. The township of Centre Wellington was unanimous in their support of publicly-run correctional services, thanks to the work of Barry Scanlon, OPSEU Corrections Ministry Employee Relations Committee (MERC) chair.

The Townships of Tiny and Tay, near Penetanguishene, also passed the resolution in early February, and have now been included on the list.

Members of Local 128 (Sarnia Jail) have been busy getting the message out about the horrors of private jails.

On April 25, Local 128 president and Corrections MERC member Mark Kotanen participated on an open line radio call in show with NDP MPP and Corrections Critic Peter Kormos. Not one caller to the show was in favour of corrections privatization.

Mark was also a guest speaker at an anti-privatization forum on May 10. The Sarnia and District Labour Council and the local NDP riding association sponsored the forum on commercialization and privatization. Also on hand were NDP MPP Marion Boyd and Doug Macdonald, executive officer of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation. The standing room only crowd engaged in a lengthy discussion with the panel, and it was clear that the government’s privatization agenda is just not welcome in Sarnia-Lambton. Great work, Mark!

Delegates from corrections locals across the province will be meeting May 13 and 14 in Toronto. The weekend promises to be a busy one, with the highlight being the election of a new MERC Team, and a new Health and Safety Team. Watch next week’s Lock Talk for an update from the meeting.

Imagine a multinational company holding a trial, convicting someone of a crime, and sentencing that person to the company prison for a couple of years.

The idea sounds far fetched. In this country, society, in the form of a duly elected government, ensures that the police keep an eye on bad elements and charge lawbreakers with offences. Government ensures that the system brings them to court, and, if they are found guilty, sentences them - often to prison.

The Ontario government apparently wants to remove a link in that chain by turning provincial correctional facilities over to private companies to run.

That's a bad idea.

From the beginnings of government, those in power have run our prisons. Some governments have run them wisely, but perhaps not enough of them. Today, we are, supposedly, more enlightened than in past centuries, or even past decades. In today's prisons, food is better than it once was, certainly there is a punishment factor in depriving someone of freedom, rehabilitation is supposed to be a major goal, mainly through education programs, and, finally, when someone has paid his debt to society, he is permitted to return to that society.

In order that such things as rehabilitation should happen, well run government prisons offer inmates educational opportunities, as well as help by way of counselling, plus treatment to overcome such things as addiction to drugs.

However, if government turns the running of our prisons over to a private company, profit becomes the motive, rather than rehabilitation, or even punishment. Private companies are in business to make money - and only that. In the United States, that has led to instances in Louisiana where judges have ordered youths removed from custody because they were so poorly treated. That particular prison was run by Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, the world's largest for-profit prison operator.

The current move by our provincial government towards company prisons seems to me to be very similar to a move around 1996 to privatize the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. The LCBO was a sound operation, well run, and actually showed a profit. After an outcry, the government backed down on that issue, and rightly so.

It ought also to drop the idea of private-company prisons. They make about as much sense as Imperial Oil Court Rooms or the McDonald’s Police Company. Some jobs belong in the public sector for the good of everyone. In this case, prisons are for the good of convicts and all of society.

Those who know me know I have little use for labour unions. But, in this case, I'm happy to support the Ontario Public Service Employees Union. I note, too, that Centre Wellington Council was also unanimous in voting to tell Premier Mike Harris private companies have no business in the jail business.

Running prisons is the job of society in the form of government. It's not something to give to a limited corporation. There are simply too many limitations in doing that.

David Meyer