Whitby Free Press, 9 Mar 1983, p. 1

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13, No. 10 Wednesday, March 9, 1983 24 The joys of computer technology6. Kids and computers are a naturai combination these days even though some of their eiders have an uneasy fear of the new techno- logy. Four-year-oid Andrew Beard (front) and bis brother Christopher joined their parents at St. Thomas' Anglican Churcb Iast Sunday for an afternoon of fun and education witb computers. The day was sponsored by Reverend Ivan Dyer who believes the church sbouid keep in step with changes in technology. Story on page 5. -Free Press Staff Photo Sewers prevent jail from'expanding, By LESLIE BUTLER Free Press Staff Overcrowding at the Whitby Jail could be alleviated if Port Whit- by had proper sewage facilities to accommno- date portable cell units, jail superintendent Frank GUI says. The jail, which now bouses twice the nurn- ber of imnates it was built for in 1957, is un- able to expand because of inadequate sewage facilities in Port Whit- by. Gil says staff are "coping" witb severe overcrowding but if the situation becomes long term it wi lead to problems between staff and inmates. -The jail was built to accommo- date 62 inimates and now houses 133. Regionai works chair- man Gerry Emm con- firmed last week that the region has put a bold on any expansion in the Port which wouid over- ioad the sewer facilities. GII says the provin- cial government wants to add as many as fine portable units which hold up to 10 prisoners each, but can't do it un- tii the sewage facilities are improved. Whitby is one of 48 jails in the province whicb are experiencing "severe overcrowding", the Ontario Union of Public Service Em- pioyees says. The union last week sought legal advice to determine if it can ob- tain court injunctions to limit overcrowding in prisons. Gill says there has been an increase in "in- cidents" between in- mates-in the prison, but says staff don't know if that is due to overpopu- lation or a simple in- crease in population. "We now have double the population and the question is, would we naturally have double the number of inci- dents." GUI said. Two bunks have been put in each cell to han- die the increasing num- ber of inumates at the jail. Gifi says lie bas been able to cope with crowding partly because tbe jail has two community resource centres whicb hoid 40 inmates. "We actually have 173 prisoners in the Region, " he said. "If we didn't have those re- source centres we would be in trouble."*

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