MONTREAL — Each prisoner in Canada’s 54 federal penitentiaries costs taxpayers $117,788, up 46% from a decade ago, says a new report.

A federal public safety ministry document says federal corrections spending reached a peak of $2.7 billion in 2013, or $1.1 billion more than in 2002-2003.

There were 2,082 more inmates serving sentences longer than two years compared with a decade ago.

Five-hundred additional corrections officers were hired to watch them, the document said.

Canada’s worst criminals are more expensive to house than other inmates, costing taxpayers up to $151,000 a year.

As of April 14, 2013, 579 women were incarcerated in federal prisons at an annual cost of $211,618 each, according to the document.

Prisoner-rights activist Jean-Claude Bernheim told QMI Agency that Ottawa might be able to control spending by privatizing some prisons, as some U.S. states have done.

He said the Tories’ tough-on-crime push has caused the spike in spending.

“We’re starting to see the effects of the Conservative government’s measures,” he said. “Sentences are longer, the Criminal Code now provides mandatory minimum sentences for many offenses, and that has to overflow into the penitentiaries.”

A spokesperson for Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness insists the Government’s crime prevention agenda is on track, and saving taxpayers dollars.

“Our Government’s crime prevention agenda is working,” the Minister’s spokesperson, Jason Tamming, said in an emailed statement to QMI Agency. “The crime rate is decreasing, dangerous criminals are kept behind bars where they belong, and taxpayer dollars are saved by closing prisons.”

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FACTBOX:

Incarceration by the numbers

$322 - average daily cost of a prisoner in a penitentiary ($221 in 2001-'202)

$117,788 - average annual cost of a prisoner in a penitentiary in 2011-2012

$151,484 - annual cost of a prisoner in maximum security

$104 889 - annual cost of a prisoner in medium security

$91,959 - annual cost of a prisoner in minimum security

7,695 - number of corrections officers in federal prisons

$78.76 - amount paid per Canadian, per year, to fund the federal prison system

Prisoner Profile

Number of inmates in federal penitentiaries:

As of April 14, 2013: 14,745

In 2002: 12,663

Age of inmates:

18-29: 40.5%

30s: 27.5%

40s: 19.4%

50-69: 11.7%

70+: 0.8%

2,823 incarcerated for murder

479 dangerous offenders serving indefinite sentences

58% of inmates are white

23% are aboriginal

36% are Catholic

15% are Protestants

5% are Muslims

Source: Correction Service Canada