'Desperate measures': Spike in female inmates proves prison system isn't working, expert says

As the number of female inmatesin Newfoundland and Labrador reachesa "historical high," a prison expert says it's important to examine why so many people are being incarcerated despite decreasing crime.

• Moving female inmates to HMP 'the only option,' Andrew Parsons says

Rose Ricciardelli, aprofessor of sociology at Memorial University who specializes in prisons, said shewas "shocked" to hear the news on Tuesday that 14 women would be moved to Her Majesty's Penitentary.

"The fact that it never happened before and there's a need for that was quite surprising,"Ricciardellitold the St. John's Morning Show Wednesday.

Italso shows the desperate measures that need to be put in place to deal with thesituation," she said.

Ricciardellialso said that the move to HMP could make life harder for someinmates.

"If these are individuals who havespent much time in the prison, or are from the west coast or theClarenvillearea, they're displaced from their family and their supports even more so."

Prison not helpful for inmates, expert says

Ricciardelli said it's most important to understand why the justice system isincarcerating more women, while crime is actually on the decline.

She said that incarceration does very little tohelp offenders change their behaviour, especially in provincial jailswhere a maximum sentence is two years.

"Prison doesn't serve a positive purpose for individuals," she said.

"We should be doing things to try to find ways to help them reintegrate and change their path rather than just sending people to prison."

Move to HMP 'temporary'

Justice Minister Andrew Parsons announced Tuesday that due to a "sharp increase" in inmate numbers at the Correctional Centre for Women in Clarenville, 14 women will be temporarily moved to Her Majesty's Penitentiary.

Ricciardelli said it is not clear what"temporary" means, anddoubts that government could find a solution in the near future.

"A lot of people could be on very,very short sentences or be remanded, but at the same time I don'tknow what they could do in a month and a half to try to change this," she said.

"We're dealing with a situation that isn't ideal and everyone recognizes that. But they're dealing with a high in incarcerated women and they need to do something."

Overcrowding dealt with differently for men,Ricciardelli says

Ricciardelli said that officials are often much more comfortable putting two, three, or even four men in a celltogether when there isovercrowding.

She said officialsare much less likely to put women together in cells, however, because of the concernthey willform intimate relationships, which is not allowed.