On Sunday I wrote about Canada’s most notorious serial killer, Clifford Olson, getting old age pension and income supplement totaling just under $1,200 a month.
Considering that close to 50 of his 70 years of life have been spent in one prison or another, and that he’s likely to die in prison, it seem ludicrous he’d be entitled to benefits he doesn’t need, doesn’t deserve and hasn’t earned.
In fairness, it should be pointed out that in discussions, Olson sees the absurdity getting this income.
It also raises the question of aging inmates in our prisons. In the U.S. there are some 35,000 prison inmates who are over 65. Most of them have committed crimes that will never entitle them to parole. In Canadian prisons, there are some 500 federal inmates 65 and over — 1.5% of the prison population. That’s an 87% increase of inmates over 65, since 1993.
On any given day, some 33,500 Canadians are in correctional institutes. The oldest inmate in Canada is 87 — but his name is withheld for “privacy”(?) reasons.
Health costs triple for prisoners over 65; some require 24-hour medical or nursing care.
The cost of maintaining an inmate in a federal prison is roughly $87,000 a year — and double that for female prisoners.
The ratio of Canadians in prison is 131 per 100,000. In the U.S. it’s 750 per 100,000 — the highest ratio in the world. The U.S., with 2% of the world’s population, boasts (well, maybe not “boasts”) 25% of the world’s prison population — assuming Beijing’s and Moscow’s statistics are truthful, (which would be news if they were).
A concern in Canada is the high number of aboriginals in prisons. Roughly 4% of Canada’s adult population are aboriginals, but 21% of the male prison population and 30% of the female prison population.
At the other end of the scale, of 400 inmates of federal prisons who are under 20 years old, about 140 of whom are aboriginals.
As for aging inmates, Corrections Canada initially said it could not reveal the longest serving inmate or the oldest inmate “because these are privacy issues.”
What isn’t a privacy issue is America’s oldest and longest-serving inmate.
The U.S.’s oldest death row inmate was Leroy Nash, Arizona State Prison, who died this year at age 94 and had been in prisons since he was 15 — some 80 years behind bars. He died deaf, blind, crippled and with dementia. A burglar, he had killed a cop, a postman, a store clerk.
Another, Charles Friedgood, is 89. As a surgeon, he injected his ailing wife with Demerol in 1976 and was arrested skipping the U.S. with his mistress (with whom he had two kids) and $450,000 of his wife’s money. He is now up for parole because he has terminal cancer which has already cost $300,000 for treatment.
William Heirens, 81, has been in prison 64 years and counting, since he was arrested in 1946 as Chicago’s “Lipstick killer” (death messages he left in lipstick). He killed two women and dismembered a six-year-old for whom he was hoping to collect $20,000 ransom.
Britain’s longest serving prisoner, John Straffen, died in prison after serving 55 years for murdering a schoolgirl.
At age 70, Clifford Olson has already spent more time in prison than any other Canadian and, like a fish in water, has adjusted perfectly to his environment.
Canada’s most notorious serial killer, Clifford Olson, is getting old age pension and income supplement totalling just under $1,200 a month.
Considering that close to 50 of his 70 years of life have been spent in one prison or another, and that he’s likely to die in prison, it seems ludicrous he’d be entitled to benefits he doesn’t need, doesn’t deserve and hasn’t earned.
In fairness, it should be pointed out that in discussions, Olson says even he sees the absurdity of getting this income.
It also raises the question of aging inmates in our prisons.
In the U.S., there are some 35,000 prison inmates who are over 65.
Most of them have committed crimes that will never entitle them to parole.
In Canadian prisons, there are some 500 federal inmates 65 and over — 1.5% of the prison population.
That’s an 87% increase of inmates over 65 since 1993.
On any given day, some 33,500 Canadians are in correctional institutes.
The oldest inmate in Canada is 87 — but his name is withheld for “privacy”(?) reasons.
Health costs triple for prisoners over 65.
Some require 24-hour medical or nursing care.
The cost of maintaining an inmate in a federal prison is roughly $87,000 a year — and double that for female prisoners.
The ratio of Canadians in prison is 131 per 100,000. In the U.S. it’s 750 per 100,000 — the highest ratio in the world.
The U.S., with 2% of the world’s population, boasts (well, maybe not “boasts”) 25% of the world’s prison population — assuming Beijing’s and Moscow’s statistics are truthful, (which would be news if they were).
A concern in Canada is the high number of aboriginals in prisons.
Roughly 4% of Canada’s adult population are aboriginals, but 21% of the male prison population and 30% of the female prison population.
At the other end of the scale, there are 400 inmates of federal prisons who are under 20 years old, about 140 of whom are aboriginals.
As for aging inmates, Corrections Canada initially said it could not reveal the longest serving inmate or the oldest inmate “because these are privacy issues.”
What isn’t a privacy issue is America’s oldest and longest-serving inmate.
The U.S.’s oldest death row inmate was Leroy Nash, Arizona State Prison, who died this year at age 94 and had been in prisons since he was 15 — some 80 years behind bars.
He died deaf, blind, crippled and with dementia.
A burglar, he had killed a cop, a postman and a store clerk.
Another, Charles Friedgood, is 89.
As a surgeon, he injected his ailing wife with Demerol in 1976 and was arrested skipping the U.S. with his mistress (with whom he had two kids) and $450,000 of his wife’s money.
He is now up for parole because he has terminal cancer, which has already cost $300,000 for treatment.
William Heirens, 81, has been in prison 64 years and counting, since he was arrested in 1946 as Chicago’s “Lipstick killer” (death messages he left in lipstick).
He killed two women and dismembered a six-year-old for whom he was hoping to collect a $20,000 ransom.
Britain’s longest serving prisoner, John Straffen, died in prison after serving 55 years for murdering a schoolgirl.
At age 70, Clifford Olson has already spent more time in prison than any other Canadian and, like a fish in water, has adjusted perfectly to his environment.
OTTAWA — An Ottawa-based victims advocacy group is decrying the federal government’s practice of awarding pensions to prison inmates such as serial killer Clifford Olson.
“There are a number of victims’ groups like ours across Canada struggling to keep our doors open, many without any federal or provincial funding — or very little,” said Heidi Illingworth, director of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime.
“It is frustrating that this taxpayer money is going to incarcerated offenders,” she said.
Olson — who killed at least 11 boys and girls before he was imprisoned in 1982 — and any other offenders incarcerated beyond the age of 65 are eligible to receive both Old Age Security pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement totalling more than $14,000 each annually.
The maximum monthly benefits for both are $516.96 and $652.51 respectively.
“It is somewhat concerning to us, given that (Olson) is incarcerated and has very minimal living expenses,” Illingworth said.
It is one thing for paroled offenders to receive such benefits, she said, as they have been rehabilitated enough to return to society and should receive the benefits that other law-abiding citizens do.
Those who are incarcerated should lose such entitlements during the time they are incarcerated, she said.
Notorious Canadian serial killer collects monthly pension
Every month, the most notorious child killer in the country gets $1,169.47 transferred to a trust account in his name.
Though he will likely die in jail, where he has no living expenses and where the average annual taxpayer cost of keeping a maximum security male incarcerated was $121,294 in 2006-07 — the most recent statistics on Corrections Canada’s website — Clifford Robert Olson is a Canadian, over 65 — he turned 70 on New Year’s Day — and eligible for a pension.
As a federal inmate who has spent much of his time in segregation since he was admitted into federal custody Feb. 17, 1982, Olson likely has little income to claim, which explains why he was approved for not only the Old Age Security (OAS) pension and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), but the maximum monthly benefits for both — $516.96 and $652.51 respectively.
It is a reminder that, criminal as he may be, having killed at least 11 boys and girls, Olson still has his rights as a Canadian, whether you agree with it or not.
Kevin Gaudet does not.
“I think that OAS is very similar to a welfare program and I don’t think prisoners should be getting welfare under any name so no, he shouldn’t be getting this kind of cash,” said Gaudet, federal and Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Cut him off.”
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A Service Canada letter sent to Olson, who in turn sent it to Sun columnist Peter Worthington, shows he was approved for GIS in 2006 and received his first payment, retroactive to 2005, of $7,735.41.
As the price of living on the outside world went up, so too did Olson’s payments.
In 2006, the serial killer was paid $8,716.59 and in 2008, he received $6,082.23, his tax forms show.
Based on his income from 2008, he was notified in a letter from Service Canada that he was approved for GIS from July 2009 to June 2010.
Victim advocate Joe Wamback said he has no problem with “the pension issue,” adding, “In the scheme of things, it’s just so insignificant,” he said.
“Whether we like it or not, whether we feel that his crimes were so horrific that his punishment should be everlasting — and we hope it will be everlasting — he’s still a citizen of this country and he’s till subject to the same rights that we all are,” said Wamback, chairman of the Canadian Crime Victim Foundation.
“So do I have a problem with him getting $1,100 a month Old Age Security and pension supplements? No,” he said.
“We can’t be selective when it comes to human rights,” Wamback said, adding that Olson is still behind bars and “that, we should be thankful for.”
I think that as a Canadian citizen, Olson is entitled to receive pension, as even convicted criminals still retain their rights. I support prisoner's rights.
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