JOHN STORM/Special to Bullet News
The federal and provincial governments have spent enormous sums of money to finance prisons, often with little success to show for that investment.
Ron Dubciak, a local expert in the area of young people and the criminal justice system, says we have to do much more to prevent young people from going to prison. We also have to do much more to keep the inmates safe from themselves and from others.
The tie that connects those people in and out of prison is often mental health, says Dubciak.
Until recently the system was built on simply punishing criminals, so they come out of custody with few if any job skills, and sometimes hold strong resentment for being locked away for years.
Dubciak can be emailed at ron.dubciak@ym.ca.
John Storm can be reached at st.catharines@oxfordlearning.com.
