Task Force Report on Administrative Segregation

N. The Segregation Advisory Committee

Earlier in this report, the Task Force commented on the significant improvement which CSC has demonstrated, over the life of the Task Force, in its capacity to comply with procedural requirements of the law regarding segregation. It has also emphasized that this progress must be sustained and that the necessary improvements in compliance must be demonstrated. The Task Force has also recommended a number of reforms, including an enhanced segregation review process, experimentation with independent adjudication, a pilot project for Aboriginal offenders, and a review of the management of a variety of populations in the context of the law. While the Task Force has identified the contours of these reforms, there still remains significant work to be done in developing and implementing the recommendations contained in this report.

The Task Force recommends that this work of development should be coordinated through a Segregation Advisory Committee (SAC). As the Chairperson of the Task Force has observed in the opening comments to this report, the experience of the Task Force in bringing together people with different perspectives from both within and outside CSC, has proven to be a basis for productive partnership in exploring creative solutions to complex and oftentimes intractable issues. That energy and synergy, in the Task Force’s view, contributed significantly and positively to its work and to the development of its recommendations. Since the members of the Task Force have become familiar over the past nine months with the issues and the principles underlying the recommendations, appointing some members to the SAC would provide continuity between the work of the Task Force and the work involved in the further development and implementation of the recommendations. The Task Force believes it vital that the balance between CSC and outside participants be maintained on SAC to provide a necessary measure of public confidence in CSC’s openness, accountability and commitment to the strengthening of a culture that respects the "Rule of Law".

The SAC would offer advice on framing the experimentation with independent adjudication and the Aboriginal pilot project, monitor progress in developing and implementing the enhanced segregation review process, and provide further input on the review of population management in the context of the law. The SAC’s mandate should extend over the next two years, with the provision that there be quarterly status reports on implementation of the recommendations and biennial reports to the Senior Deputy Commissioner.