Prisoners Build Toys for Kids
Prince George, B.C. – A program involving federal prison inmates is helping put smiles on the faces of disadvantaged children in the Williams Lake area.
The Work2Give program is run by the Punky Lake Wilderness Camp Society and is a project that utilizes incarcerated offenders volunteer time to manufacture items that are needed and then donated to low income and at risk youth families.
Photo courtesy Punky Lake Wilderness Camp Society
Executive director Sarah Jackman says they’re working with seven federal institutions – all located in the Fraser Valley.
“The project started with us building beds for kids (around two years ago). And then it sort of just grew and grew from there. Then last year we were getting enough raw material donations to start making toys.”
She says those toys include everything from “little wooden toys and trucks and building blocks” to “stuffed animals and quilts for beds.”
Jackman says the program fills a need in the community and has a positive impact on the inmates.
“It’s absolutely amazing. I get down to the institutions as often as I can to talk to the men working on this to let them know what we’re doing with the items that they donate to my organization and show them photos with little kids on their rocking horses and it touches these men in a really significant way.”
She says the toys will be distributed this Friday morning at the Gibraltar Room during the group’s annual Christmas party.
Comments
I like this good news story! I have always felt that whether they be federal or provincial prisoners, we should find as many ways as possible for them to pay back to society in whatever way they can, while they are imprisoned. After all, it is our tax dollars that are paying for these places. I’ll bet we could come up with a whole new list of things they could contribute to if we all put our minds to it! Or am I dreaming??!
Yep, your dreaming. The first thing lawyers would do would be to cry how society is infringing on their rights and using forced labour.
Quite surprised BCCLA or Pivot haven’t started crying already……LOL
Actually, we’ve received very little resistance at all. The institution staff and wardens have been fantastic. And all the work being done is voluntary. The offenders do this for us in their “free” time. Sadly, it looks like we are going to be back to relying on grants and donations to keep the program going in the future, however. The government is cutting the funding for this and other programs like it. Oh well…..we’ve come this far, we’ll keep going.
I think our mindset of believing that they “should” pay back to society for their misconduct, is the root of the problem.
I think our mindset of believing that they ‘should” pay back to society because they are imprisoned on our tax dollar, is the root of the problem.
What rights do the prisoners have. Thanks to Trudeau, they have a lot more rights than we think they should have. Thus the prisoners can choose to pay back to society if they want too.
It is not called the gaol (jail), it is called a correctional centre. PGRCC. The purpose of it called a correctional centre, is because will being incarcerated for two years less a day, they are supposively suppose to correct their habit that got them in their in the first place. However, thanks to Trudeau, it is the clients (prisoners) choice to correct themselves, not the warden.
So think twice before you vote for the Son of P.E.T.
OK, having worked on the “inside” I can tell you two things. First, provincial institutions, like PGRCC, have very few programs compared to the federal institutions where inmates serve longer sentences. Also, research shows that mandatory programs tend to be a waste of resources, so voluntary programs offer far more bang for the buck. Second, believe me, you do not want to end up in any of these jails. You may think these guys have it cushy and that it’s all “soft time”, but you are dead wrong. Is it as tough as it was a 100 years ago? Of course not, everything has changed and for the better, so don’t be a soft-headed idiot, longing for the revenge you call justice.
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