Changing the Prison System

Changing the prison System In Canada, prisons exist to punish and counsel offenders. Prison conditions have worsened over the years and the need for prison reform has become a serious issue. Canada’s prisons are not meeting the needs of inmates and society. In Canada there are many changes that need to take place within the prison system in order to meet the needs offenders. The government needs to recognize these issues revolving around the prison system and address them. The article “What is a 'healing lodge' and why does Canada's prison system need more” written by Andy Johnson addresses the issue aboriginals are having with establishing healing lodges. The article “Record-high prison numbers sparking violence,” written by Maureen Brosnahan talks about overcrowding in prison’s. The way prisons are running now and the conditions in prison clearly show there is a need for prison reform. Due to the fact that establishing healing lodges has been an issue since 1992, inmates have to deal with poor living conditions in prison, and regular prisons are not fulfilling the needs of the Aboriginal society, which shows that the issues need to be addressed by adding more healing lodges and prison cells. To start off, the issue of establishing healing lodges has been an ongoing problem since 1992. Healing lodges are correctional facilities which meet the needs of aboriginal offenders. In 1992, parliament passed a law that allowed aboriginals, to establish and run healing lodges. However, the issue is that since then only 4 agreements have been made to operate new healing lodges. According to an article by Andy Johnson (2013), Howard Saper, Canada’s correctional investigator, says, "In 1992 when the law was passed the situation was considered critical. Now it's dramatically worse,” this shows that the issue of establishing more healing lodges is becoming a greater problem as time progresses. This means if the government does not act now, to build more healing