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Institutions for Women

Introduction

The 1990 Task Force Report on Federally Sentenced Women, entitled Creating Choices, brought about a new correctional philosophy for women offenders in Canada. It provides an integrated approach to manage their specific needs. Creating Choices was founded on the principles of empowerment, meaningful and responsible choices, respect and dignity, supportive environments, and shared responsibility.

These principles have served as the motivation behind a number of advances, including the closure of the Prison for Women in Kingston in 2000, the construction of five new regional facilities and an Aboriginal healing lodge, the development of gender-specific programs, and the establishment of a community strategy.

As of June 2010, there are approximately 1,071 women offenders, with half incarcerated and half under community supervision.¹ There are a total of six federal institutions for women offenders in Canada. See the Appendices for a list of the women offender institutions in Canada.

See the Glossary for a description of terms.

Role of Women’s Institutions

Women’s institutions is to provide a safe and supportive correctional environment that empowers federal women offenders to live with dignity and respect. Women’s institutions actively encourage and assist women offenders to become law abiding citizens while exercising reasonable, safe, secure, and humane control.  This includes the provision of gender-specific programming, intervention, and treatment in order to assist the women in their community reintegration.

Description of Premises

The six regional facilities are all multi-level institutions; as such, they accommodate women classified as minimum, medium, and maximum security within a single institution. The Aboriginal Healing Lodge accommodates only women classified as minimum or medium security.  See Appendix E – Women Offender Institutions in Canada for more information on the women offender institutions within Canada.

In addition to these institutions, there is a women offender unit at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and a women unit at Institut Philippe-Pinel in Montreal, Quebec. These locations accommodate women with serious mental health needs.

The perimeter surrounding the regional institutions includes a formal perimeter detection system with a high fence and associated security devices surrounding the institutions. 

The grounds at the regional women's institutions reflect a community neighbourhood environment.  Green space and gardens are dispersed throughout the sites and include interconnected walkways that line each building or house.  The exterior of the housing units varies by site and includes duplex style, connected row housing or a combination of the two.  An Administration Building on the grounds of each site consists of health care, a gym, a visiting and correspondence unit, a spirituality center, a programs area, a library and staff office space. Women offender institutions meet the different needs of women offenders through different living environments, including a general living unit, a structured living environment unit, a secure unit, and a segregation unit.  

The general living units are designed based on a community-living model for women classified as minimum or medium security. They aim to transition women to life in custody. Eight to ten women live in each house and share responsibility for their own daily living activities, such as cleaning, laundry, and meal preparation. Each living unit is equipped with a study that can also support shared accommodation for two women, two full bathrooms one on each floor, a common kitchen/dining and living area, a laundry room, and a small garden in the back for growing vegetables.

Structured living environment (SLE) units provide multi-disciplinary interventions for women with cognitive limitations and significant mental health concerns. The design divides the unit into two separate living areas, each containing four bedrooms. Both living areas are equipped with a full bathroom, shared kitchen/dining and living area, a laundry room and a small garden for growing vegetables. The SLE has two Therapeutic Quiet Rooms for the women to access when necessary.

The Secure Unit accommodates women offenders classified as maximum security and provides intensive staff interactions as well as enhanced supervision and monitoring.  The institutions have the capacity to separate women classified as maximum security from their general population counterparts when necessary and integrate them when appropriate. The Unit is divided into pods; each contains a shared shower/bath room, laundry area, a kitchenette, and a shared dining/living area. Each cell within the pod contains a bed, desk with bookcase, a window, a toilet, a sink, and a wardrobe.

The Segregation Unit accommodates women offenders requiring a high degree of supervision. It operates outside the Secure Unit, staffed by Secure Unit Primary Workers. The unit contains four single occupancy cells; two are equipped with camera observation capabilities in the event a woman is exhibiting suicidal or self-injurious behaviour.

Women Offender Institution Operations

Arrival

Upon arrival at an institution, each woman is given an orientation.  The orientation process familiarizes the women with the rules and regulations of the facility as well as her responsibilities and rights during incarceration.  Each woman is assigned a Case Management Team which includes a Primary Worker, a Parole Officer (in some facilities) an Assistant Team Leader, Team Leaders and other members as identified.

rs are expected to assume responsibility for many different aspects of their lives within the institution.  They are responsible for the daily maintenance of their living units, the preparation of their meals, their laundry and in some cases the care of their children within the parameters of the Mother-Child Program.

Security

All women’s institutions are multi-level, and thus the security in each section of the institution corresponds to the security level assigned to the women.  Women inmates require different levels of management and intervention as their risks and needs are individually specific.  Thus, staff in women's institutions approach women's corrections through the dynamic security approach. 

Dynamic security refers to any activity that promotes or contributes to a safe and secure correctional environment by encouraging constructive relationships and by increasing awareness of factors that contribute to or detract from a safe and secure environment.  Dynamic security is an essential element in the overarching philosophy of the holistic approach and encourages positive relationships between staff and inmates. Staff and women inmates working together can accelerate the reintegration process and facilitate the return of women to the community at the most appropriate time in their sentence.

In conjunction with dynamic security, static security measures are used as well. Static security measures within the women's institutions include locked doors, alarmed doors and windows, restraint equipment, fencing, detection systems and camera observation. The institutional perimeter generally consists of the following:

• The perimeter fence is eight feet topped by rolled razor-ribbon wire;
• A fence detection system signals alarms in the event of intrusions or escape attempts;
• Infra red lights around the perimeter for night-time camera observation;
• Alarms on housing unit doors and windows;
• An elevated general observation camera (360 degrees); and,
• Closed-circuit television cameras;

e static security measures are a necessary part of the operations of the facility, it is considered as one tool among many in the overall management of the facility.

Supervision of inmates in women offender institutions takes into account concerns relating to cross-gender-staffing.  Within the institutions, male staff must be paired with women staff for all patrols/entries into the houses or any room in a house or living unit after curfew until at least 7 a.m. Male contract and maintenance staff are escorted by a staff member with the requisite training whenever they are to work in a house or living unit where women offenders are present. Female professional staff are preferred for the delivery of interventions that deal directly with trauma, such as programs for survivors of abuse.

Health Care

Health care at women's institutions focuses on health promotion, illness reduction and individual wellness utilizing a holistic, women-centred approach.  The Health Care Centre is responsible for providing education and information on general health and wellbeing by educating, encouraging and supporting the development of healthier values, attitudes, and behaviours.  This enables the women to assume the primary responsibility for their own health and make informed choices regarding their well-being. 

Psychological services are also available and are implemented with a special knowledge of the psychology of women and women's issues. Both individual and group treatment is available for all women including women identified as high risk/high need.  The psychology department also provides crisis intervention as needed.

Mental Health

CSC is legislatively mandated to provide every inmate with essential health care and reasonable access to non-essential mental health care that will contribute to the inmate’s rehabilitation and successful reintegration into the community.

Improving the capacity to address mental health needs of offenders is a corporate priority for the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), as we continue to enhance our contributions to public safety.

CSC currently delivers a continuum of mental health services to meet the needs of offenders from intake to warrant expiry, including:

• CSC has fully implemented a computerized system to screen new offenders at intake to better enable staff to identify those offenders that need further mental health intervention upon admission.
• Institutions have put in place inter-disciplinary teams of mental health professionals to provide basic, mental health services and supports.
• Five Regional Treatment Centres provide treatment for male offenders with the most serious mental health conditions who require in-patient treatment beds. The Treatment Centre in the Prairies and the Institut Phillipe-Pinel, a provincial psychiatric facility in Quebec, have units for intensive mental health treatment of women offenders.
• For minimum and medium-security women offenders with mental health needs, separate units (Structured Living Environments) have been established at each of the five women’s facilities.
• Transitional care leading up to and following release to the community is available to enhance the existing case management and clinical supervision model.

Programs

Women offender institutions provide holistic, women-centred, and community oriented programs that assist in the reintegration of women offenders into the community upon release. The development and implementation of these programs is focused on the unique needs of each individual woman. There are correctional programs, mental health programs, educational and employability programs, and social programs.

Correctional Programs

Women Offender Substance Abuse Programming – TEvery women's institution offers this program to women who have a moderate to high need for substance abuse intervention. The holistic program empowers women to make healthy lifestyle choices through the experience of a comprehensive, integrated, and gender responsive program for recovery. The program is reflective of women's changing needs and includes components to address detoxification, education, treatment, transition, and continuing care.

Women’s Sex Offender Program – This program is offered on a one-to-one basis for women who have sexually offended. The primary goal of treatment for women who sexually offend is to learn to identify and effectively deal with the factors that contributed to their offence.

Women’s Violence Prevention Program – This program is designed to address the criminogenic needs of women offenders who act out violently.  Its primary goal is to help participants make choices that lead to a violence-free lifestyle. It is designed to address different forms of violence as it relates to women's life experience.

Mental Health Programs

Abuse and Trauma – The majority of women offenders are survivors of abuse and trauma. Therefore, services for survivors are needed to address the significant impact that abuse and trauma have had on women's lives. Recognized experts in the community are contracted at each of the women's institutions to provide educational awareness and group and individual counselling for women in the program.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) – DBT is a comprehensive mental health treatment program that addresses the needs of women with serious emotional dysregulation. DBT addresses problematic behaviour by targeting skill development to deal with dysregulation of emotions, relationships, cognitions and behaviours.

Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR) – Psychosocial Rehabilitation is a comprehensive program that addresses the needs of women with living skills deficits and women who are cognitively low functioning. PSR helps these individuals regain control over their lives and formulate goals and plans to prepare them for independent living.

Education and Employability Programs

Education Programs – Provincially accredited or certified programs are provided to women offenders to help them meet their identified educational needs, and to assist them to reintegrate into the community as law-abiding citizens. All women are actively encouraged to complete a grade 10 level of education. This is a prerequisite for participation in employability programs.

Employability Programs – While incarcerated, women offenders are given the opportunity to develop employability skills and gain certified work experience through the provision of institutional employment and through participation in vocational programs. Women can develop their portfolio for certification in job safety, Workplace Hazardous Material Information System, food handling, road signing, etc., while they are incarcerated. Women can also learn how to prepare a résumé, job searching strategies, and job interviewing skills.

Social Programs

Parenting Skills Program – Many women feel tremendous concern over the loss of custody of one or more of their children and report that contact with their children, regardless of their age, is essential to personal well-being. The overriding goal of this program is to strengthen the capacity of women offenders to provide for and nurture their children. The program teaches women to raise their children in a safe, secure and nurturing environment by providing them with the necessary child development knowledge and skills to parent effectively.

Mother-Child Program – his Mother-Child Program provides eligible women with the opportunity to have their child reside with them in the institution either on a full-time or part-time basis depending on the age of their child. The Program provides a supportive environment that fosters and promotes stability and continuity for the mother-child relationship. The best interests of the child are the paramount consideration in any decisions relating to the Mother-Child Program.

Peer Support Program – The Peer Support Program is an inmate-based program in which trained inmates provide peer support services to other inmates. Parolees can provide similar support to other parolees in the community.

Lifeline Program – The Lifeline Program is an innovative service provided in partnership by CSC, the Parole Board of Canada and non-governmental organizations. It is a correctional concept involving convicted, but paroled, men and women serving life sentences who have been successfully reintegrated into the community for at least five years. They are recruited to help other lifers throughout their sentences by returning to institutions to help develop programs for lifers, help motivate offenders, help offenders reintegrate, and contribute to public safety

Social Integration Program for Women (SIPW) – SIPW assists women offenders in preparing for their transition back into the community. It targets wellness, relationships, meaningful occupations and community functioning. SIPW helps women identify their strengths and areas of their lives in need of improvement. As part of this program, participants are asked to set goals that will assist them in their reintegration. The program increases women's awareness of community resources and services which can assist them to overcome possible roadblocks.

Other Social Programs

Other social programs that are relevant to the interests and needs of women offenders in terms of enabling skill generalisation and/or fostering relational aspects of development, and/or sustaining achievements made through other programs, are offered (e.g., Canine Program, Horticulture Program, Recreational Therapy, and Arts and Crafts).

Aftercare - All women offenders who have completed correctional programs have the opportunity to continue with a maintenance program either in the institution or while on release to the  community.

Aboriginal Programs for Women Offenders – A culturally-relevant continuum of care is available for Aboriginal women offenders which includes an intake program, a moderate-intensity program, a high intensity program and maintenance programs both in the institution and in the community.  These holistic programs focus on all criminogenic need areas.

Women offender institutions also offer a range of opportunities for community involvement by contracting with the community to provide women-centered health, educational and personal development services. A number of businesses, organizations and associations have been involved in delivering various activities and programs, such as the Elizabeth Fry Society.  It also provides opportunities for public involvement in recreational activities and leisure events. Volunteers provide valuable support and assistance to the women and encourage pro-social interactions. The wide range of skills and backgrounds which community members and volunteers bring to a facility help promote a healthy outlook in the community and provide a vital link to community resources and associations. 

See the Correctional Program Descriptions for more details on the correctional programs for women offered at CSC institutions.