FEDERAL CORRECTIONS CONSIDER BROCKVILLE SITE
(Brockville) - Leeds-Grenville MPP Bob Runciman and MP Gord Brown today announced that Corrections Canada has agreed to consider the appropriateness of a site on the grounds of the Brockville Mental Health Centre (formerly BPH) as a location for treatment of inmates in the federal prison system who suffer from mental illness.
The decision resulted from a meeting this week in Ottawa attended by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, Runciman and Brown, United Counties Warden Doug Struthers, Bruce Swan, CEO of the Royal Ottawa Health Group and the hospital’s Chief Forensic Psychiatrist, Dr. John Bradford.
“This is at a very preliminary stage but I’m heartened by Minister Day’s support for his officials to review the site and hopeful that it can result in new, good paying jobs for our area”, said Runciman.
“It makes good sense to develop a federal facility where successful provincial resources are already available," said Brown. "If this project moves forward it will be good news for Brockville."
"A secure treatment unit for ill federal offenders on the Brockville campus is a good solution to a serious issue in federal penitentiaries, "said Dr. John Bradford, Chief of Forensic Psychiatry for the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group.” It will also help increase the critical mass of clinicians and researchers in forensic psychiatry, which ultimately will help find new ways of preventing people from entering the judicial system and new cures for illnesses that threaten public safety."
The Brockville site currently houses a provincial corrections mental health treatment unit and its success is a major factor in encouraging the interest of federal officials.
