Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak again today about our justice system and in particular recidivism, which, plainly put, is reoffending after having prior contact with the justice system. You’ve heard me talk about violent offenders with outlandish amounts of previous convictions who are not only getting off with light sentences, but the level of rehabilitation and help they get behind bars has got to be thoroughly questioned.
Sadly, Mr. Speaker, in researching the subject of repeat offenders in our Territory, there are no statistics kept on recidivism, not only here in the Northwest Territories but in Canada. Some information is available on NWT offenders. Ninety percent of inmates have issues reflecting the abuse of alcohol and drugs -- which really comes as no surprise -- and underlying factors common to NWT offenders also include mental health problems, anger management issues, visible behavioural limitations, FASD and other cognitive disorders and low literacy and education levels.
The cost of recidivism, due to the cost of policing, court processes and incarceration, is very high, particularly for young offenders. The cost of incarceration alone, per inmate per day, is $243 at South Mackenzie Correctional Centre, for a total $4.65 million; $252 at North Slave Correctional Centre, for a total of $13.4 million; $499 a day at Fort Smith Correctional Centre, that’s men and women, for $5.4 million; and $895 a day at North Slave Young Offender Facility, for a total of $3.3 million.
Mr. Speaker, this totals almost $27 million. These numbers do not include the capital costs of these facilities nor the court costs associated with seeing an individual put behind bars. Without data on recidivism it gets very difficult to measure the success or failure of programs, services and other related efforts by the Department of Justice for those persons incarcerated in our corrections system.
In 2008 the corrections service completed a program review to examine the effectiveness of program delivery. The final report identified 18 recommendations focused on improving rehabilitation. The review made it clear that our approach to programs had to be modified. We need to enhance capacity in our facilities to address alcohol and drug addiction and, Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I’ll have questions for the Minister of Justice on that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
