William D. Casey, M.P.

Cumberland Colchester

712 Confederation Building

House of Commons

Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6

House of Commons

Chambre des communes

Canada

Press Release

Ottawa Tel: (613) 992-3366

Ottawa Fax: (613) 992-7220

Amherst Tel: (902) 667-8679

Truro Tel: (902) 893-2455

December 18, 2002

Ottawa – A KPMG Forensic Report on the Correctional Service Canada (CSC) telemarketing scheme, obtained under the Access to Information Act, confirms that the scheme should permanently be cancelled, said Member of Parliament, Bill Casey.  The report indicates that inmates could have access to personal information of the clients calls, and were able to establish relationships by mail with women in the United States.  In one recorded tape, an inmate left a message on an answering machine referring to himself as “The Phantom of Westmorland”. 

Inmates were not required to work with a script but were taught to establish a rapport with the client.  They were instructed to get the income level, age and spouses name of the people that were called.  All calls were to residents of the US. 

The study included operations at Westmorland Institution in Westmorland, New Brunswick, and facilities at Gravenhurst, Ontario and Kingston, Ontario.  Westmorland came under the most criticism for their operations. 

Although the Solicitor General, Wayne Easter, previously announced that the scheme was suspended, Casey says “The government has no business training inmates to call people in other countries on a telemarketing scheme and the scheme must permanently be stopped.”

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For more information:

Bill Casey, MP

Cumberland Colchester

(613) 992-3366,  (902) 667-8679,  (902) 893-2455