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A prison farm advocacy group is claiming on social media that plans for the goat milk operation at Joyceville Institution have been scrapped.

“Victory!” a Facebook post from the group Evolve Our Prison Farms said late last week. “We have received word from trusted sources ‘inside’ that the prison goat factory plan has been cancelled.”

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Evolve Our Prison Farms claims to be a national justice movement advocating for ethical prison farms in Canada. It also opposes the exploitation of prisoners and animals in the name of offender rehabilitation.

In 2018, the federal government committed $4.3 million over five years to re-establish the prison farms, including the rebuilding of the dairy herd, the establishment of a goat dairy herd, the purchase of equipment and supplies, and renovations to land and buildings.

The program is expected to employ about 60 inmates when fully operational. It is also to include farm crops, gardening, organic gardening and beekeeping.