Mr. Speaker, I will deal with the recidivism rates first. I do not have the number right in front of me but I have seen figures that show that the recidivism rate for those who have been released under the faint hope provision are very low. In fact, I think it is two cases if my memory serves correctly and, in both cases, I think one person committed an assault. I am not sure what the other person committed but I do not believe it was a murder.
The application process that someone in a federal institution must go through to access the faint hope provisions is extremely layered and controlled. It has to pass a lot of sets of eyes before a person can even be considered for early release.
This is because the law recognizes that people change. People who commit murder when they are 17, 18, or 19 years old may be totally different when they are 31 or 32. To simply have a law that allows them the possibility of at least making an application before a judge and a jury and then a national parole board, go through all those sets of eyes and minds with data from their doctors, psychologists, social workers and from prison administrators so we get a full picture of that person, is something that benefits our society. It is the hallmark of any civilized society as well. We do not lock up people in dungeons and throw away the key, as is done in some countries. I think that is something that we as a society have to deal with.
Dealing with prison and crime is not a pleasant affair. Prisons are extremely complicated places. I have been in 25 of them, as I said. They are places of pathos, sadness and destruction. They are places of depression and unhappiness but they can also be places of redemption, growth and hope. We as a society need to decide what we want our prisons to be. I as a Canadian want my prisons to be a place where there is the possibility of growth and redemption. The government and this legislation would take that away. I think it is bad legislation and every thinking parliamentarian should vote against it for that reason.