Advocates for Canada’s prison farm system said they felt wind in their sails on Wednesday after learning the federal government was about to start reviving the program they’ve been fighting to restore for years. One of the measures announced in Tuesday’s federal budget earmarked $4.3 million over five years to reopen two shuttered prison farms that operated near Kingston, Ont. The Joyceville and Collins Bay farms were among six shuttered when the then-Conservative government concluded they were unprofitable and ineffective. Advocates passionately fought for the farms, which operated in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and New Brunswick prior to the shutdown and produced much of the food consumed in the prison system in those provinces. But prison farm advocates said the facilities did much more than Toews gave them credit for.

Source: National Post February 28, 2018 17:37 UTC