OTTAWA – By failing to deal with addiction and mental health problems in our prisons we are at risk of making our communities less safe, said New Democrat Public Safety critic Don Davies (Vancouver-Kingsway).

Davies completed a two-week fact-finding tour of correctional facilities across Canada, and in Norway and the United Kingdom. He was traveling in his capacity as the Vice Chair of the House of Commons Public Safety Committee; the committee is studying the Canadian federal corrections system with an emphasis on mental health and addictions.

“After visiting correctional facilities here and abroad, it is clear that we have a lot of work to do to improve our prison system,” said Davies. “We have a serious shortage of mental health professionals in our prisons. Our prison guards have called for more training to help them deal with the epidemics of mental illness and addiction they face every day.

“We need to modernize our prison infrastructure and make a significant investment in prison programs to ensure that inmates are rehabilitated and prepared for reintegration into communities.”

Davies points out that the current US-style approach that the Harper Government is pursuing will only make matters worse.

“Everything I have seen and everyone I have spoken to has convinced me that the Conservative punishment-only model will be a disaster – it will make us less safe. The evidence shows that other countries are coping with mental illness in prison, while we are failing.”

“I have dozens of other recommendations that I will be presenting at Committee. Fixing our prison system is key to public safety.”