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.