Strengthening Community Corrections:
Supporting Safe Integration

BY Diane Bourbonnais, Communications Advisor

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The Transformation Team lead for community corrections is Morris Zbar, former deputy minister for Correctional Services for Ontario. He is working closely with CSC district directors and Bev Arseneault, Director Community Reintegration Operations, to advance the transformation agenda. Transformation Team member Denise Mainville-Vantour from the NPB will also play a key role in this theme, as well as with offender accountability and correctional interventions.

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“CSC’s core mandate is to ensure public safety through the effective reintegration of offenders into the community,” notes Zbar. “This is best accomplished through a gradual, structured and supervised release process managed by community corrections that places emphasis on offenders’ pro-social behaviour. While the process is initiated in the institutions, it must be viewed as part of an integrated continuum that ends outside of the walls.”

The CSC Review Panel recognized the importance of community to corrections and included the following five themes in its recommendations specifically relating to the community:

• Community and staff safety
• Consolidation of existing partnerships and creation of new partnerships
• Challenges generated by the changing inmate population profile
• Offender accountability
• Integration of offenders’ correctional plans and the availability of community services

Each theme includes a number of recommendations specific to the community. Included are some that address issues of employment and employability, and offenders with special needs.

“The most effective way to ensure successful offender reintegration is to provide support through community infrastructure, supervision and appropriate programs that lead to accountable behaviour and thereby reduce recidivism,” explains Zbar. “To achieve these goals, we need to find evidence-based interventions that work, mobilize available resources, expand existing means and, if necessary, find new ways of working.”

In response to the Review Committee’s recommendations and the Government’s response in Budget 2008, CSC promptly held discussions with the many parties involved and engaged them in this fundamental transformation, including the provincial and territorial Heads of Corrections, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, National Associations Active in Criminal Justice, the citizens’ advisory committees and CSC volunteers.

“By inviting the NPB to take an active part in this project, CSC is acknowledging the importance of the relationship between the two organizations and the fact that they share certain responsibilities,” said Mainville-Vantour. “The NPB fully supports CSC initiatives that aim to reinforce the community component of offenders’ correctional plans.”

Short-term initiatives in the areas of staff safety (including the tandem visit policy), offender employment and employability, and electronic monitoring are being developed.

Zbar hopes that CSC’s transformation will ultimately strengthen the capacity of Canadian communities to support offenders’ safe reintegration. “I firmly believe that the most successful individual adaptation takes place in the community,” explained Mr. Zbar. “It all starts inside four walls, and ultimately ends on the outside.” In closing, he tells us that he hopes the Review and transformation agenda will allow us to strengthen our capacity so that we may provide more efficient re-entry programs to reduce reoffending.  ♦