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Vol. 34, No. 2

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A Community Parole Officer meets with an offender in the community

Atlantic Region: Community Correctional Programs

By Jean-Guy Bourque, Regional Administrator,
Reintegration and Programs, Atlantic Region

When dealing with correctional programs in the community, the question always asked is “What should take priority – employment or programming?” In the Atlantic Region, the response has always been that both are equally important.

For the most part, our main focus in the community is our Community Maintenance Program, which allows offenders to practice and build upon the skills they learned while completing a correctional program within the institution. Providing these programs in the community does much more than just continue an intervention for an offender, it provides a positive means of supporting the reintegration process and increasing public safety.

Based on the philosophy that effectiveness is maximized when offenders participate in correctional programming in a community setting, the Atlantic Region continues to strive to offer more correctional programs in the community. Currently, the region offers the Moderate Intensity Family Violence Program several times per year in the community. In addition, upcoming community program plans will include the National Substance Abuse Program – Moderate Intensity, as well as the Violence Prevention Program.

During fiscal year 2008-09, the Atlantic Region assigned a total of 568 offenders to a national correctional program in the community, which represents 21 per cent of the assignments across the country for this time frame. These results show how much the region supports community programming, and that public safety is greatly improved as a direct result of this support.

While such numbers represent great results, the Atlantic Region still faces many challenges, such as increasing the use of Community Correctional Centres (CCCs) for programming purposes. The current problem is that a large majority of CCC beds are being occupied by offenders on Statutory Release with a Residency condition. Releasing offenders to CCCs for programming purposes would not only support and potentially improve reintegration efforts, but bring greater balance to the offender profile in CCCs as well.

The Atlantic Region cannot talk about correctional programming in the community without mentioning our non-governmental organization partners. Their commitment to public safety and the strong relationships they have developed with CSC have greatly enhanced our ability to offer correctional program opportunities in the community, especially in rural areas. These partnerships have assisted us in dealing with the increasingly complex needs of today’s offender population, and in maximizing our contributions to public safety.

Moving ahead, the Atlantic Region is looking forward to the next generation of correctional programs, known as the Integrated Correctional Program Model. This new model, should ensure the continued success of correctional programming in general, as well as in the community.
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