QUICK FACTS

THE CONCEPT

The Service enlists the aid of In-Reach workers. These workers are long-term offenders – lifers – who have successfully re-integrated into Canadian communities for at least five years, proving themselves to be positive, contributing members of society.  These In-Reach workers are recruited to help other lifers throughout their sentences.

THE MISSION

It is important to remember that the majority of offenders are released back into our communities.  With that in mind, LifeLine’s mission is to provide – through both the In-Reach and community components of the program – an opportunity to motivate inmates and marshal resources to achieve successful, gradual integration back into our communities.

LIFELINE’S THREE MAJOR COMPONENTS

• The In-Reach service, bringing lifers who are on parole back into the institution, to help encourage other lifers to make their time incarcerated positive and productive.
• Community services help lifers re-integrate into the community when they leave the penitentiary.

Public awareness initiatives, helping to generate awareness of and support for rehabilitated offenders in our communities and the LifeLine service. Initiatives include In-Reach workers meeting with various community groups to raise awareness about their work. They also promote crime prevention and drug prevention among youth, and assist in special education initiatives.

CANADIAN PROFILE

Although the numbers of people sentenced, incarcerated, and released into our communities fluctuate routinely, the following numbers are the most recent (March 2009):

• Total number of offenders sentenced to life imprisonment: 4,774.
• Total number of offenders sentenced to life imprisonment, who are currently incarcerated: 3,052 (64%).
• Total number of offenders sentenced to life imprisonment, who are monitored in the community: 1,722 (36%).
• Total number of In-Reach workers: 25.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information about the LifeLine service, contact us our on Web site at www.csc-scc.gc.ca.