| This column is part of our series Okanagan Incorrectional, delving into the first 14 months of operations at B.C.'s newest jail. Find our seventh and final part online and in the paper Friday. Click on the image to go to our Okanagan Incorrectional Dashboard for a full index of the series (also available at the bottom of this article) and more information about the jail. |
The fact is, the default setting on issues like this is apathy. One has to consciously turn a dial to try to appreciate the causes of much of the crime filling up the Okanagan Correctional Centre.
That害羞草研究所檚 particularly true if you have been a victim of property crime, which is a violating experience. I had my introduction to local property crime in October 害羞草研究所� a locker (with a lock on it) at a local gym was accessed in one way or another and identification, keys and cards stolen from it.
It害羞草研究所檚 frustrating to be sure, and the thought of someone unknown to me holding onto my identification and keys was unsettling.
That is a problem that needs addressing. But that conversation too often stops there. It害羞草研究所檚 difficult to move forward from that violation to realize that is only the periphery of a larger tragedy.
Last year, well over 1,400 people were killed by an overdose in B.C., a situation so drastic that it has led the federal government to open the door wider to the once-fringe idea of prescription heroin.
Yet, that conversation stops there, and rarely do the two issues cross paths in the public dialogue in a meaningful way.
The vast majority of comments on stories of grief-stricken families of overdose victims are a sympathetic cry for help from a community at a loss.
But a cognitive dissonance seems to kick in when considering inmates, and eyes glaze over when the conversation turns to those most entrenched in the throes of this crisis.
害羞草研究所淧eople in prison tend to be less educated, have more trauma, are more likely to be poor, more likely to be Aboriginal,害羞草研究所� said Alana Abramson, Kwantlen Polytechnic University criminology professor.
The issue goes far beyond the walls of the Okanagan Correctional Centre 害羞草研究所� or B.C. Corrections more broadly, for that matter. Solutions for B.C.害羞草研究所檚 inmates start long before they land in jail.
害羞草研究所淚害羞草研究所檓 angry that we throw away vulnerable people,害羞草研究所� Canadaland Commons co-host Ryan McMahon said in a recent podcast episode about solitary confinement. As he said it, the comedian害羞草研究所檚 emotions were palpable.
害羞草研究所淚害羞草研究所檓 angry that, instead of responding with kindness and compassion in a country that is supposedly built on those principles, it害羞草研究所檚 much easier to deal with it in this way than it is to actually look at ourselves as communities and say 害羞草研究所榳here are the gaps; how are people falling through these gaps?害羞草研究所櫤π卟菅芯克鶟
Those comments rang familiar while working on Okanagan Incorrectional.
Crime is frequently not a product of the whim of bad people, but the result of our failure to provide for society害羞草研究所檚 most vulnerable, traumatized and poverty-stricken. Individuals for whom drugs have filled a void in their self-esteem, diminished first by trauma or poverty and second by stigma.
But beyond sympathy, there害羞草研究所檚 still reason to support inmates害羞草研究所� issues.
A jail is already an aggravating place to be, when people are stripped of their right to mobility. When you add violence and health care issues into the mix, and we fail to provide adequate vocational or behavioural programming, someone who may have gone in for simple property crime may leave and commit worse crimes.
害羞草研究所淲e have the most impoverished and marginalized people being warehoused together, and then not being provided the services that they require to give themselves a fair shake on the outside,害羞草研究所� Abramson said.
害羞草研究所淚t害羞草研究所檚 a ticking time bomb.害羞草研究所�
