The inmates are running the asylum

[Wezil]

No, I'm not talking about Poly.

DORCHESTER, N.B. - When a convicted murderer escaped from a New Brunswick prison this week, officials refused to release his photograph, citing departmental privacy policy.

Gary Gormley, 39, was serving a life sentence for second-degree murder, and is considered violent.

Under its privacy rules, a photo of a convict can't be released unless the inmate gives permission and signs a release form, said Corrections Canada. Even though he broke out of jail Thursday, Gormley still has a right to privacy as an inmate.

THAT'S POLICY

"Unfortunately, that's the policy we are dealing with right now. Until changes are made, we have to respect it," said Maurice LeBlanc of the Westmoreland Institution in Dorchester.

The RCMP eventually released the photo after a media request.

The delay has angered people in this prison town.

"I believe we have the right to know who is free in our community, so if we sight him he can be reported," said Melvin Goodland, Dorchester's mayor.

LeBlanc says Corrections may change its policy.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=e764475a-5327-4d88-a6cc-3e1414fc6bb5

We wouldn't want to trample on his rights now would we?

This country is insane.

[Japher]

Uhm... if he escaped then he technically isn't an inmate any more now is he?! WTF?!

[Wezil]

I think it's absolutely nuts (and I do defence work).

Anybody want to try and defend this policy? Anyone?

[Kuciwalker]

Criminals have rights too

[Japher]

And lefts... apparently

[germanos]

Originally posted by Japher
Uhm... if he escaped then he technically isn't an inmate any more now is he?! WTF?!

Spot on. I would say he's 'WANTED'. Sack the director and appoint somebody with wit.
If it's a privatized prison, revoke the licence.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by germanos


Spot on. I would say he's 'WANTED'. Sack the director and appoint somebody with wit.
If it's a privatized prison, revoke the licence.

Not the Warden's doing - This is Corrections Canada (gov) policy. They are after all only looking out for one of their "clients". Yes, that is what they call them.

[Wezil]

It's not like our officials have their heads up their bums all the time. Just most of the time.

From earlier in the week...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper blasted Elections Canada Sunday for going against a parliamentary ruling by allowing Muslim women to wear veils and burkas while voting.

The move goes directly against a unanimous vote in the House of Commons this past spring to make visual identification mandatory when casting a ballot.

"I profoundly disagree with the decision," Harper told reporters in Sydney, Australia where he is attending the APEC conference. "We just adopted this past sitting, in the spring, Bill C-31, a law designed to have the visual identification of voters. That's the purpose of the law.

"That was the law voted virtually unanimously by Parliament and I think that this decision goes in an entirely different direction," he continued.

The Elections Canada ruling was prompted by three upcoming byelections in Quebec on Sept. 17 in ridings that are significantly multi-cultural. The arms-length elections agency has scheduled a news conference on Monday to discuss their decision.

On their website, Elections Canada reiterated their policies on wearing religious face coverings while voting.

It states that if an elector produces an original government-issued photo identification that contains her name and home address then she has the following options:

She may choose to unveil to identify herself
She may produce a second original piece of identification from Chief Electoral Officer of Canada's authorized list of identification
She may come with another elector who is registered in the same polling division and who can provide adequate proof of their own identification to vouch for her identity. They would both need to make a sworn statement under oath.
Harper said Parliament will have to find a way to make sure the House's ruling takes effect.

"The role of Elections Canada is not to make its own laws, it's to put into place the laws that Parliament has passed," he said.

Liberal Opposition Leader Stephane Dion agreed with Harper when speaking with reporters in Vancouver on Sunday.

"We disagree with the Elections Canada decision and we ask them to revisit their decision," he said.

He said female officials with Elections Canada could be on hand at polling stations, to identify women behind their veils.

"It's important to identify the person," he said. "It may be done in a very respectful way, but it must be done."

Speaking on CTV's Question Period Sunday morning, a panel of political strategists agreed a compromise has to be made on the issue.

However, NDP President Anne McGrath said Elections Canada is an agency that "knows what it is doing."

"Elections Canada goes around the world helping other countries with their elections," she said. "I think the officials at Elections Canada know how to make sure that the voting is accurate."

Ruling would 'stigmatize' Muslim women

A spokesperson with the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations in Montreal said Muslim women were never consulted on whether they even wanted the exception.

"My jaw dropped. I was very surprised. Muslim women wearing the Niqab, which is the face veil, never made the request to have to keep it on while they vote," said spokeswoman Sarah Elgazzar, speaking to CTV Montreal.

Elgazzar said Elections Canada might have had good intentions but the ruling was "unnecessary."

"It's absolutely unnecessary. Those women wearing a niqab always identify themselves when they need to identify themselves. The photo I.D. they show to people at the ballot box is a photo without a face veil. So people will clearly be seeing their faces," she said.

"This will only stigmatize the women and embroil this debate," she continued. "I think perhaps at Elections Canada there were good intentions but it will certainly not have good consequences."

Even Pierre Cote, who was Quebec's chief electoral officer for 19 years before retiring, told CTV Montreal the ruling is a dangerous one.

"When one is in a polling station, they must be clearly identified or else you run the risk of fraud," he said.

Wear a veil but provide photo ID.

[Kuciwalker]

Wait, since when do government agencies have the authority to directly contravene a law passed by Parliament?

[germanos]

Originally posted by Wezil


Not the Warden's doing - This is Corrections Canada (gov) policy. They are after all only looking out for one of their "clients". Yes, that is what they call them.

Fine.
But while the facilty might have reservations revealing the pic, does the police feel the same?
Offcourse the prison was not doing it's job, so they might think on how to minimize their damage done to society.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Wait, since when do government agencies have the authority to directly contravene a law passed by Parliament?

It's in the "interpretation".

[Victor Galis]

Re: The inmates are running the asylum

Originally posted by Wezil
We wouldn't want to trample on his rights now would we?

This country is insane.

And it didn't happen in Quebec .

[Pekka]

I like the idea of protecting the rights of criminals and everything but like it was said earlier, he wasn't an inmate anymore, he was wanted. I think this should be a situation where your photo and publishing it is OK.

[Wezil]

It was, ultimately, the police that released the pic.

It's just sad that Corrections Canada doesn't understand how releasing the photo of their 'absent without permission' client might be helpful.

[Pekka]

There was a time in here when they wouldn't punish for escaping because "it is only natural". That Chomskyan type of human nature as a driving power is ridiculous, idiotic and totally European.