New prison makes sense, Hearn says

Newfoundland and Labrador's federal cabinet representative says he will gladly go to bat in Ottawa to help pay for a new penitentiary in the province.

"I'd support it fully," Loyola Hearn said Monday, responding to whether the federal Conservatives would back a pending proposal from the provincial government to replace Her Majesty's Penitentiary (HMP) in St. John's.

Advocates of a new penitentiary — and the province's own justice minister — say is severely outdated. Parts of HMP date to the Victorian era, and critics say the range of programming for inmates is limited in the province because there is no federal institution within the province.

Hearn, who is also fisheries minister, said no formal documentation has yet been submitted to Ottawa, although he expects that to change.

"The idea seems to be picking up because of the need here in the province," said Hearn.

"It's something certainly we would support, no doubt about it. If a solid proposal is made, it would mean a lot of jobs here in the province, and it would be to the benefit of all those concerned."

The Newfoundland and Labrador government is considering replacing HMP with a provincial-federal institution with modern facilities and a more comprehensive array of services for inmates.

Hearn said support for a new prison would fall in line with the Conservatives' agenda on crime and justice issues.

"It would be hypocritical to say that, you know, we're all for dealing with crime, but [with] a prison, we're not going to look at that," Hearn said.

Hearn added a need for a better prison has long been demonstrated, pointing to an unsuccessful late 1980s campaign to build an institution in Harbour Grace.

Earlier in February, Jerome Kennedy  — a former criminal defence lawyer who took on the justice portfolio last fall — said he felt HMP had outlived its usefulness.