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Michael Olotu

A favour repaid in full

Michael Olotu thought he was doing his girlfriend a favour back in 1995 when he agreed to drive her to the dentist's office in Stony Mountain, Manitoba. As it turned out, he says, "she was the one who did me the favour."

That "favour" was the two-plus hours he had to wait while she was at the dentist. "I thought I'd use the time to visit Stony Mountain Institution," says Michael, "maybe see someone about the possibility of volunteering as an officer." The person who greeted Michael was blunt: "This is a prison," he told him. "We don't have volunteer officers here, however, I can ask someone to come and speak with you."

The person that spoke with Michael was Paul Urmson who was then the assistant warden at Stony Mountain Institution. "This guy made a positive lasting impression on me and I began to consider Correctional Service of Canada as a career option". With a Bachelor of Arts in Justice and Law Enforcement, Michael was thinking about a career in ballistic criminology, possibly in the United States. But the idea of a career with CSC also held some appeal.

"The assistant warden gave me an application," Michael recalls. "I took home the application, thought about it for a couple of weeks, then mailed it in." Two weeks later he began the process that would lead him first to a position as a correctional officer, then as a parole officer, co-ordinator of case management and transfers, and today, as a business project officer at national headquarters in Ottawa.

"The knowledge I've acquired in the years since that first visit to Stony Mountain Institution serves me well today," says Michael, who is currently involved in a big project to renew CSC Offender Management System. The OMS is being renewed for both strategic and technological reasons, Michael says. "Strategically, there is a growing need for a better integrated national justice information network, better access to accurate and timely crime and offender information through electronic means, and safer reintegration of offenders into the community".

"As the bridge between the technical group and the business operations at CSC, my job is to ensure that what we do in areas such as security, reintegration and programming help create an improved and modern system that will equip criminal justice practitioners with the information they need to make well-informed decisions while adhering to CSC policy and meet legal requirements. And that," he says, "requires full knowledge of CSC operations and a good overview of CSC as an organization."

An example of how Michael "bridges the gap" between the technical group and the business process group work is the electronic signature project. It calls for the use of an electronic signature on reports CSC prepares about inmates for the National Parole Board. "The Parole Board uses the reports to make decisions," says Michael. "In fact, the Duty to Act Fairly requires that we share the reports with the offender and NPB can't make a decision without such a report. They must know that the contents of the reports have been shared with the offender. And that means the inmate has to sign it. An electronic signature will overcome the challenges, improve information sharing with the NPB and build confidence in our criminal justice system".

Michael says he's delighted that his experience and knowledge are making a difference at CSC. A native of Nigeria who immigrated to Canada in 1991, he says he sees his work with CSC as a way to "pay back what Canada, a great country has done for me."

As for that trip to the dentist way back when, it paid off in another way as well-Michael and his girlfriend are now married with a new baby girl.