SUMMARY: This issue reports news of a cabinet decision to reclassify Matsqui as maximum security and explores the problem of overcrowding in maximum security institutions in Canada. Articles examine the rationality of punishment with scrutiny of utilitarianism and retributivism, the failure of prisons to rehabilitate and subsequent need for alternatives to incarceration for non-dangerous offenders, the lasting negative impact on children whose mothers are incarcerated, and the value of Zen philosophy in balancing rational and intuitive thought. Editors address censorship of the magazine and lack of a summer break for prisoners in BC.
KEYWORDS: BC Civil Liberties Association, rule utilitarianism, community correctional program, recidivism, mandatory sentences, mandatory minimum terms, (US) Model Sentencing Act, (US) National Council on Crime and Delinquency, New York State Governor’s Special Committee on Criminal Offenders
Coded by Kayla Fulton
