You couldn't ask for better neighbours than the inmates and staff at Windsor jail, say residents and community leaders in Sandwich, expressing sadness the province is moving the antiquated facility elsewhere.

"The only problem we've ever had with the jail has been with parking," said Rev. William Bradley after Sunday service at St. John's Anglican Church, across the street from the 80-year-old Brock Street jail.

"If anything, it makes the community safer."

GOOD NEIGHBOURS: Rev. William Bradley, of St. John's Anglican Church on Sandwich Street in Olde Sandwich Towne, says he has had no better neighbours than employees and inmates at Windsor jail.

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Bradley, who arrived at the historic church in 2001, brings a unique perspective to the issue. He previously served as a prison chaplain in Brantford, where he also served on the board of St. Leonard's House, a halfway house for serious offenders.

Mary Ann Cuderman, a Sandwich business owner and president of the Olde Sandwich Towne business improvement association, said the jail has benefited the community immensely as staff -- there are at least 110 unionized workers -- patronize area shops, restaurants and even the local pharmacy.

"They're a boost to our economy and I'm sad to see them go," she said Sunday while serving up fresh scones and strawberry butter to patrons of her Sandwich Street bakery.

"They're the most perfect neighbours you could imagine. There's never been any problems at all."

Residents in southeast Windsor are organizing against provincial plans to construct a replacement jail -- the 315-bed South West Detention Centre -- near Highway 401 between Walker Road and Concession 8.

About 100 protesters stormed a recent public information session and are circulating a petition that has already garnered more than 1,000 signatures.

'AFRAID OF THE UNKNOWN'

They have expressed concerns about the impact the jail might have on future residential and commercial development in a rapidly expanding area on the city's fringes.

Cuderman said she understood why residents might be "afraid of the unknown," but stressed the jail, long located in the heart of Sandwich near General Brock Public School, has been nothing but positive for the community.

"We have houses right across the street and their property values would be the same whether the jail was there or not," she said.

One of those area homeowners, David McComb, purchased his Brock Street property about 21/2 years ago and has no qualms about living so close to the jail.

"I knew the jail was here and it didn't bother me a bit," he said. "I know the inmates aren't going to get out. It's very secure."

Gordon Krantz, the mayor of Milton, Ont., which hosts the 1,500-bed Maplehurst Correctional Facility, said community concerns about the impact of jails tend to be exaggerated and based on misconceptions.

"As far as people escaping and rapists and murderers and all those things that are conjured up in people's minds, it just doesn't happen," said Krantz.

"You can see it from Highway 401 and Highway 25 but you'd never know unless you looked very closely at it that it was even a prison."

Krantz said the jail, which was expanded several years ago, provides "a lot of good jobs, well-paying jobs in the community" and that the prison purchases supplies locally.

The only real drawbacks, he said, are funding issues as they relate to the drain on regional health care and policing services.

"These facilities have to go someplace and what a community has to be careful of is that 'NIMBY' syndrome," he said. "We all agree that there has to be a prison but not in my backyard, not in my community, well, those days, as far as I'm concerned, are long gone.

"We all have to take our fair share of whatever it is that makes society function and that includes penal institutions."

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a guest said:

reply to krantz's comments It is easy for you to make comments like that when it is not being built across the street from your house. I think your comments in this article are very inconsiderate and unproffessional. Why are the tax paying citizens being punished, we should have been able to vote on a site or at least work together on finding a better location. By the way what is the average price on a home on brock street? as far as I am concerned our health care system is already overwhelmed, that is a big concern!

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July 09, 2009
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