It looks like non-citizens in federal prisons are costing taxpayers a whole whack of money each year.

As you can see from this September 23 Access to Information response, there were approximately 554 non-citizen inmates in Canadian federal prisons as of September 5, 2010.

As the feds say it costs about $101,666 (2007-08) to house an inmate in a federal institution each year, that means non-citizens are costing taxpayers a staggering $56.3 million annually in prison costs.

And let's remember, you don't get sent to a federal prison for stealing candy from a baby. People are sent to federal prisons for serious crimes such as murder, rape, armed robbery, etc. Petty crimes are typically served in provincial instutions (2yrs less a day).

The CTF's investigation into the matter began after seeing a June 10, 2010 column by the Winnipeg Sun's Tom Brodbeck. In his column, Brodbeck points out the case of a non-citizen who was convicted for murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Given the high likelihood the individual will be deported upon release, Brodbeck points to the $1.5 million cost to taxpayers for keeping the individual in jail over the next 15yrs and asks - "Why not just deport him now?"

It's certainly an interesting question to ask. 

Even if the feds had to pay for the incarceration costs in the criminal's home country, no doubt there would be many cases where it would still be cheaper. In the case highlighted by Brodbeck, the individual will eventually be sent back to the Philippines...gotta figure incarceration costs are a lot cheaper there than our $101,666 per year!

Some food for thought...