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Annual payroll $7.2m,
operating budget $1.2m
Rest assured, residents of
Muskoka – there’s a new sheriff in town and your local prison
inmate is just your friendly neighbour.
Charles Stickel took over as
warden of Beaver Creek – the minimum security prison – last
month and already the prison is looking better, with the grass
cut to look like a manicured lawn.
With two rare escapes this year
– which they take very seriously – the Gravenhurst prison that
long preceded the Fenbrook medium security prison has been a
good neighbour, with work crews now part of the community.
Despite some claims that the
prison system is about punishing inmates, a recent tour and
chat with the warden and his staff show they are about
rehabilitating and returning offenders onto the streets
better, more productive than when they came in. They’re more
educated (46 graduated this year from high school; 16 more
take post-secondary courses).
A half-dozen even work outside
prison for minimum wage at local businesses. But most have
jobs inside the prison or go to school.
All have parole officers. Few
actually re-offend (about 10 per cent), thanks to slow
graduated release programs. Just getting here is a privilege
few abuse. And 95 per cent of inmates get out.
A four-man full-time inmate
committee trouble-shoots before offender problems escalate.
There are 231 inmates and 105 staff. |