(NUPGE) A new report from Statistics Canada indicates that the number of adult prisoners in remand in Canada now exceeds those serving sentences. The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) points to this trend as a contributing factor in the over-crowding crisis developing in provincial correctional facilities.

Currently prisoners in remand, the temporary detention of a person awaiting trial or sentencing, accounts for 58 per cent of the adult custodial population with 42 per cent serving sentences. This is an increase of 18 per cent over the last decade of prisoners in custody on remand.

Prisoners on remand are housed in provincial or territorial correctional facilities. The research indicates that the increase in the adult remand population is a result of larger numbers of admissions and longer time spent in remand.

With as high as 200 per cent of correctional facilities over-capacity in British Columbia and Manitoba, the increase in remand population is obviously a contributing factor.

National Union President James Clancy sees a substantial part of the problem arising from the failed tough on crime policy of the federal government.

"The system has many problems: over-crowded prisons, too many people with mental health problems in jails, large numbers held in pre-trial custody because it's more difficult to get bail, cases take too long to get before a judge, victims don't get enough input into the process and almost no rehabilitation programs.

The tougher laws and penalties introduced by the Conservative government do nothing to address these real problems. Actually, they’re making these problems worse."

Unfortunately, Clancy points out, the federal government has not provided the funding to provinces needed to address the growing crisis.

In a recent letter to the Ontario Premier, Clancy wrote that NUPGE appreciates "the pressures that federal legislative changes have had on provincial budgets. Our union has highlighted the problem with a federal government enacting legislation that is "tough on crime" without providing the necessary resources to implement it."