Canada is studying the use of
private companies to deliver some prison services as it cuts
spending and imposes tougher sentences on criminals, which may
benefit companies like GEO Group Inc. (GEO)
Correctional Service Canada, which oversees federal
prisons, “may consider” partnerships with private firms to
provide “basic institutional services such as cleaning and food
preparation,” says a memo prepared for Public Safety Minister
Vic Toews in advance of a May 14 meeting with Crispin Blunt,
U.K. Minister of State for Prisons in London.
Officials in the department urged Toews to discuss Canada’s
“interest in considering the privatization of penitentiary
services on a limited basis,” according to the memo obtained by
Bloomberg News under Canada’s freedom-of-information law.
Public Safety officials were lobbied by the GEO Group as
the government was preparing legislation to introduce or
lengthen mandatory sentences for some types of crime. The annual
budget of Correctional Service Canada, which reports to Toews,
will fall to C$2.86 billion ($2.81 billion) by the year
beginning April 2014 from C$3.03 billion in the current fiscal
year, according to agency planning documents.
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