People who live here in the Prairies know that its future landmarks are more likely to be jails than grain elevators. Here, it has become fact that a male aboriginal has a better chance of going to jail than graduating from high school. It is an area, aside from the territories, that incarcerates at the highest rate in Canada. It is a place where prisons could likely become the primary industry. And, it is true that this 'industry' of a sort is booming. Its total offender population reached an all-time high in one recent year of 12,000 Native incarcerates out of an overall total of 30,000. A study of Canada's correctional facilities done in 1996 showed it was operating over-capacity at a stifling 113 per cent.
Each province has its own rate of incarceration, but the Prairie provinces all have the highest numbers. In Manitoba the total number of inmates is 1,393.
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