Brantford judge says he's 'fed up' with provincial jails: 'We have lost our way'

A Brantford court justice says he’s “fed up” with overcrowded, understaffed provincial jails.

Justice Gethin Edward recently upped the sentence for a man found with drugs and a loaded gun in his home, in order to qualify the man for a prison sentence rather than one that would see him sent to a lower-level.

“I will send him to the pen because I’m fed up with what the provincial facilities are offering,” said Edward as he sentenced the man who had already spent months in jail.

“When I was practising (law) many years ago, ‘the pen’ was something to be avoided. Now it seems provincial reformatories are the places to be avoided.

“We have lost our way.”

In Ontario, jails are run by the province and prisons are operated by the federal government.

Edward has frequently bemoaned the conditio