Commissioner's Directive

Date:
2012-06-13

Number:
703

Sentence Management

Issued under the authority of the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada

 

Policy Objectives

1. To ensure that offenders sentenced, committed or transferred to a penitentiary are legally incarcerated.

2. To ensure fairness and consistency in admission, detention and release of offenders.

Authorities

3. Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), sections 2, 12, 93, 94, 99, 115, 116,
119-139

Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations (CCRR), sections 2, 120, 145, 159-163

Criminal Code, sections 2, 515, 527, 570(5), 679, 716-756, 760, 761 and 806(2)

Application

4. This Commissioner's Directive applies to staff responsible for the administration of offender sentences.

Responsibilities

5. The Assistant Commissioner, Correctional Operations and Programs, will:

  1. ensure the distribution of technical information related to the interpretation and calculation of sentences;
  2. ensure the distribution of information regarding the admission, detention and release of offenders; and
  3. develop and implement national policies, guidelines and procedures for delivery of sentence management services.

6. The National Advisor, Sentence Management, will:

  1. develop and maintain a process for transmission of technical information to regional Sentence Management staff;
  2. provide advice and guidance for legislative amendments and/or implementation of court decisions;
  3. be the final authority on the interpretation and application of legislation in consultation with Legal Services as required for the purpose of calculating sentences;
  4. determine in consultation with Chief, Audit Executive/Audit Branch when national audits of Sentence Management will occur, in consultation with Regional Advisors, Sentence Management; and
  5. periodically evaluate effectiveness of self-auditing measures and recommend changes to quality assurance measures when required.

7. The Regional Advisor, Sentence Management, will:

  1. provide direction to line staff when new policies and procedures for delivery of Sentence Management services are implemented;
  2. develop and maintain a process for transmission of technical information to institutional Sentence Management staff;
  3. provide advice and guidance for legislative amendments and/or implementation of court decisions; and
  4. ensure self-auditing and quality assurance measures are in place for the verification of sentence calculations.

8. The Chief, Sentence Management, will:

  1. authorize all offender sentence and eligibility date calculations;
  2. ensure self-auditing and quality assurance measures are utilized; and
  3. ensure information is provided to the Victim Services Unit as per CD 784 - Information Sharing Between Victims and the Correctional Service of Canada.

9. The Sentence Management Associate will:

  1. complete offender sentence and eligibility date calculations;
  2. identify and resolve inconsistencies between warrants of committal, transcripts and other court issued documents; and
  3. implement self-auditing and quality assurance measures.

10. All staff working in Sentence Management are required to comply with the Sentence Management Manual.

Procedures

11. Upon the arrival of an offender at a federal institution, the Chief, Sentence Management, or delegate, will:

  1. for a new admission, verify the warrant of committal and the waiver of the 15 day delay are provided;
  2. for all other arrivals, verify the legal documentation accompanying the offender:
    1. pertains to that offender, and
    2. meets legal requirements;
  3. ensure the offender's personal data is obtained upon initial admission and is updated on subsequent admissions and/or return to custody;
  4. if the offender's place of birth was outside of Canada:
    1. advise Canada Border Services Agency of the offender's arrival at a federal institution,
    2. ask Canada Border Services Agency to determine the offender's citizenship status in Canada, and
    3. monitor the immigration enforcement process through regular contact with Canada Border Services Agency;
  5. identify upon admission and following any changes to the sentence:
    1. unescorted temporary absence authority,
    2. whether the offender is serving a sentence for Schedule I or II offences, and
    3. entitlement to judicial review;
  6. identify and report in the Offender Management System (OMS) pre-trial and court ordered obligations (e.g. restitution, victim surcharge, fines, a requirement to register with a sex offender registry, non-communication order, and publication ban);
  7. ensure the offender is fingerprinted, as per the Fingerprint Identification form (RCMP form C-216) and, when required, retrieve the offender's Fingerprint Section Number from the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC); and
  8. ensure that notification is sent to the Parole Board of Canada to advise of all admissions, readmissions and modifications to an offender's sentence.

Fingerprint Section Number

12. The Fingerprint Section Number assigned to each offender by the RCMP will be the standard offender identifier for the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and will be used in all communication within CSC and with external partners.

Names

13. The name which appears on the warrant of committal containing the sentence that brings the offender under federal jurisdiction is the name used to identify the offender.

14. If the name on the warrant of committal is a known alias for the offender, the flag for "Serving Sentence Under Alias" will be set in OMS.

15. All other names and spellings will be reported as aliases.

16. The offender may:

  1. if sufficient documentation or proof is presented, request in writing that they be known by their real (legal) name; or
  2. if a court document is produced that indicates that a legal name change has occurred, request in writing that they be known by the name appearing on the document, and, in either of the instances mentioned above, all institutional/community records will be amended and/or annotated to reflect the change. The former name will be noted as an alias in OMS.

17. If a change of name occurs, Sentence Management will ensure:

  1. the offender is fingerprinted using the real or legal name;
  2. the fingerprint form and the document supporting the name changes are submitted to the RCMP;
  3. the former name is noted as an alias;
  4. the change of name is recorded in OMS; and
  5. all record holders/file registries, including the Parole Board of Canada and the regional Victim Services Unit, are notified of the change of name.

Institutional Register

18. An offender will be added to the institutional register and institutional count upon:

  1. formal admission as a new federal offender;
  2. transfer in under a federal/provincial exchange of service agreement;
  3. transfer in from another federal institution;
  4. formal admission as an international transfer;
  5. termination of conditional release;
  6. revocation of conditional release; and
  7. formal admission following receipt of sentence for an offence committed while being subject to a long-term supervision order and that caused an interruption of a long-term supervision order.

19. An offender will remain on the institutional register but will not be included in the institutional count system in the following situations:

  1. temporary absences;
  2. work release;
  3. outside court;
  4. outside hospital;
  5. escape and/or unlawfully at large;
  6. release on judicial interim release (bail); and
  7. other absences, i.e. Memorandum of Understanding or Extradition (while incarcerated and not on a conditional release).

20. An offender will be removed from the institutional register and institutional count upon:

  1. transfer out to another federal institution;
  2. transfer out under a federal/provincial exchange of service agreement;
  3. release on any form of continual conditional release;
  4. release by expiration of sentence or warrant expiry date;
  5. court order directing release or removal to other custody; or
  6. death.

21. An offender will not be added on the institutional register, but will be included in the institutional count system, following:

  1. suspension of conditional release;
  2. approval of his/her temporary accommodation under supervision in the community;
  3. suspension of long-term supervision order;
  4. directed remand of an accused person to federal custody; and
  5. temporary placement (Memorandum of Understanding or a supervised offender).

22. An offender will be removed from the institutional count system upon:

  1. suspension cancelled;
  2. his/her request for termination of temporary accommodation arrangement;
  3. termination of the directed remand to federal custody; or
  4. termination of temporary placement.

Sharing Sentence Information

23. The offender will be provided with a copy of their sentence calculation and their conditional release eligibility date letter.

24. Upon request, the offender will be shown their warrant(s) of committal or a copy of the judge's endorsement on the record of conviction.

Escape/Unlawfully at Large

25. If an offender escapes or is declared unlawfully at large from a federal institution, Sentence Management will ensure that the information has been entered in OMS no later than the first working day following the incident.

26. Following the capture of an offender who has escaped or who is unlawfully at large, they will be detained at an institution in the region of the arrest pending arrangements for readmission to a specific institution.

27. If an offender continues to be at large at the point they attain 100 years of age, the offender will be removed from the institutional register and treated as deceased.

Self-Auditing Measures

28. All sentence calculations will be verified by a second individual, as follows:

  1. if a Chief, Sentence Management, initiates a sentence calculation, that calculation will be verified by another Chief, Sentence Management. If a Chief is not available to perform this verification, it will be done by the Regional Advisor, Sentence Management, and/or delegated Sentence Management staff at the regional level; or
  2. if a Sentence Management Associate initiates a sentence calculation, that calculation will normally be verified by the Chief, Sentence Management, at that institution.

29. All transfers in will be audited within 30 days after the transfer. Major discrepancies will be referred to the Regional Advisor, Sentence Management for resolution.

30. A final pre-release audit will be conducted 11 months prior to the statutory release date.

Canadian Police Information Centre Checks

31. Sentence Management will ensure the CPIC checks for outstanding charges are conducted:

  1. within five working days after admission to federal custody as a new federal offender;
  2. within five working days after the entry to an institution as a transfer in from another federal institution, unless the transfer is part of a series of transfers related to ongoing court appearances or hospital stays;
  3. 11 months prior to the statutory release date as part of the pre-release audit;
  4. two weeks prior to the scheduled release of an offender on day parole, full parole, statutory release or warrant expiry date;
  5. immediately before release in the case of unscheduled releases; and
  6. within ten working days after the return to federal custody following any release period, be it a conditional release, long-term supervision order, surrender off bail or recapture following an escape/unlawfully at large.

32. The completion of the CPIC check will be recorded in Sentence Control in OMS.

33. The results of the CPIC check, as well as any actions taken with respect to that check, will be recorded and placed on the Sentence Management file.

Release/Discharge

34. Sentence Management will:

  1. confirm court-ordered obligations that apply upon release;
  2. confirm the existence of outstanding charges and any other matters which may require continued detention of the offender;
  3. coordinate the issuance of release/discharge documents;
  4. quality control the release certificate to ensure conditions of release and release dates are properly reflected on that certificate; and
  5. liaise with authorities for the offender's movement to other custody when required.

Enquiries

35. Strategic Policy Division
National Headquarters
Email: Gen-NHQPolicy-Politi@csc-scc.gc.ca

Commissioner,

Original signed by

Don Head

Annex A: Cross-References and Definition

Cross-References

Definition

Self-auditing measures:
Any activity undertaken by Sentence Management staff to double-check and/or verify sentence management file documentation, sentence calculations, OMS data and sentence management operational procedures and processes.