Commissioner's Directive

POLICY OBJECTIVES

1. To ensure offenders receive the most effective correctional programs at the appropriate time in their sentences to rehabilitate and prepare them for reintegration into the community.

2. To maximize the effectiveness of correctional programs identified in the offender's Correctional Plan and ensure integrity in program management and delivery.

3. To ensure correctional programs respect gender, ethnic, cultural and linguistic differences, and are responsive to the special needs of women, Aboriginal offenders, offenders requiring mental health care and other groups.

AUTHORITIES

4. Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), sections 3, 3.1, 4, 5(b), 15.1, 26, 76, 77, 79 and 80

APPLICATION

5. This Commissioner's Directive applies to all staff involved in correctional program management, planning, and delivery.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND PROCEDURES

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

   1. authorize the development and delivery of correctional programs;
   2. review and approve the Annual Program Plan; and
   3. authorize the development of the:
      1. National Correctional Programs Referral Guidelines (GL 726-2),
      2. National Correctional Programs Management Guidelines, and
      3. National Standards for Correctional Programs (GL 726-1).

7. The Director, Reintegration Programs, National Headquarters, will:

   1. manage, coordinate and monitor national correctional program development, including program manuals and materials; and
   2. in collaboration with the Regional Deputy Commissioners, oversee coordination of programs to ensure efficient correctional program management and delivery, to maximize program capacity, and to report results annually; and
   3. ensure that the Manager, Victim Services, is provided with the most recent program descriptions.
8. The Manager, Victim Services, will ensure that all Victim Services Officers have access to, and are informed of, the most recent national program descriptions.
9. When the threshold for sharing information with victims are met under paragraph 26(1)(b) of the CCRA, the Victim Services Officer may share information with a registered victim about the programs designed to address the needs of the offender, as described in CD 784 – Information Sharing Between Victims and the Correctional Service of Canada.

10. The Regional Deputy Commissioner will:

    1. ensure procedures are in place that support correctional program delivery;
    2. ensure the correctional program inventory is maintained;
    3. ensure that the correctional programs are available to offenders;
    4. ensure that all correctional programs identified in the Regional Program Plan are national correctional programs; and
    5. ensure quarterly monitoring and reporting of program delivery and results is provided to the  Assistant Commissioner, Correctional Operations and Programs;
    6. promote and facilitate collaboration between assessment, intervention and program staff to:
       1. ensure a greater continuity in correctional planning, and
       2. ensure efficient program management, and maximize program capacity; and
    7. develop and submit to the Assistant Commissioner, Correctional Operations and Programs, an Annual Regional Program Plan.

11. The Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Institutional Operations, will:

    1. provide a national strategic perspective to the Regional Deputy Commissioner, for the regional planning of correctional programs; and
    2. oversee quality and consistency in the application of correctional programs for all offenders across the region.

12. The Regional Administrator, Assessment and Interventions, will:

    1. review, analyze and report to the Regional Deputy Commissioner, all correctional program demand, availability and results;
    2. where there are dissenting opinions regarding program referrals, be the final authority; and
    3. ensure the competencies of Correctional Program Facilitators are evaluated through the quality review and certification process.

13. The Regional Program Manager will:

    1. manage specific correctional program portfolios;
    2. establish, organize and conduct correctional program training in specific correctional program areas;
    3. complete post-training assessment reports; and
    4. conduct the quality review of Correctional Program Facilitators’ performance.

14. The Institutional Head/District Director will:

    1. develop and submit to the Regional Deputy Commissioner, an annual Program Plan;
    2. provide a secure and appropriate environment for the delivery of Correctional Programs; and
    3. ensure that a Correctional Plan for each offender is developed and maintained as per CD 705-6 – Correctional Planning and Criminal Profile, in consultation with the offender, which contains among others, objectives for the offender’s participation in programs.

15. The Assistant Warden, Interventions/Associate District Director will:

    1. ensure the Correctional Program referrals adhere to the National Correctional Programs Referral Guidelines. They will:
       1. authorize referrals and update assignments until they are finalized,
       2. review and record decisions on referrals within ten (10)  working days from the date of application,
       3. ensure the offender meets the referral criteria and that the correctional program is available prior to approving the referral,
       4. approve achievable correctional program referrals for each offender,
       5. ensure that variances are documented,
       6. monitor waitlists, delivery, participation and rates of correctional program completion,
       7. assess correctional program delivery against the number of offenders whose assignments are cancelled or referrals are denied, and
       8. maintain and monitor the 18-month correctional program schedule;
    2. ensure the delivery of correctional programs based on the Annual Program Plan and;
    3. notify the Regional Administrator, Assessment and Interventions, where the correctional program schedule is delayed by more than two weeks.

16. The Manager Programs will:

    1. supervise staff involved in the delivery of correctional programs;
    2. approve program referrals, update correctional program assignments, and record decisions within ten (10) working days;
    3. ensure that correctional program schedules include offender participation information and Correctional Program Facilitator identification;
    4. ensure that the required correctional program performance measurement data, including any automated data collection, are collected and distributed;
    5. ensure that program case conferences and corresponding documentation are completed as required;
    6. ensure that the Final Correctional Program Report, as per Annex B, is quality controlled and finalized within ten (10)  working days of correctional program completion;
    7. ensure that the psychometric measures from the correctional program are submitted for placement in the Psychology file within ten (10) days of correctional program completion; and
    8. ensure that contracted correctional program delivery is in compliance with contractual obligations that respect policy.

17. The Parole Officer will:

    1. adhere to the National Correctional Programs Referral Guidelines for correctional program referrals;
    2. consult a Correctional Program Facilitator when program selection criteria may not be clear or there are discrepancies between offender file information and the results of a supplementary assessment;
    3. enter correctional program referrals in order of priority in the Correctional Plan and identify a suggested start date;and
    4. take into account the offender’s progress towards meeting the objectives of his/her Correctional Plan when making decisions on program referrals, transfers or recommendations for conditional release.

18. The Correctional Program Facilitator will:

    1. ensure that the offender understands and signs the Consent to Participate in a Correctional Program (CSC/SCC 1288):
       1. where an offender understands and accepts the intent of the consent form but refuses to sign the form, the Correctional Program Facilitator will indicate this refusal on the form and sign it in the presence of a witness,
       2. the Correctional Program Facilitator will document in a Casework Record the reason why the offender refused to sign and what was done to ensure that informed consent was obtained,
       3. where an offender agrees to participate in the correctional program, but either refuses to complete the correctional program performance measures or does not want the information used for research purposes, the offender will not be excluded from the correctional program;
    2. ensure that the pre-program interviews and the correctional program performance measures are completed no earlier than 30 working days prior to correctional program commencement;
    3. enter pre- and interim correctional program performance measures into the automated system within five (5) days of their completion;
    4. review the Correctional Plan and deliver correctional programs as per the correctional program manuals;
    5. provide correctional program make-up sessions, if required;
    6. complete a Casework Record within one working day when:
       1. there is an offender contact which is not a requirement of the correctional program,
       2. an individual interview is completed with the offender,
       3. a correctional program make-up session is completed,
       4. there is sharing of information regarding offender participation in correctional programs (including maintenance programs),
       5. there is significant information for the Case Management Team;
    7. initiate a case conference with the Case Management Team member(s) and complete a Casework Record within one working day in situations such as:
       1. there are concerns of an escalation of risk (e.g., breach of condition, suicidal, absence/suspension from the correctional program),
       2. there  are significant difficulties encountered by the offender that could jeopardize his/her participation in the program or there is a significant decision to be discussed such as repeating or ceasing maintenance program participation; and
    8. complete a Final Correctional Program Report as per Annex B within ten (10) working days for all offenders who complete the program or whose assignment to a correctional program has ended.  This includes maintenance programs

19. The offender is expected to:

    1. actively participate in meeting the objectives of his/her Correctional Plan, including participating in programs; and
    2. participate in the development and maintenance of his/her Correctional Plan.

ENQUIRIES

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

    Commissioner,

    Original signed by:
    Don Head

    
    
    

ANNEX A - CROSS-REFERENCES AND DEFINITIONS

CROSS-REFERENCES

• CD 700 - Correctional Interventions
• CD 702 - Aboriginal Offenders
• CD 705 - Intake Assessment Process and Correctional Plan Framework
• CD 705-1 - Preliminary Assessments and Post-Sentence Community Assessments
• CD 705-2 - Information Collection
• CD 705-3 - Immediate Needs Identification and Admission Interviews
• CD 705-4 - Orientation
• CD 705-5 - Supplementary Intake Assessments
• CD 705-6 - Correctional Planning and Criminal Profile
• CD 710 - Institutional Supervision Framework
• CD 710-1 - Progress Against the Correctional Plan
• CD 712 - Case Preparation and Pre-Release Framework
• CD 715-4 - Community Assessments
• CD 720 - Education Programs and Services for Offenders
• CD 730 - Inmate Program Assignment and Payments
• CD 767 - Ethnocultural Offender Programs
• CD 784 – Information Sharing Between Victims and the Correctional Service of Canada
• GL 726-1 – National Standards for Correctional Programs
• GL 726-2 – National Correctional Programs Referral Guidelines

DEFINITIONS

Annual Program Plan: an analysis by operational units to determine programming needs and capacity, including the related training and resource requirements.

Correctional Intervention Board: a multidisciplinary team that approves interventions and contributes to recommendations or decisions for complex cases. The Interdisciplinary Mental Health Team is considered a component of the Correctional Intervention Board.

Correctional program: a structured intervention that addresses empirically-validated factors directly linked to offenders' criminal behaviour, in order to reduce re offending.

Informed consent: consent is considered to be informed when an individual has the capacity to understand the nature of the process and is fully apprised of:

1. the potential results and the risks associated with the process;
2. the potential effects of refusal to agree to the process; and
3. the fact that he/she has the right to withdraw from the process.

Quality review and certification: the process used to measure both Correctional Program Facilitator competency, and Correctional Program Trainer competency.

ANNEX B - FINAL CORRECTIONAL PROGRAM REPORT