By Maureen Brosnahan, CBC News Posted: Oct 01, 2013 10:02 PM ET
Inmates in several federal prisons across Canada have gone on strike to protest against a 30 per cent cut in their pay that took effect this week. The government began deducting the money from prisoners’ paycheques as part of a move to recover costs under the federal government’s Deficit Reduction Action Plan. The move was first announced in May 2012 by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. Until now, the top pay an inmate could earn was $6.90 a day, but only a small percentage of inmates received that. The average is $3 a day. That rate was set up by the government in 1981. It was based on a review by a parliamentary committee and it factored in a deduction from inmates for the cost of room, board and clothing at the time. No increase in three decades. Despite inflation, inmates have not had a pay raise in 32 years, even though the Correctional Service of Canada's own figures show costs have risen more than 700 per cent. As well, inmates are now expected to use their pay to purchase items that the prison no longer provides, such as soap, shampoo, deodorant, stationery and stamps. “People are just saying enough is enough, they’re just barely getting by now,” said John Curcio, chair of the inmate committee at Bath Institution, a medium security prison west of Kingston, Ont. Inmates there refused to go to work Tuesday as a protest. “A lot of these guys send their money home.,” he said. “We can’t help our families or save for the future.” (more)
No comments:
Post a Comment