MP says convicts scamming student loans program

A National Parole Board official is defending convicts' use of student loans, after a report revealed that a murderer on day parole squandered $5,000 in loan money.

Wayne Auster, the board's Vancouver parole director, says that's not a common occurrence. He says authorities monitor how parolees use the cash.

Auster says they try to remind parolees to repay the loans, although it's up to the program to collect the money.

A parole board report found that Elery Long, a convicted killer, was given a $5,000 student loan to take a hairdressing course.

Long dropped out of the course and spent the money on a car and loans to prison friends instead. Long, who was given a life sentence for killing a police officer in 1974, is still on parole on Vancouver Island.

Canadian Alliance justice critic Randy White says it's not an isolated incident.

White says word is spreading in the prison system that a student loan is a good way for a convict to get money after release.

He supports his allegations with an internal Vancouver police report that shows convicts are applying to private schools with no intention of attending classes.