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Michel Burrowes

A decision for life

As he drove up to the imposing limestone building that is Stoney Mountain Prison, Michel Burrowes had little doubt that he had made the wrong decision. Looking for a new position within the federal government, Michel had agreed to apply for a job teaching life skills to the inmate population. His teaching background, he had been told, would be a real asset.

"I was going for my initial interview," he recalls. "I remember that it was dark and raining hard, just really a bleak day." To make matters worse, the prison was in a lockdown, the result of an incident the previous week. When Michel found out that he'd be teaching seven or more inmates at a time without a guard present, he was convinced he should seek employment elsewhere.

"A phone call to an old colleague in Ottawa changed my mind," he says. "I was explaining what had happened, describing what a hard place it was, when my friend said something that really struck home. 'If you can impact at least one of the people you deal with through your work,' she said, 'you'll do more in one day than most people accomplish in a career.'"

Two weeks later, Michel started work as a teacher at Stoney Mountain Prison in Manitoba. That was more than seven years ago. Not once, he says, has he regretted the decision he made that day.

Impact on many people

Today, Michel is having an impact on a lot of people. As a Senior Evaluation and Review Manager with CSC, he is evaluating the effectiveness of programs and services to help the prison population and CSC personnel. "It's three stage process," he explains. "First we research a program or project to see what it is and what is designed to accomplish. Then we examine the program in action to see if it really works. Finally, we prepare a complete analysis for senior management on the overall value of the program."

He cites the example of chaplaincy. "We've had chaplains in prisons since we've had prisons," he says, "but we've never studied what it's achieved or the impact the program has had on the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders." He says evaluating and reviewing a program like the prisons' chaplaincy program will make sure it continues to meet the needs of the prison and its inmates.

There are many such programs, he says, from increased cooperation between provincial and federal institutions to measures aimed at meeting the needs of specific segments of the inmate population.

Michel looks at what he does in simple terms. "We can lock people up for 10 years, then let them go," he says, "or we can use those 10 years to teach them something valuable." Michel Burrowes has made his decision. He says he'll stay with CSC, continuing to teach those who want to be helped.