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Response from the Correctional Service of Canada Response to the Annual Report of the Correctional Investigator 2005-2006

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PRIORITY 1 – COMMUNITY TRANSITION
Safe transition of offenders into the community

In the context of the changing offender profile described earlier, CSC is facing a number of challenges in preparing offenders for a safe transition to the community. While the evidence demonstrates that a gradual, supervised release to the community provides the best results, the more complex and demanding population poses a major challenge for CSC. Offenders now pose a greater variety of risks and have more diverse needs which require targeted correctional programs and interventions and close monitoring of the implementation of correctional plans for each individual. In this context, a major priority for CSC is to enhance its approaches toward ensuring that offenders can be safely returned to the community.

To contribute to public safety results, CSC continues to develop and integrate strategies that focus on purposeful interventions, correctional programs and effective supervision, as well as improvements in the monitoring of the offender’s progress.

For example, CSC is improving offender preparation for release, aimed at adapting the intake process for offenders so that the offender’s criminogenic needs are assessed earlier in the process and an appropriate Correctional Plan is developed. As well, additional amendments are being made to case management and programming, to ensure that there is more timely and purposeful interventions for those serving shorter sentences. Additionally, enhancements to Community Correctional Centres (CCCs) to manage the transition to the community will further support safe transition for offenders into the community.

CI’s Recommendation 1:

I recommend that the Correctional Service demonstrate compliance with its legal obligation to provide every inmate with essential health care according to professionally accepted standards, and that all institutional health care sites be accredited within one year.

CSC’S RESPONSE:

CSC does and will continue to provide every inmate with essential health care and reasonable access to non-essential health care that will contribute to the inmate’s rehabilitation and successful reintegration into the community.

Health care is provided according to professionally accepted standards by registered health care professionals; attaining accreditation of health care sites is a goal, but not a legal obligation.

All health professionals under contract or employed with CSC are registered and regulated by their independent licensing bodies and are governed by various statutory requirements. In accordance with the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), CSC only hires registered health care professionals to deliver health services to federally sentenced offenders. There are mechanisms in place to verify that all health care professionals have a current and valid license to practice.

Accreditation is a complex and iterative process in which CSC is actively engaged. It is a goal that CSC is pursuing, in order to further improve its delivery of health care, but accreditation is not a legal obligation. All CSC Health Services Units, with the exception of one, were surveyed by the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation (CCHSA) between December 2004 and June 2006. Future follow-up visits will be done in accordance with the three year cycle.

Moreover, to ensure that standards of care are respected and problems are addressed, CSC has a number of mechanisms in place, including investigations, visits by the Health Care Advisory Committee, and continued pursuit of accreditation of all Health Services.

CI’s Recommendation 5:

I recommend that, within one year, the Correctional Service:

  • significantly increase all women offenders’ access to meaningful employment and employability programming;·
  • continue to significantly increase community accommodations and support services for women offenders in underserved areas;·
  • significantly increase the number of women offenders appearing before the National Parole Board at their earliest eligibility dates;·
  • build capacity for and increase use of section 84 and section 81 agreements with Aboriginal communities; and
  • significantly improve access to culturally sensitive programming and services for Aboriginal women who are currently imprisoned in the Atlantic, Quebec and Ontario regions.

CSC’S RESPONSE:

Within its available resources, and based on on-going needs analysis and research, CSC will continue to enhance services, programs and strategies, focussed on meeting the specific needs of women offenders, to reduce their risk of re-offending violently and to increase their ability to transition safely to the community.

  • significantly increase all women offenders’ access to meaningful employment and employability programming;

CSC recognizes the pivotal role that employment plays in promoting the reintegration of offenders into society as law-abiding citizens. CSC has developed a draft National Employment Strategy for Women Offenders, that is scheduled for implementation in April 2007. The objective of the Strategy is to increase viable and meaningful employment opportunities for women offenders, both in the institution and upon release, to contribute to their successful reintegration.

  • continue to significantly increase community accommodations and support services for women offenders in underserved areas;

Over the past few years, CSC has increased bed capacity in the Atlantic Region; as well, CSC has significantly expanded bed capacity in the Pacific Region in the past year, including accommodation for Aboriginal women.

The expansion of small-scale alternative community accommodation (e.g. satellite apartments and private home placements) for women offenders in underserved areas has been limited by challenges in finding these types of accommodation with the required support and structure, often for one woman at a time. Nevertheless, CSC remains committed to seeking these opportunities in underserved areas.

  • significantly increase the number of women offenders appearing before the National Parole Board at their earliest eligibility dates;

CSC constantly strives to bring forth program improvements that will contribute to a woman’s release at the earliest appropriate date (e.g., earlier targeting of needs, flexible entry system for programs and reduction of minimum program group size). CSC continues to monitor those few women offenders who are past their parole eligibility dates, and remains committed to the reintegration of women offenders to the community.

  • build capacity for and increase use of section 84 and section 81 agreements with Aboriginal communities;

A Section 84 Conditional Release Planning Kit has been produced and widely distributed throughout CSC, including to the women offender institutions, and to communities to provide a comprehensive guide on this type of release option.

Nine full-time Aboriginal Community Development Officer (ACDO) positions have been staffed across the country to create links, for both men and women offenders, with Aboriginal communities, to raise Aboriginal community interest in participating in the correctional process, and to initiate section 84 release planning.

  • significantly improve access to culturally sensitive programming and services for Aboriginal women who are currently imprisoned in the Atlantic, Quebec and Ontario regions.

The Atlantic (Nova Institution), Quebec (Joliette Institution), and Ontario (Grand Valley Institution) regions have fewer Aboriginal women offenders than the two western regions. Elder and Aboriginal Liaison Officer services are provided at these sites and women’s needs are addressed on an individual basis through interventions, such as sweat lodges and other cultural activities (e.g. Circles of Change Program at Grand Valley Institution).

CI’s Recommendation 12:

I recommend that, in the next year, the Correctional Service:

  • significantly increase the number of offenders appearing before the National Parole Board at their earliest eligibility dates;
  • significantly reduce waiting lists for programs included in correctional plans to maximize safe and timely reintegration; and
  • significantly increase the number of unescorted temporary absences and work releases, which have drastically declined in recent years and yet have a very high success rate.

CSC’S RESPONSE:

CSC strongly supports the principle that every offender ought to have access to the programs and treatments that meet their needs.

CSC takes every possible action, within its resources, to eliminate obstacles to offenders’ participation in programs, including unescorted temporary absences (UTAs) and work releases, and activities which will help to reduce the risk they represent to society, ideally, by the time they reach their parole eligibility dates.

 CSC cannot predetermine the numbers who will achieve this challenging goal, nor can CSC compel an offender to appear before the NPB at their earliest eligibility date.

CSC cannot commit to increasing offender appearances at the National Parole Board (NPB). There are other factors in addition to eligibility dates for release which must be considered, the first being whether the offender is ready to be released and can be safely managed in the community.

CSC’s policy and procedures direct that an offender and the accompanying casework be prepared for presentation to the NPB at the earliest date that the offender is assessed as being able to be safely managed in the community.

Waitlists are only one indicator of true demand for programs. Program Assignment Boards are in place in the institution and in the community to manage the program enrolment of offenders.

One approach that is currently being considered is reducing the time that offenders spend in the intake process, so that they can participate in correctional programs earlier in their sentence.

New programs and program referral criteria will be introduced, by the end of fiscal year 2007, to address the challenge of placing offenders in programs that are commensurate with their identified needs, risk level, and sentence length.

New policy, currently under development, will provide explicit guidelines for the referrals to programs, the management of wait-lists, and the functioning of the Program Board.

  • significantly increase the number of unescorted temporary absences and work releases, which have drastically declined in recent years and yet have a very high success rate.

The decision to approve an Escorted Temporary Absence (ETA), an Unescorted Temporary Absence (UTA), or a work release is made on a case-by-case basis. Both public safety and the reintegration benefits of such a decision need to be considered and appropriately balanced. Therefore, CSC cannot commit to increasing the use of these Temporary Absences (TA) or work-releases on a population-wide basis.

However, CSC’s efforts to streamline assessments and reduce wait times will contribute to increasing the number of offenders for whom Temporary Absences or a work release may be a viable correctional option. The efforts of the Aboriginal Community Development Officers to work with Aboriginal communities will also contribute to increasing TA opportunities for Aboriginal offenders.

CI’s Recommendation 19:

I recommend that the Correctional Service immediately:

  • amend its policy requiring that inmates choose between either visiting a dying member of their immediate family or other persons with whom inmates have a close personal relationship or attending their funeral; and
  • expedite the consideration of requests for compassionate temporary absences, and allow for a visit to the gravesite or with family members should circumstances make attendance at the funeral impossible.

CSC’S RESPONSE:

CSC does not have the resources to accommodate every request for compassionate temporary absence. Moreover, CSC disagrees with the need to amend its current policy, since it reflects principles of compassion and current community standards.

CSC has an obligation to attend to the needs of the offender, manage public safety, and to responsibly manage within the limited resources available to deal with the many serious challenges it faces. There are frequently very real tensions between these three obligations.

CSC is of the view that no further action is required with respect to reviewing requests for compassionate temporary absences, as CSC already exercises, and will continue to exercise, appropriate discretion when reviewing each request, on a case-by-case basis, and in keeping with law, policy and the principles of compassion.

CSC recognizes and supports the strengthening of an offender’s community ties and respects the humanity of those under sentence. CSC therefore makes every reasonable effort to accommodate inmates wishing to attend funeral services of immediate family members or persons with whom the inmate has a close personal relationship.

Current policy ensures the humane treatment of offenders by allowing them, to the extent possible, to attend the funerals of certain individuals with whom the offender has a relationship. However, each application is evaluated, to determine the nature of the relationship between the offender and the deceased as well as the risk posed by the offender.