SAINT JOHN, N.B. — A New Brunswick newspaper says Ottawa is considering expanding the prison in Renous.
The New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal says expansion of the Atlantic Institution could help accommodate the increasing number of inmates resulting from Ottawa’s tough-on-crime reforms.
The New Brunswick government has been pressing Ottawa to expand the 23-year-old maximum-security facility south of Miramichi.
Doug White, spokesman for the union that represents corrections officers, says the expansion is almost a sure thing.
White says the federal Conservatives’ reforms could result in 4,000 more male prisoners in federal institutions across the country within five years.
Erin Filliter, spokeswoman for New Brunswick cabinet minister Keith Ashfield, wouldn’t comment on the possible expansion in Renous, but she said Ottawa’s approach “will require us to expand existing prisons.”
