Re: Prison farm

Helen Forsey | Dec 13, 2023

Many thanks to the News and to author Calvin Neufeld for his excellent article updating us on the ongoing prison farm fiasco. It is so sad to see how what began more than a decade ago with the very best of intentions has morphed into a giant boondoggle that no longer has anything to do with prisoner rehabilitation or responsible farming.

Sad - and infuriating. Because the whole scheme now amounts to a massive fraud gobbling up millions in public money and feeding the giant maw of the corporate agriculture "industry". The plan for an industrial goat factory at Joyceville, using prison labour, is wrong on every possible count, and the apparent intention of the government and Correctional Services to pursue it defies reason

Congratulations to Neufeld for his thorough and persistent research on this complicated story, and for exposing so clearly the hypocrisy and rampant incompetence of those involved.

Obviouslly, a single article can show only the tip of the iceberg. It should spur all of us to question the pious pronouncements from the powers that be, demand transparency and accountability, and denounce the power-mongering and vested interests that have turned this whole prison farm story into such a fiasco.

Helen Forsey