Our government (Canadian, in case you’re wondering where I from) has made a decision that I’m happy to say I totally agree with. Granted it may be a touchy subject for some, I still think it’s about time, we, taxpayers, are thought of before criminals.
Our Federal government decided to suspend old-age pension for life-sentenced inmates in federal penitentiaries. It seemed wrong to me that a criminal, behind bars would collect his pension just the same as my mother would.
I particularly got upset when I read that article about this man, condemned to life in jail for having killed eleven boys, who was getting $1,200/month. At the moment there are 939 prisoners over 65 years old in Canadian jails, among which 351 are serving a life sentence and are entitled to their pension.
It seems our Prime Minister, Harper, got upset about this too, and as a result inmates will no longer be able to collect taxpayer-funded Old Age Security payments, which are funded through general tax revenues and is designed to help seniors meet their immediate, basic needs in retirement. Since an inmate’s basic needs, such as food and shelter, are already met and paid by public funds (OUR money!) there is no reason for us to also fund them while in jail! Yay!
6 comments:
Wow. That seems like it would be a no-brainer, but I guess not. Good for you, Canada.
I can see diverting that money to the prison system to support the cost of housing the inmate. But once they are released, is the pension reinstated? Curious.
Robert: This only applies to life sentenced prisoners, so technically no release in sight
isn't a life sentence kind of the same as getting a pension? you just don't get to choose your digs.
Oh, I had no idea about this issue! Thanks for bringing it to my attention. Yes, I totally agree that they should NOT be receiving OAP!
Marius: It would seemed that way, and yet...
kara: ahhh... I sure hope there's a little more difference than that... 8-0
W C: Ridiculous, isn't it!
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