Glube and Panel Recommendation Review

Executive Summary

The current document was developed to provide an independent review of actions taken with respect to women’s corrections in response to the recommendations made in the Glube Report (Moving Forward with Women’s Corrections: The Expert Committee Review of Correctional Service Canada’s Ten-Year Status Report on Women’s Corrections, 1996-2006) and the Panel Report (Report of the CSC Review Panel: A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety, 2007). This report focuses on the time period extending from fiscal year 2007- to - 2013 and provides a summary of the accomplishments, existing challenges and opportunities to go forward across seven areas:

Governance
Human Resource Strategy
Community Corrections
Dedicated Full-Time Elders
Community-Based Accommodations & Aboriginal Women’s Healing Lodge
Isabel McNeill House
Employment Strategy

Major Findings

1: Governance

The vast majority of individuals interviewed for this report, felt strongly that the functional role of the Deputy Commissioner of Women (DCW) should be strengthened and expanded in an effort to address challenges to the integrity of the women-centred model. Recommendations included: (1) increasing and formalizing educational opportunities for staff and stakeholders throughout the organization; (2) strengthening the advisory role of the Women Offender Sector (WOS) particularly with respect to policy development; and, (3) addressing potential threats to the sustainability of the women’s portfolio by giving the DCW an expanded role in developing performance outcomes for the Wardens and facilitating succession planning within the women’s sector.

2: Human Resource Strategy

Cross-gender staffing has been a primary issue for the women’s portfolio and continues to be of critical concern to the women’s facilities. The decision to retain a percentage of male staff has led to the refinement and implementation of a national protocol for staff selection and training. Achievements made since the Glube report include: a self-assessment process to determine personal suitability, a four-step screening process to assess knowledge and skills of candidates, revisions to the women-centred training to reflect the dynamic changes in the population, and monitoring for compliance with Commissioners Directive (CD-577).

The major challenges identified by interviewees with respect to the human resource strategy included the increase in staff deployments, the lack of clarity with regard to staffing ratios, use of temporary staff who are not trained in a women-centred approach, and the need to provide community staff with more intensive training that is offered in a more timely fashion.

It is important to emphasize the staffing protocol has just been completed and thus the success of this achievement must be closely monitored in future reviews. In addition, several opportunities were presented for going forward. These include: assisting the women’s facilities to establish policy to support staffing ratios; providing sites with resources to engage and motivate non-committed staff; and, providing orientation training in women-centred principles to temporary staff.

The Women Offender Sector has revised the training offered to primary workers to reflect the changing profile and needs of the women offender population. To build on this, we encourage WOS to create coaching tools for supervisors that can help them to develop and build staff competencies. A number of individuals interviewed suggested the need for additional training in the use of Motivational Interviewing and other complementary gender-responsive approaches; maintaining professional boundaries; and staff self-care and resilience.

3: Community Corrections

Clearly, since the time of the Glube and Panel Reviews, the Correctional Service Canada has made community corrections a higher priority in general, which is evidenced by the Federal Community Corrections Strategy (2009). In addition, the Women Offenders Sector has published the Revised National Community Strategy for Women Offenders (2010), then shortly after created a Community Strategy Implementation Team (CSIT). The CSIT reviews the progress of the previous year, considers what aspects of the plan are most salient, and suggests specific actions that advance the general themes put forward in the National Community Strategy. These suggestions are used to create the annual action plans.

The most robust of the action plans has commenced in the 2012-13 fiscal year. This plan was then used again for the 2013-14 year, with a new plan being launched for the 2014-15 year. At this time, it is not possible to comment on whether all of these actions will result in sustainable, successful reintegration of women offenders. However, short-term outcomes demonstrate that where specific funding is made available to address community correctional needs, the funding is being accessed and the activities are, for the most part, being undertaken. These areas include (1) complex case planning, (2) residential accommodations, (3) actions to better integrate institutional and community corrections and (4) the building and strengthening of partnerships with community stakeholders. While these practices appear promising, the Women Offender Sector must maintain the momentum created by the action plans and ensure that the CSIT is able to monitor the progress, ascertain what is working effectively, and make concrete suggestions for the future.

The Women Offender Sector has also addressed the need for community-based maintenance programming. The Community Relapse Prevention and Maintenance Program was transformed into the women’s self-management programs. These include the Self-Management Program (WO-SMP) and the Aboriginal Women Offender – Self-Management Program (AWO-SMP). In addition, the WOS has undertaken considerable work in revamping the entire suite of programs available to Aboriginal women (the Circle of Care) and non-Aboriginal women (the Continuum of Care). These programs were recently launched and there is no program outcome data to report. Thus, it is too soon to determine whether they will significantly affect the successful reintegration of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women offenders.

There are three major challenges in this area. First, research demonstrates that the mother-child relationship is critical for both the health of the child and the successful reintegration of the offender. However, CSC is struggling to provide a mother-child institutional program that is meaningful. There have been very few participants in the program nationally for the past three years. Further, there is no tracking of data regarding how many women are re-united with their children when released to community accommodations, nor whether women are utilizing community resources to assist with the process. There is, however, anecdotal evidence of innovative practice, such as CHILD-LINK and a modified mother-child visiting program. In going forward, CSC could consider how to build on these small successes in a wider national context.

Second, although a mental health strategy is being implemented nationally, the resources for community mental health services have decreased significantly, even though the number of women offenders experiencing mental health issues appears to be rising. Further, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is available only in the institutions. Although community correctional staff are to be trained to provide support for women when they are released, the training has not yet been provided.

Finally, staff such as Discharge Planners, Case Managers and Parole Officers could play a more meaningful part in the Circle of Care for Aboriginal offenders if they were to receive better training. Important subject areas that are currently unaddressed include: historic trauma, social/colonial history, unique needs of Aboriginal women offenders, purpose/goals of the Circle of Care and how they can support or play a role in the Circle of Care.

4: Dedicated Full-Time Elders

Shortly after the publication of the Glube and Panel Recommendations, resources were secured to employ full-time Elders for Edmonton Institution for Women (EIFW) and Fraser Valley Institution (FVI) secure units. Currently, although it appears that the allocation of resources for Elders on secure units has been maintained, the challenge in this area is now regarding the recruitment and retention of Elders to fill all available positions in some locations. For example, it is important to ensure that the Elders have adequate help in their work. In addition, Elders should be primarily engaged in activities that reflect their expertise such as ceremony and one-to-one counselling, as opposed to paperwork and case conferencing which can also be challenging. Finally, gathering the supplies required for ceremonies is labour intensive, may require travel resources/permission that are difficult to obtain, and involves knowledge about the Aboriginal community, culture and worldview. To address some of these challenges, CSC could review policies that create barriers to ensuring resources are available for ceremony.

5: Community-Based Accommodations & Aboriginal Women’s Healing Lodge

Since 2007 the number of beds available to women-only in the community has increased (229 women-only beds in 2012-13 from 194 in 2008). In addition, the number of co-ed beds available has risen significantly from 89 in 2008 to 233 in 2012-13. The overall weighted average usage of beds in women-only facilities was 64.7% in 2012-2013. Thus, while CSC has made significant gains in the number of beds available, the next challenge is to ensure the right type of bed is available in the right places to increase usage of these beds.

In addition, CSC opened a new 16-bed Section 81 facility in partnership with Native Counselling Services of Alberta in Edmonton. Although a second Section 81 facility was being negotiated in Quebec with an Aboriginal community partner, the organization withdrew from the process before an agreement could be signed. Other partnerships are currently being explored in Ontario, with the long-term goal of possibly expanding one of these partnerships into the development of a Section 81 agreement.

Finally, the statistical data demonstrates that the number of Section 84 releases is increasing each year. There are anecdotal, yet promising practices that demonstrate how building strong partnerships with community service agencies, as well as raising awareness of those agency staff regarding Aboriginal women offenders can result in an increase in the number of Section 84 releases. CSC could build on these practices to continue this trend.

6: Isabel McNeill House

The Isabel McNeill House is now closed and consistent with the Glube recommendation, funding previously allocated for this program has been retained within the women’s initiative. Future reviews should focus on the “orientation process” for newly arriving women and the continuum of accommodation options.

The regional facilities have been charged with the task of implementing a series of guiding principles to ensure that newly arriving women receive immediate access to information and support. We encourage the Women Offender Sector to standardize an orientation protocol and review the implementation process within the regional facilities.

At the time of this review, several of the women’s facilities were preparing to open minimum security beds beyond the fence. The beds provide women with an additional housing option and expand opportunities for reintegration as women prepare to transition into the community. To realise this goal it is essential that CSC continue to work closely with the Parole Board of Canada and that regional facilities continue to develop partnerships with community stakeholders.

7: Employment Strategy

The model and process outlined in the National Employment Strategy for Women Action Plan was fully implemented in July 2013. Insufficient time has passed to assess the impact of this strategy however a number of accomplishments and innovative practices were identified. Among them include positions for full-time Employment Counsellors; a four-step re-entry process to support the employability plan, and a series of community partnerships and reports.

Challenges to the implementation of the employment strategy include limited pre-release opportunities that would help women develop vocational skills prior to release, barriers that women offenders continue to face in finding employment in the community, and the need to address the differential needs of women who present with special needs or circumstances.

Opportunities to support the integrity of this model and strengthen implementation include: (1) increasing pre-release options for women offenders that support personal and professional development and that maximize opportunities for networking and connection in the community; (2) continuing to focus on the development of educational and vocational programs that address the diverse needs of this population; (3) building partnerships with government and other community agencies that share an interest in this population; and, (4) using the Evaluation Framework to monitor outcomes and to inform the future direction of this initiative.

Going Forward

The women offender portfolio continues to change and thus emerging issues should be reflected in internal and external reviews conducted in the future. For example, at the time of the Glube Report, the mental health needs of women offenders were not raised as a critical issue. At present, there are a growing number of women offenders with severe mental health issues who need services beyond what CSC can currently offer. In future reviews we strongly recommend that this concern and other dynamic issues be addressed.

Further, a number of national strategies have been implemented either very recently or during the time period of this review, including:

The National Employment Strategy for Women Action Plan
Mental Health Strategy for Corrections in Canada and the Community Mental Health Service Delivery Guidelines
The Federal Community Corrections Strategy
The National Community Strategy for Women Offenders
The Community Framework for Women Action Plan
Sub-Population Management Strategy (To be launched)

Given that the impact of these initiatives could not be assessed, we strongly recommend that outcomes resulting from these initiatives be carefully reviewed in future reports.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background

This report serves as a summary of progress from 2007 to 2013 and highlights the major accomplishments, challenges and opportunities for going forward in women’s corrections. A number of major reviews precede this report and provide a chronology of women’s corrections in Canada. This report builds on past efforts commencing with the 1990 document, Creating Choices that was prepared by the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women. Creating Choices provided women’s corrections with a structured framework to address the needs of women offenders and five underlying principles to guide the development of policy and practice. This framework continues to serve as the foundation for going forward in women’s corrections. It has been refined and updated based on the results of a number of important reviews that are summarized below:

In 1996, Justice Louise Arbour’s report on the Commission of Inquiry into Certain Events at Prison for Women was publicly released. The Arbour Report contained 14 recommendations and over 100 sub-recommendations.
The next major comprehensive review of women’s corrections was released in 2006. The Ten-Year Status Report on Women’s Corrections (1996-2006) provided a cumulative summary of the various accomplishments and challenges facing CSC in relation to several key themes explored in the Arbour Report and other external studies. The Ten-Year Status Report Annexes contain a detailed response to each recommendation made within the Arbour Report (1996); the Report of the Auditor General into the Reintegration of Women Offenders (April 2003); the 26th Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (November 2003); and Protecting Their Rights - A Systemic Review of Human Rights in Correctional Services for Federally Sentenced Women by the Canadian Human Rights Commission (December 2003).
Subsequent to the release of this report, the Correctional Investigator recommended that an Expert Committee, conduct an independent review of progress made. In 2006, Madame Justice Constance Glube was named the chairperson of a group of correctional experts who conducted the review. Their report, Moving Forward with Women’s Corrections, was publicly released in 2007. The primary recommendations of the Glube Report included:
- #1 - CSC revisits the women’s corrections governance structure in order to have the Wardens of the women offender institutions report directly to the Deputy Commissioner for Women.
- #2 - CSC put a human resource strategy in place to support its women’s corrections workforce needs.
- #3 - CSC make women’s community corrections a higher priority in order to increase opportunities for successful reintegration into the community.
- #4 - CSC dedicate full time Elders to the Secure Units at Edmonton and Fraser Valley Institutions
- #5 - CSC incorporate the need for an Aboriginal women’s healing lodge facility in its long-range accommodation plan on a priority basis for Eastern Canada.
- #6 - If CSC decides to discontinue operations at Isabel McNeill House, every effort be made to retain the existing resources so that they are proportionately distributed to the women’s regional facilities and used to support the orientation of newly arrived women.
In the same year, the Report of the CSC Review Panel: A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety (Panel Report) was released with 109 recommendations. Five made specific reference to women’s corrections and include:
- #25(e) - Reassess National Employment Strategy for Women Offenders.
- #27 - Maintain functional role for DCW, Women.
- #67 - Full review of capacity and capability of community residential facilities, and in particular, the lack of community accommodation alternatives available for women offenders as well as Sections 81/84 with Aboriginal communities.
- #70 - Review of community program base and resources required to support implementation of maintenance programs, and in particular, the development and availability of community programs for women and Aboriginal offenders.
- #71 - Update Community Strategy for Women and enhance transition services.

The Current Report

The current review was initiated by the Women Offender Sector of Correctional Service Canada to provide an independent review of actions taken and progress achieved in response to the recommendations outlined above.

Methodology

This review was completed by two independent contractors within the time period of July 2013 to September 2013. Reviewers were provided with written documentation and employed the following strategies to verify and explore progress:

Review of relevant research, documentation, and policy.
Semi-structured phone interviews with CSC personnel and community stakeholders.
Two site visits. The first entailed an interview with the Warden and Senior Staff at the Edmonton Institution for Women. The second included a focus group with six parole officers from the Women Supervision Unit in Toronto.
An interview was conducted with two women offenders recently released to the community.

It should be noted that the methods used to conduct this review were limited and did not include direct observation, an audit or scientific evaluation or inquiry.

Outline of the Report

For the purpose of this report the recommendations from the Glube Report and Panel Review were grouped under the following headings:

Governance
Human Resource Strategy
Community Corrections
Dedicated Full-Time Elders
Community-Based Accommodations & Aboriginal Women’s Healing Lodge
Isabel McNeill House
Employment Strategy

A summary of the accomplishments, challenges and opportunities with respect to each area is summarized within this report.

Chapter 2: Issue #1-Governance

GLUBE REPORT RECOMMENDATION #1

The committee recommended that CSC revisit the women’s corrections governance structure in order to have the Wardens of the women offender institutions report directly to the Deputy Commissioner of Women.

PANEL REPORT #27

The panel believes the functional role of the DCW is currently satisfactory. They also supported the need to “enhance and strengthen the relationship of the DCW and her staff within all levels of the organization in order to ensure a clear and sharpened women-centred focus in support of the women’s correctional model.”

Background Information

The Women Offender Sector (WOS) has maintained a functional role since 1996 when Nancy Stableforth became the first Deputy Commissioner for Women (DCW) for Correctional Service Canada. Since that time, two external reviews have been undertaken. The first (Moving Forward with Women’s Corrections: The Expert Committee Review of Correctional Service Canada’s Ten-Year Status Report on Women’s Corrections, 1996-2006) was completed in 2006 and will be referred to as the Glube Report. A primary recommendation emerging from this report was the need to create a separate organizational structure for women’s corrections, giving the DCW both functional and operational authority. The Committee recognized the potential costs of this strategy (e.g., increased isolation for the women offender institutions from regional counterparts, need to increase resources and expand the Women Offender Sector, etc.). However, the committee believed that without a change in organizational structure, the preservation and evolution of a women-centred model is perpetually at risk.

This view was not upheld by the CSC Review Panel: A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety, 2007. The panel suggested that the current governance structure was satisfactory and that an emphasis be placed on enhancing and strengthening the role of the Deputy Commissioner of Women (DCW) throughout all levels of the organization.

In 2008 Correctional Service Canada released an accountability framework to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the DCW.^{Footnote 1} Consistent with the Expert Committee Review, the framework maintains the functional role of the DCW in establishing national policies, programs, and guidelines, while accountability for operations continues to lie within the regions.

The vast majority of individuals interviewed for this report felt strongly that the functional role of the DCW should be strengthened and expanded. Most felt this could be accomplished within the current governance structure, while a smaller number of individuals expressed the view that the DCW should have full authority (both operational and functional). In this section we will briefly highlight the reported benefits and challenges of the current structure. We will then identify opportunities to expand and advance the role of the DCW.

Benefits of the Existing Structure

Expertise of WOS to Develop Women-Centred Policies and Practices

It is noteworthy, that without exception, the Wardens and senior staff interviewed during the course of this review expressed strong regard for the DCW and the Women Offender Sector (WOS). We were struck by the consistency of comments with respect to the professionalism of staff within WOS, their responsiveness to requests from the field, and their expertise in addressing the needs of women offenders. According to one interviewee, “WOS continues to advance our work with women offenders and their influence is felt across Canada and internationally.” The activities engaged in by WOS and most highly valued and identified by interviewees included:
1. Collaboration with the women offender research unit to increase awareness of the needs of this population.
2. National team approach to manage high needs and complex cases.
3. Development of women-centred training for staff and support provided by national training staff.
4. Refresher trainings for staff.
5. Employment strategy - process and model as well as innovative practices.
6. Mental health resources (e.g., funding to support the delivery of specialized programs including trauma groups, etc.).
7. Continuum of care and suite of intervention programs designed for women.
8. Policy to guide the recruitment and selection of Primary Workers.
9. Government partnerships to support reintegration.
10. Emphasis on building cultural competence to address the diverse needs of women offenders.
Expertise in Regions to Support Implementation

As mentioned previously, most of the individuals interviewed felt that the regional structure (Regional Deputy Commissioner (RDC) and Assistant Deputy Commissioner – Institutional Operations (ADCIO) should be retained to support and manage the operation of women’s facilities. Several individuals expressed the view that WOS lacks the resources, staff complement, and experience necessary to assume this function. Efforts to build this capacity would require the duplication of efforts and would erode limited resources.

For many, the primary benefit of the existing structure was linked to geography and the ability of the region to anticipate and respond to the needs of a changing offender population, to share financial, professional and human resources, and to facilitate the development of community supports and partnerships. Concern was expressed that without a strong link to the regions, the women offender facilities would be isolated and to a large extent forgotten by local counterparts.
Developing National Partnerships

The DCW has worked diligently to develop partnerships with other government agencies and stakeholders in an effort to increase awareness and to build resources for women offenders. A recent partnership with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) - now known as- Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) resulted in funding to support social enterprises. The success of this collaboration inspired the DCW to initiate a National Network of Champions designed to encourage collaboration and to inform and educate other government departments about the needs of women offenders. Participation at the National Women’s Shows has helped WOS to build connections with potential volunteers and employers. Finally, within CSC, WOS has initiated a series of open houses to educate and inform colleagues within other sectors at National Headquarters about the women offender portfolio. This has contributed to a number of joint efforts that benefit women offenders. For example, CHILD LINK^{Footnote 2} emerged through the discussions with the Information Management Group. In another collaborative, WOS is partnering with Community Reintegration, Community Mental Health and Partnerships (CMHP) Division, and Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate (AID) to create a video promoting employment among the offender populations.

Challenges of the Existing Structure

The existing governance structure was supported by the majority of those interviewed. However, without exception, individuals working directly with women expressed some level of dissatisfaction with this model. The major challenges reported by participants fall into two overlapping categories: (1) Lack of Understanding and (2) Threats to Sustainability.

Lack of Understanding

Many of the interviewees working directly with the women’s portfolio expressed frustration regarding the need to continually “fight to be heard” and the inordinate amount of time spent educating others with respect to the differential needs of women. Three areas with the greatest immediate impact on the implementation of a women-centred approach were routinely identified by interviewees. These include: (a) policy and program development; (b) Parole Board of Canada (PBC) release decisions; and (c) pressure from the unions.
1. There has been considerable effort by WOS and the various departments within CSC to work collaboratively with respect to policy development and promulgation. However, at the time of this review, several security policies were released that could not be implemented in women’s facilities without either compromising the integrity of the program or requiring additional resources. The challenge to properly vet policies prior to release continues to pose an obstacle for women offender institutions. One of the individuals we interviewed stated that – “Decisions are often made without a gender-based analysis and this can result in policies and practices that have a disproportionate and negative impact for women”.
2. Over the last six years, the PBC has drastically reduced the number of discretionary releases. The end result has been a significant decrease in the number of women released to the community prior to sentence completion and in the number of ETA’s and UTA’s. This has contributed to challenges for all professionals working with women (e.g., primary workers, program staff, parole officers, and community stakeholders who offer transitional housing) and has limited important opportunities for women offenders to prepare for reintegration.
3. There is a strong desire by the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO) to standardize security procedures across facilities. As a result, changes have already occurred that have a direct impact on the culture of the women’s facilities. For example, primary workers in the women’s institutions are now wearing uniforms and there is pressure being placed on CSC to equip all officers working with medium and maximum security offenders with security equipment (vests and OC Spray). According to one individual: “The union is very strong and they have campaigned relentlessly with large resources to move away from interacting with the offender to working from a hermetically sealed environment that reduces actual contact.”
Threats to Sustainability

Many of the individuals interviewed reported concerns with respect to the sustainability of the women-centred principles advanced in 1990 by the authors of Creating Choices.
1. Several individuals suggested that without expanded governance, WOS would be unlikely to preserve a woman-centred approach. One individual stated that there is too much pressure on the DCW and not enough support within the organization to truly sustain the women’s initiative. “The existing structure is dependent on the strength, will, and ability, of the DCW to ensure that the women’s program continues to thrive and evolve. If the day comes when we do not have a strong leader we could lose everything.”
2. This view was not shared by the majority of individuals we interviewed. In fact most people expressed the belief that the DCW and Women Offender Sector are deeply valued within CSC and have significant formal authority. Regardless, many felt that there has been a slow and significant drift from the women-centred principles. Some attributed this shift to changes in the reporting structure advanced in (2008) and to fiscal policy and budgetary restraints. For example, the Wardens have contact with the DCW however; middle managers (ADW’s and DW’s) no longer participate in regular meetings and rarely have direct contact. Budgetary restraints have also led to a reduction in opportunities for national meetings and conferences, and have limited staff access to training. We found that middle managers and line staff were less likely to be aware of WOS, the history of this department, and the role that it plays in supporting the women’s portfolio.
3. Another indicator of drift from Creating Choices is budget cuts to services that are perceived as essential to support the reintegration of women. For example, several sites reported a decrease in mental health services available to women in the community. Given that a large percentage of justice involved women are diagnosed with mental health issues, this can impact significantly on their ability to stabilize in the community. Finally, a significant loss noted by almost every Warden we spoke with concerned the cut in funding for part-time chaplains. As summarized by one individual: “Chaplains bring an entire community of support to the women. They bring volunteers, organize events, support their children, run treatment groups, offer links to the community, connect women to resources and offer all of this with humanity and compassion. The loss of one chaplain is the loss of a community.”

Opportunities

As indicated above, most of the individuals interviewed indicated the need to expand and enrich the existing governance structure. Opportunities to achieve this goal included:

Formalize and Increase Opportunities to Educate CSC Staff and Stakeholders
1. The DCW, WOS and senior management staff have played a pivotal role in educating CSC staff and stakeholders with respect to the women’s initiative and the unique needs of women offenders. We believe that this need will not change and is likely to become stronger as fiscal and systemic demands emerge (e.g., budgetary restraints, pressure from UCCO, etc.). WOS is encouraged to create (formal and informal) opportunities to educate stakeholders and CSC staff at all levels of the organization through the continuation of the following activities:
  1. Conduct research and disseminate findings that increase awareness of the needs of women and effective practices that support favourable outcomes.
  2. Meet with the Wardens regularly and participate on conference calls with Wardens and Senior Management.
  3. Distribute educational resources with a focus on women offenders (e.g., videos, policy and practice briefs^{Footnote 3}, research results, etc.) throughout the service and to all stakeholders.
  4. Establish partnerships with other government departments that support the work being done with women offenders.
2. All staff within women’s corrections should be encouraged to play a formal role in educating CSC staff and stakeholders:
  1. Build active communities where representatives from across the organization are encouraged to work collaboratively to address challenges.
  2. Create informal and low-cost mechanisms for staff across the country to network with each other (e.g., communities of practice linked through internet, web-conferencing, etc.).
Strengthen the Advisory Role of WOS
1. There is an opportunity to strengthen the advisory role of WOS through the following activities:
  1. Formalize a mechanism that requires a separate policy suite for women’s corrections before releasing directives to the facilities and community.
  2. Develop a complete set of security policies for women rather than trying to adapt and adjust policies that were developed for male facilities.^{Footnote 4}
  3. Cultivate understanding and encourage the direct involvement of senior managers across departments in CSC to support and inform policy review related to the women’s initiative.
Address Challenges to Sustainability
1. There are a number of opportunities to address the issue of sustainability and many of these are linked to leadership.
  1. Several of the regional leaders described the importance of succession planning in building future leaders to support the women’s initiative. Resources should be directed toward activities that mentor potential candidates and give them the opportunity to interface with WOS and other leaders in the women’s initiative.
  2. Many interviewees felt that WOS should provide opportunities for collaboration and leadership development that is directed toward the Assistant and Deputy Wardens in each region.
2. Within the current governance structure^{Footnote 5} the DCW has responsibility for succession planning. However, the DCW does not have a formal role in selecting the Warden for the women’s facilities. Historically, the DCW has had a strong voice in recruiting the Wardens and is invited to participate in the decision-making process. At the same time, this is a courtesy and not a stated responsibility. We agree with many of the interviewees who felt that the DCW should be involved from the beginning in identifying candidates, participate in the interview process, and have veto power if a candidate is not considered to be appropriate.
3. The DCW has responsibility to develop a performance measurement framework in collaboration with the Assistant Commissioner Policy to enable the monitoring of key activities and outcomes related to women offenders.^{Footnote 6} However, we were unable to determine how or if this framework is utilized outside of the Women Offender Sector. In our discussions with the Wardens it became clear that there is tremendous inconsistency across regions in what is measured and few specific benchmarks to guide and reflect the work that is being done within women’s facilities. According to one warden: “very little is concerned with how well we implement the principles and practices outlined in Creating Choices”. Most felt that the DCW should play a stronger role in developing performance outcomes and in providing feedback. We support this view and recommend that more consistent standards should be developed for the Wardens of women’s facilities and that performance outcomes should be linked specifically to the women-offender strategy.
Monitor Changes in Governance In Other Departments
1. Given there have been a number of recent changes in the governance structure of several departments within CSC (e.g., Mental Health, Health Care), there is an opportunity in real-time to monitor these processes and to apply lessons learned to expand and enrich the governance structure of the DCW.

Chapter 3: Issue #2- Human Resources

THE GLUBE REPORT RECOMMENDATION #2

The committee recommends that CSC put a human resource strategy in place to support its women’s corrections workforce needs.

Background Information

The issue of cross-gender staffing has been central to the development of a human resource strategy for women’s corrections. In 1994, prior to the opening of the new regional women’s institutions, CSC determined that staff selection would be based on demonstrated knowledge and skills to work effectively in a women-centred environment, rather than on gender. Subsequent to this decision, a series of external reviews explored the issue of cross-gender staffing. For example:

The Arbour Commission of Inquiry (1996):^{Footnote 7} called upon CSC to develop operational practices for cross-gender procedures. The Arbour report also recommended that in new facilities, only women be hired (e.g., Edmonton Institution for Women) and that an independent monitor oversee CSC’s cross-gender staffing practices in the other facilities. In response to Arbour Commission recommendations, CSC proceeded with the development of a national protocol for front-line staffing.^{Footnote 8}
The Cross-Gender Monitor Report (2001)^{Footnote 9} recommended that men not be permitted to work in front line positions in the regional women’s facilities and healing lodge. The primary reason for this recommendation was CSC’s poor compliance with certain elements of the National Protocol.
In 2003, the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) conducted a human rights analysis^{Footnote 10} and endorsed CSC’s decision to employ men in front line positions with the proviso that CSC “vigorously pursue alternatives (e.g. protocols, women-centred training, etc.) to mitigate the negative effects of the presence of males.”

The Glube report^{Footnote 11} acknowledged the findings by the Canadian Human Right Commission (SACC) and emphasized the critical role that correctional staff play in the preservation and advancement of a women-centred focus. The committee recommended that CSC take immediate action to ensure that staff interactions, regardless of gender, are of the highest quality. This included a focus on several key areas:

Staff recruitment and the selection of quality staff
Women-centred training
Methods to monitor and support the development of core competencies and skills consistent with a women-centred approach.

Achievements

Protocol for Cross-Gender Staffing
1. Consistent with recommendations from SACC, CSC converted the National Operational Protocol into Commissioner’s Directive (CD) 577 - Operational Requirements for Cross-Gender Staffing in Women Offender Institutions.^{Footnote 12} This policy was intended to: (1) ensure that the dignity and privacy of women offenders is respected to the fullest extent possible consistent with safety and security; and (2) to ensure cross-gender situations in the workplace do not expose staff or offenders to vulnerable situations.
2. In 2007, a Management Control Framework (MCF) for CD 577 was approved and in November and December 2007 institutional management completed the first set of attestations using the MCF.^{Footnote 13}
3. After consultation with SACC, CSC proceeded with an audit of cross-gender staffing in women’s institutions. In May 2009, the Audit of Cross-Gender Staffing^{Footnote 14} was undertaken to conduct an assessment of compliance with CD 577 for the period April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2008. Areas identified for improvement were reviewed and a Management Action Plan was developed.
4. Between May 2009 to present, the DCW in collaboration with the Regional Deputy Commissioner and Wardens, have addressed the recommendations put forward in the Audit of Cross-Gender Staffing (2009). The specific recommendations and actions taken are outlined in Annex C: Audit of Cross Gender Staffing Management Action Plan.
Specific achievements will be reviewed across the following areas: (1) Staff Recruitment and Selection; (2) Staff Training, and (3) Methods to Monitor Compliance with CD-577 (2012).^{Footnote 15}
Staff Recruitment and Selection
1. There has been an ongoing effort to attract and recruit new staff that express a professional interest in working with women offenders. Actions taken include:
  1. Amendments to the content in the Primary Worker Position to clarify the roles and responsibilities.
  2. Job profiles and a self-assessment questionnaire is currently posted on-line to help candidates gain a better understanding of the job and to ascertain if they are personally suited for the position.
2. A comprehensive process has been put in place to assess a candidate’s knowledge and ability to intervene with women offenders. A series of tools have been developed for each stage of the process and include:
  1. Pre-selection screening;
  2. Written comprehension test;
  3. Situational role plays to assess values and skills;
  4. Personal Suitability: Reference checks.
3. A number of staff deployments from male institutions to female facilities have taken place. A primary worker (CXII) deployment and promotional rating guide^{Footnote 16} and interview questions^{Footnote 17} have been developed to assess the candidate’s ability to: (1) acquire and analyse information in a women-centred environment; (2) to make recommendations and take appropriate action in a women-centred environment; and (3) to effectively intervene with women offenders.
4. Efforts to enhance the consistency of the interview process and to standardize assessment tools for new recruits and staff deployments is currently underway by Human Resources in conjunction with WOS.
Staff Training
1. Almost without exception, the individuals interviewed for this report expressed high regard for the Women-centred Training and Refresher Courses. Individuals interviewed felt the material was interesting, relevant, and useful in assisting them to work more effectively with women offenders.
2. Consistent with recommendations in the Audit Report^{Footnote 18}, Women-Centred Training was revised in 2009. Additional course content was dedicated to cross-gender requirements and a (pass-fail) test was implemented upon completion of the course to determine employment eligibility.
3. A review of the WCT course outline suggests that the training is consistent with the principles outlined in Creating Choices and serves the stated functions of helping staff gain a greater awareness of women’s issues and to intervene more effectively with women. In 2013, WCT training was updated and revised to reflect the most recent and available research on women and to address the needs of a changing offender population^{Footnote 19}. For example, an emphasis is currently placed on addressing self-harm and suicidal behaviour, mental health issues, responding in a trauma-informed manner, vicarious trauma and self-care, and other topics reflective of the needs of women offenders and the staff who work with them.
4. A 10-day intensive training is currently provided to all Primary Workers (frontline staff working within the women’s institutions).
5. A three-day compulsory women-centred training program is provided to non-CX staff that have less frequent contact with the women (e.g., program officers, parole officers, nurses, teachers, maintenance staff, etc.).
6. A one-day overview of WCT is delivered to wardens, deputy wardens, assistant wardens, and area directors.
7. A series of refresher trainings have been developed and are delivered to staff every two years. Topics covered during this training have focused on “Use of Force” and “Women’s Health” and other relevant areas. The Women Offender Sector recently developed and released one-day training in “Becoming Trauma Informed”.^{Footnote 20}
8. Program officers receive intensive training in the facilitation and content of group programs. The training standards for each program are established by the Reintegration Programs Division in conjunction with WOS. Support to deliver the programs is available from regional trainers and WOS.
Monitoring for Compliance with CD-577: Management Control Framework
1. To assess compliance with cross-gender policy, the Women Offender Sector conducted a review of ‘use of force’ incidents from 2006-2008. A series of revisions to several areas of CD 577 were recommended and these changes were subsequently incorporated into the Staff Protocol in Women Offender Institutions – CD 577 (2012)^{Footnote 21}. The end results is greater clarity regarding gender-sensitive activities such as, videotaping during decontamination showers, ensuring that male officers are out of the vicinity and sight lines when females are naked and in responding to ‘use of force incidents’.
2. CSC has implemented, piloted and refined a management control framework (MCF) to assist institutional managers to report on compliance with CD-577. The MCF was completed in 2012.
3. A review of the orientation process was undertaken in the Audit Report of Cross-Gender Staffing (2009) and several recommendations were made to enhance the inmate handbooks. Each facility has been charged with the task of submitting a revised version of the handbook this fall which will be reviewed by the Women Offender Sector.
4. Performance outcomes have been established for each of the standardized curriculum offered by program officers. Methods to ensure quality delivery have been well-established and are reviewed by the Reintegration Programs Division in conjunction with WOS.
5. Each of the Wardens we spoke with described the important role of leadership in modelling the women-centred principles when interacting with staff and women. Several wardens described how they have operationalized the principles into daily practice. For example, Nova Institution has an Ethics and Values Committee that includes a cross-section of staff, inmates, and managers. When issues arise, the committee is assigned the task of working collaboratively to address problems while adhering to the women-centred principles.

Challenges

Staff Recruitment and Selection
1. Staff deployment was identified as a potential challenge by most of the Wardens with whom we spoke. The recent closure of various centres has resulted in priority placement for a number of qualified staff that have worked in male facilities and wish to pursue a career in the service. Many of the wardens expressed concern that the established selection criteria are unlikely to prevent the deployment of staff who have worked with males and are either ill-prepared or unwilling to adopt a women-centred approach.
2. Another challenge expressed by Wardens across the regional facilities is the lack of clarity and policy regarding the ratio of male to female staff. To remain compliant with CD-577 and prevent high labour costs related to bringing in female staff to work over-time, most of the facilities try to ensure that at least 75% of the staff complement is female. Many sites are pressured to increase the number of male staff because of deployment requests. Other sites find that they spend a considerable amount of time educating human resource personnel with respect to cross gender-staffing.
3. There was concern expressed in the Audit Report on Cross-Gender Staffing (2009) regarding the lack of screening for male or female staff assigned to a women’s facility for short periods (weeks or months). Our interviews with senior managers and institution heads suggested that staff on temporary assignment do not always receive women-centred training and that they may lack both the experience in working with this population and/or an understanding of the gender-specific practices implemented within the women’s facilities.
Staff Training
1. A number of concerns were raised by interviewees in the community regarding the timeliness of the training. Several staff indicated that they attended training 12 months after being deployed to work with women. They felt that a more immediate introduction to this material would have been extremely useful in orienting them to the work.
2. Community staff also raised concerns with respect to the length of WCT and felt that a longer training would provide opportunities for role-play practice and would enhance skill development.
3. Several of the individuals interviewed felt that the course content should be revised for staff working in the community to more closely approximate the realities of their work. One individual stated that: “Training should represent staff roles and responsibilities. For example, the aboriginal social history training that is being completed by parole in the community is being delivered by PW’s in the facilities … These are two different contexts and training should represent that.”

Opportunities

The authors of Creating Choices recommended that the primary responsibilities of staff will be: “to provide positive interaction, to be role models and to support women's efforts to develop self-esteem and self-reliance. Staff will have a high level of responsibility for identifying problems, providing support, and developing and utilizing effective intervention techniques for women who are in crisis.”

Staff Recruitment and Selection
1. Many of the senior managers felt that CSC should establish a policy that will support the staffing ratios necessary to ensure compliance with CD 577.
2. Given an increase in deployment from male facilities, several individuals requested resources to assist them in engaging and motivating non-committed staff. One person felt that this should be an agenda item on national calls with the DCW.
Staff Training
1. Women-Centred Training has been well-received by staff and we encourage WOS to continue to refine WCT in concert with identified needs of women and staff. It is noteworthy that at the time of this report, the Office of the Correctional Investigator – Risky Business (2013)^{Footnote 22} described the need to provide staff with additional support to address the needs of chronic self-injurious women offenders. It is anticipated that the recently developed refresher training, Becoming Trauma Informed, will provide staff with a framework to explore and understand the dynamics surrounding self-harm behaviour and other reactions to trauma. However, advanced training opportunities should be considered to support the specific recommendations made within this report.
2. The staff that we interviewed for this report requested supplemental training in Motivational Interviewing and other collaborative, strengths-based interventions that are consistent with a women-centred approach.
3. Senior management expressed an interest in providing refresher training to all staff in two key areas: (1) maintaining professional boundaries and (2) staff self-care and resiliency.
4. CSC has invested considerable resources in the areas of staff recruitment and training. However, given the high rates of turn-over in some sites, increases in the deployment of staff from male to female institutions, and the high cost of training, it is critical that methods be put in place to monitor and support the development of core competencies, particularly among primary workers. Specific actions that should be taken include:
  1. Identify core competencies that are consistent with a women-centred approach. Build on existing training opportunities provided by WOS to develop coaching tools for supervisors that support staff competency development.
  2. Collaborate with community partners and cross-train across agencies and departments.
  3. Promote participation in training initiatives both within and outside of CSC. For example, encourage staff to attend relevant developmental training offered by other disciplines and stakeholders.

Chapter 4: Issue #3- Community Corrections

THE GLUBE REPORT RECOMMENDATION #3

CSC makes women’s community corrections a higher priority in order to increase opportunities for successful reintegration into the community.

Achievements

Revision of the National Community Strategy for Women Offenders
1. In 2002, the first “National Community Strategy for Women Offenders” was published. The strategy identified a framework for successful reintegration for women offenders, as well as “dominant and persistent challenges^{Footnote 23}” to successful reintegration. These challenges were discussed in numerous publications, workshops and conferences.
2. In 2007 both the Expert Committee^{Footnote 24}, and the CSC Review Panel^{Footnote 25} recommended that the Community Strategy be revised. As a result, CSC’s Action Plan in Response to the Recommendations in the Report: Moving Forward With Women’s Corrections - The Expert Committee Review of Correctional Service Canada’s Ten-Year Status Report on Women’s Corrections, 1996-2006 was published, committing to update the community strategy.
3. The “Revised National Community Strategy for Women Offenders” (March 2010) appears to be the first concrete plan developed by CSC to address the persistent challenges identified since 2002.
Launch of the Community Framework for Women Action Plan – Creating Sustainability
1. A Community Strategy Implementation Team (CSIT) was created, including representation from different CSC departments (including institutional and community staff), as well as from community stakeholders. The central themes for an action plan were developed by the CSIT; as a result, the first action plan based upon the community strategy was created in 2010-2011. Later, the Community Framework for Women Action Plan – Creating Sustainability (2012-2013) was launched, with specific resources (human and financial) dedicated to the community-based strategies to ensure their implementation. The themes included:
  1. Comprehensive release planning for complex cases to increase the chance of successful reintegration into the community was introduced. A total of $50,000 was dedicated to this component of the Action Plan. The primary goal was to create a relationship and positive communication between the offender and staff at the community accommodation prior to release, as well as to engage families, support systems and volunteers in the offender release process. In 2012-13 evidence indicated that nine complex cases were supported with this funding (at an expense of $56,304). CSC estimated the cost savings of accommodating these nine women in the community, as opposed to keeping them in the institutions, to be $402,334.
  2. Travel funds for engagement activities within Correctional Service Canada (In-reach and Outreach) were provided to assist with release planning for women offenders. $60,000 was dedicated to this component of the Action Plan. The goal was to encourage community-based staff, partners and others to visit institutions to meet with and better understand women offenders in order to better facilitate the release of women into the community. In addition, it encouraged institutional staff to meet with community staff and partners in the community. The actual expenditure for the 2012-13 fiscal year was $47,923; CSC reports funding 19 separate engagement activities (18 that were actualised), ranging in cost from $350 to $7700 each.
  3. Funding was provided to support the engagement of new and existing partners to enhance the successful release of women offenders; $40,000 was dedicated to the development of these partnerships; $50,000 was dedicated to further support the work of the CSIT (monitoring, reviewing and revising the Action Plan annually to reflect current needs of women offenders). CSC also wanted to communicate a deeper understanding of the value of working together towards public safety to all partners. CSC reports spending a total of $27,108 on partnerships in 2012-13; funding was approved for six activities, four of which were realised.
  4. An initiative began to better understand the residential needs of women offenders in the community and to fund alternative options for community residential accommodation within the community. A total of $20,000 was dedicated to this component of the Action Plan. The goals were to identify and support options in the community for women with mental health needs and/or substance abuse issues and for women with children. Five requests for funding were approved, with four realised. The total expenditure for residential accommodations in 2012-13 was $36,497.
Launch of the Federal Community Corrections Strategy
1. The development of the Federal Community Corrections Strategy began in November 2009 and involved consultation with CSC’s Executive Committee, Regional Deputy Commissioners, as well as staff, offenders, victims, partners by way of 195 engagement activities undertaken throughout Canada. The outcome of this extensive consultation, as well as the consideration of research and evaluation data was the Federal Community Corrections Strategy (FCCS 2012). The FCCS:... is an overarching strategy linking CSC’s primary reintegration strategies and activities with enhanced partnerships as a means to best position community corrections activities to the year 2020. The FCCS also provides a framework to enhance offender reintegration opportunities, including specialized populations, in the areas of employment and employability and offender support systems that include volunteers and community acceptance^{Footnote 26}.
2. The FCCS identified five strategic principles to support this mandate:
  1. Community reintegration begins at intake.
  2. Community reintegration requires dynamic assessment and intervention.
  3. Community reintegration is achieved through collaboration.
  4. Community reintegration is measured by public safety results.
  5. Community reintegration is enhanced through engagement and communication.
3. In December, 2012 performance indicators for each principle were published to gauge progress. Indicators focus on special populations, specifically Aboriginal offenders, women offenders, offenders with mental health needs and other complex groups. The first annual report of these indicators was compiled for the 2012-13 fiscal year; the report will be made available later in this fiscal year (2013-14). Thus, it is too early to determine whether the strategy has resulted in increased successful community reintegration of offenders. In addition, since this is the first year the indicators have been mobilized, it may be two years before comparison data is available for all of the indicators.
Sub-Population Management Strategy (To be launched 2013)
1. This strategy will be launched by the Women Offender Sector to address the unique needs of specific populations within the Women Offender general population. With regard to community corrections, the strategy considers the needs and sets out actions for the following sub-populations:
  1. Mental Health
    1. Collaborate with Mental Health and Community Reintegration to develop mental health bed options for women in the communities.
    2. Collaborate with Mental Health and Community Reintegration to ensure DBT awareness for community staff.
  2. Aboriginal Offenders
    1. Continue to monitor the use of section 84 releases for women offenders.
  3. Community
    1. WOS will work with Community Reintegration and Mental Health to explore mental health and housing alternatives in the community.
    2. WOS will continue to support partners who provide care and residency to women with mental health concerns (e.g., complex case funding).
    3. WOS will collaborate with Community Reintegration, Mental Health and Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate to create an action plan for Aboriginal women as well as those requiring intermediate health care.

Challenges

As a result of budget and travel restrictions, the entire CSIT was unable to meet during the 2012-13 fiscal year and as such were unable to update the action plan for the 2013-14 fiscal year. As a result, the existing action plan remained in place for the current fiscal year (2013-14). Two opportunities for enhancing community integration for women offenders remain available:
1. Comprehensive release planning for complex cases.
2. Funding for engagement activities that assist with release planning for women offenders.
Regional CSIT consultations were held in May and June of 2013 which allowed for the development of the 2014-2015 Action Plan (launch date to be announced).

Conclusion / Opportunities

The evidence reported indicates that CSC has placed a higher priority on community corrections for women offenders between 2008 and present day (2013). There appears to be a great deal of momentum gathered with the publication of the FCCS and the Revised National Community Strategy for Women Offenders, as well as the creation of the CSIT and the subsequent action plan that committed resources and created processes to access these resources. In addition, CSC has created systems for gathering evidence to determine whether or not the strategies are being actualised, whether funds are actually being spent on the strategies, and examining some outcome measures. An updated Action Plan for the Women Offender Community Strategy has now been developed and there are plans to launch it for the 2014-15 fiscal year.
In every interview conducted in this investigation, all interviewees agreed that the steps taken so far in the development of the revised Community Plan and the subsequent Action Plans are just the beginning. There is a great deal more movement, attention and resources required to actualise the potential benefits (successful reintegration) of increased priority given to community corrections.

PANEL RECOMMENDATION #71:

Update Community Strategy for Women and enhance transition services in the areas of supervision, accommodation and intervention, including the consideration of initiatives supporting employment and employability for women on conditional release.

Achievements

Updated Community Strategy
1. The process for revising the community strategy commenced in response to the Expert and Panel recommendations. The commitment to the revision of the community strategy can be found in the document “CSC’s Action Plan in Response to the Recommendations in the Report: Moving Forward With Women’s Corrections - The Expert Committee Review of Correctional Service Canada’s Ten-Year Status Report on Women’s Corrections, 1996-2006.
2. The process involved consultation with all Correctional Service of Canada departments that worked with women offenders, as well as community/agency stakeholders.
3. The “Revised National Community Strategy for Women Offenders” was published in March, 2010, focussing on seven themes (discussed below).
4. The Community Strategy Implementation Team (CSIT) has been created to consider the community strategy each year and to devise an action plan that will guide the development processes and the provision of resources to ensure the key components of the action plan are being addressed. Annual meetings are held to allow NHQ, the regions and their partners to communicate with each other concerning progress, best practices, strengths and weaknesses and gaps in the Community Strategy for upcoming years. The outcomes of these discussions assist the Women Offender Sector in the development and implementation of a Community Strategy Action Plan that is updated annually. The first action plan was created in 2010-2011.
5. In 2012-13 the Community Framework for Women Action Plan – Creating Sustainability was launched. The major themes of this document include: interventions, residential services, partnerships, communication and resources/sustainability.
6. In 2013-14, the CSIT did not meet; a 2013-14 Action Plan was published with the same themes and updated opportunities to access funds for complex case planning and engagement activities.
7. Regional CSIT consultations were held in May and June, 2013 which allowed for the development of the 2014-2015 Action Plan (launch date is to be announced).
Integration Between Institution And Community
1. The goal of integration was to build relationships between institutional and community correctional services providers (both CSC and partner organizations) in order to raise awareness of the needs of women offenders when released into the community, promoting collaboration to ensure these needs and successful release are achieved. Three actions were taken to achieve these goal:
  1. Women’s Supervision Units In 2010, there were six Women’s Supervision Units (WSU) across Canada. Since that time CSC has opened three more WSU’s which have dedicated parole officers who utilize a team-based gender sensitive approach to the supervision of women offenders. As such, Parole Officers focus on the dynamic factors of the women offenders’ accomplishments. The WSU also works closely with the Women Offender Sector nationally, sharing information and best practices. Expected outcomes from women’s supervision units include a reduction in revocations and an increase in the exploration of alternatives to revocation.
  2. Complex Case Comprehensive Release Planning CSC has created a process and provides resources for collaborative case planning between institutional staff, community-based CSC staff and partner agencies to assist in the successful release of high risk and high needs offenders. The goal is to ensure that resources are provided for the supervision and support of complex cases upon their release. This process also promotes relationship building between the community service provider and the offender before release, to promote a smoother transition into the community. Since 2010, funding was provided to help with the releases of 34 women identified as complex cases. In 2012-13, nine complex cases were funded (with an estimated cost-savings of $402,333 for having these women housed in the community, as opposed to institutions) in Canada.
  3. Dedicated Resource for Case Preparation for Women Offenders The goal of this component is to enhance case preparation with a focus on comprehensive release planning while ensuring thorough analysis, consistency and timeliness in case management reports. The dedicated case preparation resource will assist in information sharing and communication between the institutions, Parole Offices, offenders and the Parole Board of Canada (PBC). Four out of five regions received funding in fiscal year 2012-13 with Atlantic Region not receiving funds. The Prairie and Ontario regions placed the resources in the district offices while the Pacific and Quebec regions elected to place the resource at the institutional level.
  4. In-Reach/ Out-Reach Funding was provided to CSC staff and community partners to visit institutions with the goal of enhancing communication and improving offender reintegration. In 2012-13 many offenders had the opportunity to meet with community staff prior to release, learn about available community resources, help with release planning and decrease release-related anxiety. In addition, community staff garnered a better understanding of the offenders prior to release, the types of support they would require, as well as a better understanding of the environment from which the women were coming. There was also an improvement of the overall working relationship between institutional and community-based correctional staff.
Community Maintenance Programs (Discussed in Panel Recommendation #70)
Education and Employment/Employability (Discussed in Panel Recommendation #25)
Mental Health Services
1. A significant effort has been undertaken since 2008 to revise the 2005 Community Mental Health Initiative. The Heads of Corrections created the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Mental Health. As a result, the Mental Health Strategy for Corrections in Canada was developed and published in June 2012. It is designed to provide mental health services from intake until warrant expiry, focussing upon five key components.
  1. Mental health screening at Intake
  2. Primary mental health care
  3. Intermediate mental health care (currently unfunded)
  4. Intensive care at the regional treatment centres
  5. Transitional care for release into the community
2. In addition, CSC launched the Community Mental Health Service Delivery Guidelines (January, 2013) that describes the processes for the transition of offenders from receiving institutional mental health services to accessing mental health services in the community.
3. The Women Offender Sector plans to launch the Sub-Population Management Strategy for Women Offenders. It considers the needs of Women Offenders specifically in the area of mental health services. Strategies will include collaboration with Mental Health and Community Reintegration to develop mental health bed options for women in the communities and to ensure the delivery of DBT awareness training for community staff.
4. Clearly all of these strategies are very recent (or will be launched in the future) and it is impossible to comment on whether they will be actualised, or whether they will illicit the desired outcomes.
Residential Services (Discussed in Panel Recommendation #67)
Aboriginal Women
1. The Revised National Community Strategy for Women describes the over-representation of Aboriginal women in the correctional system: they usually present as higher-needs, higher-risk and have a lower reintegration success rate. The goal of this theme was to build upon the actions already planned within CSC that would address the unique needs of Aboriginal women offenders to promote successful reintegration. The following outcomes from The Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Offenders 2006-2011, have been identified as a part of the 2010 Revised National Community Strategy for Women:
  1. Enhanced culturally appropriate programs and effective correctional interventions that address the needs of Aboriginal Offenders Building upon the 2003 Aboriginal Continuum of Care Model (developed by CSC in collaboration with community stakeholders), the Women Offender Sector developed a suite of programs specifically for Aboriginal women offenders called “The Circle of Care”. The Circle of Care includes institutional programming (engagement, moderate-intensity, high intensity and self-management), as well as pre-release transition sessions, community transition sessions and an Aboriginal community-based self-management program that is delivered by community correctional staff. All programs are Elder-assisted full-time and focus on healing through cultural identity. The Circle of Care programs were launched in 2010 and fully implemented by April, 2012. Program outcomes that have been reported include an increased enrollment of Aboriginal women by 21% from 2010-11 to 2011-12. This was attributed to the launch of the new programs in the Circle of Care. It is still too early to determine whether the transformation of programming has resulted in better interventions and more successful reintegration.
  2. Comprehensive clinical mental health assessments at intake Screening at intake is a primary component of the Mental Health Strategy for Corrections in Canada for all offenders. It was outside of the scope of this project to determine whether the screening tools are sufficiently culturally relevant, nor whether screening results in better mental health care in the institution or in the community.
  3. Screening of employment needs of offenders at intake, as well as increased employment and employability of offenders (Addressed in Panel Recommendation #25)
  4. Increases in Aboriginal capacities to support section 84 releases (Addressed in Recommendation #67)
2. In the Revised National Community Strategy for Women Offenders, it is stated that CSC was considering an increase in the numbers of Elders and Spiritual Advisors, as well as reviewing the roles and responsibilities of a number of other staff who provide Aboriginal services both in the institutions and the community. CSC has increased the number of Elder positions available to the institutions. With regard to the community-based staff, CSC has significantly increased the number of Aboriginal Community Development Officers (ACDO) (from the nine positions mentioned in the Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Offenders, to 18 positions) and ACLOs positions across Canada.
3. In addition, the Revised National Community Strategy for Women states that to ensure the Aboriginal Continuum of Care from institution to community, Discharge Planners, Case Managers and Parole Officers need to be involved. This includes training these staff on the unique needs of Aboriginal women. As such, staff who work with women receive the women-centred training orientation, which includes one day dedicated to Aboriginal cultural awareness. The training reviews ceremonial practices and offers an introduction to healing.
4. The Revised National Community Strategy for Women Offenders states that the expected outcomes of the continuum of care for Aboriginal offenders include an enhanced role for the Pathways Units and an increased capacity for the community to provide Section 81 services. CSC has recently negotiated a partnership with Native Counselling Services of Alberta and as a result, a new 16 bed Section 81 facility has opened in Edmonton in September, 2011. Thus the provision of Section 81 services has increased. Further, CSC reports that the number of Aboriginal women who were assigned to Pathways Units and Healing Lodge have increased from 2009 to 2012, with a small decrease in the 2012-13 fiscal year.

Women Offenders who Participated in Pathways
	Departed Pathways					Currently Assigned
	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14 YTD as of September 15, 2013	as of September 17,2013
# of Offenders	34	44	48	38	15	12
# of assignments	37	46	52	41	15	11

Note: Fiscal year based on assignment end date; offenders who departed Pathways during given fiscal year are counted in the data.
Source: RADAR/PRIME, Pathways for all Regions, Extraction date: 2013.09.15

Women Offenders who Reside In a Healing Lodge
	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14 YTD as of September 15, 2013
# of Offenders	36	40	41	35	31
# of assignments	0	0	14	16	16
Total	36	40	55	51	47

Source: Corporate Reporting System, Population for NCAOP, CSC/NPB Data Warehouse Services: as of 2013.09.17

1. The Sub-Population Management Strategy for Women Offenders will be launched later in 2013 by the WOS. The section on Aboriginal women identified the following institutional strategies:
  1. Establish a working group with Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate (AID) to address the needs of Inuit women offenders.
  2. In collaboration with the women’s sites as well as AID and COP, explore options for Aboriginal women in maximum security.
  3. In collaboration with AID, identify healing interventions for Aboriginal women offenders which are adapted for smaller groups.
  4. Continue to explore the possibility of a Healing Lodge in the East.
  5. Develop ‘pathways-like’ initiative for women offender institutions.
2. The strategy identified the following community-based strategy:
  1. Continue to monitor the use of section 84 releases for women offenders. (This will be further discussed in Panel Recommendation #67).

Community Partnerships
1. The goal of developing community partnerships was to engage non-traditional partners and explore new partnering models by creating and expanding communication networks. As such, funding was provided to support partnership-building activities (such as costs for meeting with NGOs, assistance with the cost of training agency workers, and providing joint training for CSC staff and partners to better address the needs of women with specific disorders). As a result, all regions have developed new partnerships. Reported results include: improved release planning, particularly for women with mental health needs, more access to services, more opportunities for Temporary Absence and Work Releases, better understanding of women offenders and their unique needs, increased employment, and better relationships with child and family services.
Outcomes
1. As a result of the actions taken in the 2012-13 Women’s Community Framework for Women Action Plan, CSC credited the following outcomes^{Footnote 27}.
  1. There has been an increase in the number of women offenders reviewed for Conditional Release (CR). During fiscal year 2011-12 (prior to the implementation of the dedicated case preparation resources for women), an average of 38% (87/229) of medium and minimum security women who had reached their Day Parole Eligibility Date (DPED) were reviewed for Day Parole. During fiscal year 2012-13 (since the implementation), an average of 47% (111/235) of medium and minimum security women who had reached their DPED were reviewed.
  2. During fiscal year 2011-12 (prior to the implementation of the initiative), an average of 32% (52/162) of medium and minimum security women who had reached their Full Parole Eligibility Date (FPED) were reviewed for Full Parole. During fiscal year 2012-13 (since the implementation), an average of 47% (76/162) of medium and minimum security women who had reached their FPED were reviewed.
  3. There has been a 41% increase in the number of UTA permits for institutions that received dedicated resources. Overall, there has been an increase from 45 UTA permits issued in 2011-12 to 63 UTA permits issued in 2012-13.

Challenges

Mental Health Services
1. In 2008 a pilot project for community-based Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) was undertaken in three locations. The results of the pilot were promising: after six months, participants displayed increased adaptive skills and behaviour-management, as well as decreased impulsivity. Unfortunately, no resources were available to continue the pilot in the three locations or to expand the service to other locations despite the positive outcomes. CSC has decided to maintain DBT in the institutions only, as health care for released offenders falls under Provincial jurisdiction and CSC does not have the resources nor the mandate to provide comprehensive health care in the community. Although CSC has made a commitment to provide awareness training on DBT for community correctional staff, (which was to include how to follow-up and support someone who has received DBT in the institutions) this training has not yet been offered.
2. Although the new Mental Health Strategy for Corrections in Canada has been launched, the budget/resources available for community mental health services has decreased significantly. This has resulted in fewer mental services available for offenders in the community.
3. There remains some concern that the Mental Health Strategy does not consider the unique needs of women offenders and is not gender-informed.
4. Further, even though the Sub-Population Management Strategy for Women Offenders calls for collaboration to ensure mental health bed options and staff training regarding DBT, it is unknown whether there will be significant movement made on these points, as the strategy will be launched later in 2013.
Women with Children (Institutional and Community-Based Efforts)
1. The institutional Mother-Child program was first piloted at the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge in July 1996. The other regional facilities started implementing the program in 1998. A Commissioner' Directive (February, 2003) on Institutional Mother-Child Program set out the parameters of the mother-child program, stating that it aims to provide a supportive environment that fosters and promotes stability and continuity for the mother-child relationship. This program enables children to stay with their mothers while incarcerated, provided that the program is considered to serve the best interests of the child (including physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being). In June 2008, the Minister of Public Safety announced a number of changes to the mother-child program eligibility criteria. Three policy changes in particular have severely restricted access to the program:
  1. Exclusion of all women offenders who had been convicted of serious crimes involving violence, children or those of a sexual nature.
  2. Restrictions in the maximum age of child participants in the part-time program — a decrease from 12 to 5 years of age.^{Footnote 28}
  3. Required support by local Child and Family services before an offender's participation could be approved.
2. As a result, the number of women who are eligible for the program has decreased significantly. Further, due to the increases in the women offender population overall, there is not always room available for this program. As such, the following was reported by the institutions:
  1. Grand Valley: Currently there is no bed space available for the Mother-Child program. There are plans to build a 40-bed minimum unit that is made up of 5 ranges- with 8-beds in each and two adjoining beds for mother and child in each range.
  2. Nova: The Mother-Child program is available, however, there are no women participating in the program at this time.
  3. Okimaw Ohci: The Mother-Child program is available; however, no one has participated in the program for at least three years.
  4. Edmonton Institution for Women: The institution has the capacity for the Mother-Child program; however, no one has participated in the program for a few years. The institution has a new 40-bed minimum security unit specifically designed with rooms to facilitate the program.
  5. Fraser Valley: There are no current participants in the Mother-child Program. There is a new minimum unit under construction at FVI that will accommodate the mother-child program.
  6. Joliette: The Mother-Child program is currently running in this institution and there is a full-time mother-child coordinator in this institution. The facility does not have any current participants in the mother-child program.
3. Further, CSC has a policy for the Preparation and Supervision of Women Offenders with Children Residing at a Community-Based Residential Facility (CD 715-4). The Commissioner ‘s Directive indicates the following procedures will be followed:
  1. When updating the Correctional Plan for release, the institutional Parole Officer will, in consultation with the Institutional Mother-Child Program Coordinator, where applicable, identify child care and maternal relationship issues which may impact on reintegration.
  2. The community Parole Officer will consult with child welfare officials if they are involved, prior to recommending placement in a community-based residential facility.
  3. The community Parole Officer will, in consultation with the community-based residential facility and Case Management Team, consider the risk and needs of all facility residents, including any risk posed to the child, prior to recommending placement.
  4. The Parole Officer will obtain from the community-based residential facility, written confirmation that the woman offender is aware of the expectations of the facility and the terms under which accommodating children would be reviewed or terminated.
  5. When a woman offender on conditional release applies to have children reside with her in a community-based residential facility, the Parole Officer will consult with the community-based residential facility and Case Management Team prior to approving the request.
  CSC does not track the number of women offenders who reside with their children with them in community residential facilities, nor number of women who are accessing children’s services resources to reconnect with their children. However, in October, 2013 the following information was provided:
  - The Pacific Region’s Women Supervision Unit (WSU) reports that there is one woman offender on their caseload who is currently residing with her child/children in a CRF. They are not aware of any woman offender on their caseload who is currently accessing Children Services to reconnect with her children.
  - The Calgary WSU reports that there are no women residing with their children in a Community Residential Facility (CRF). There is one woman accessing Children Services’ assistance.
  - The Edmonton WSU reports that there are no women residing with their children in a CRF. There are five women accessing Children Services’ assistance.
  - The Winnipeg WSU reports that there are no women residing with their children in a CRF. However, they do have mother/child suites in both halfway houses, which are used when children visit their mother on Friday or Saturday night. To date there have been six women who have used the mother/child suites during weekends at the CRF. There are currently seven women accessing Child and Family Services’ assistance.
  - The Toronto WSU reports that there are no women residing with their children in a CRF. There are two women accessing Children and Youth Services’ assistance.
  - The Ottawa WSU reports that there are no women residing with their children in a CRF. There is one woman who is accessing support from Children and Youth Services to have access to her daughter.
  - Montreal WSU reports that there are no women residing with their children in CRF. There is one woman accessing Child Welfare’s assistance.
  - The Nova Scotia WSU reports that there are no women residing with their children in CRF. There are no women accessing Child Services’ assistance.
  This data covers most of the women offenders who are currently on conditional release; however, the information does not include offenders who are not being supervised through a Women’s Supervision Unit.
  
  Therefore, while CSC has a structure in place to allow women to build, maintain and strengthen their relationships with their children, the institutional rules are so restrictive, that virtually no offender has qualified for the institutional program. Further, while in the community, currently there is only one woman residing with her child/ren, further illustrating that CSC struggles to find a way for women to reside with their children both in the institution and in the community. However, there has been more success for women offenders residing in the community accessing services to be reunited with their children (a total of 17 across Canada in this one-day snap shot), as well as children having overnight visits their mothers at the CRF in Winnipeg. These opportunities could be expanded and the small successes significantly built upon.
Aboriginal Women
1. The Revised National Community Strategy for Women focuses on strengthening and enhancing components of the Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Corrections (2006-11). One of these components states that to ensure the Aboriginal continuum of care from institution to community, staff such as Discharge Planners, Case Managers and Parole Officers need to be a part of the continuum of care. It also states that CSC “must recognize that Aboriginal offenders bring with them specific historical experiences, that they are a marginalized group that is over-represented in the ‘system’ and that they require specific and unique interventions strategies (culturally relevant continuum of care)” (p. 22). However, this group of staff do not appear to receive adequate training regarding historic trauma, social history and the unique needs of Aboriginal women offenders. In addition, it is unclear whether training is provided to staff regarding:
  1. The purpose/goals of the Continuum of Care.
  2. How the Circle of Care is a part of the continuum.
  3. Their roles within the continuum.
Overall Outcomes
1. In the outcomes reported by CSC^{Footnote 29}, there remain challenges to attaining Full Parole and increasing the numbers of women released on Day/Full Parole.
  1. During fiscal year 2011-12 (prior to the implementation of the initiative), an average of 3% (5/162) of medium and minimum security women who had reached their Full Parole Eligibility Date (FPED) were released for Full Parole. During fiscal year 2012-13 (since the implementation), an average of 2% (4/162) of medium and minimum security women who had reached their FPED were released.
  2. The number of women offenders released on Day or Full Parole has remained stable. During fiscal year 2011-12 (prior to the implementation of the initiative), an average of 16% (36/229) of medium and minimum security women who had reached their Day Parole Eligibility Date (DPED) were released for Day Parole. During fiscal year 2012-13 (since the implementation), an average of 15% (35/235) of medium and minimum security women who had reached their DPED were released.
    
    It appears that even though the Women Offender Sector continues to create strategies to prepare women for successful reintegration and create programs that address criminogenic needs, the Parole Board of Canada is granting parole to very few women.

Conclusion/Opportunities

The Community Strategy
1. A great deal of time, effort and collaboration has been undertaken by the Women Offender Sector to revise and continually update the Community Strategy for Women Offenders. The Community Strategy appears to be a dynamic approach to improving community corrections for women.
2. Collaboration with institutional, community and stakeholder representatives is an important component of the strategy and it seems that there are many people who are sincerely invested in the annual discussions regarding best practices and the way forward.
3. This collaboration, as well as the resources spent in engagement, communication and relationship building across these sectors will only strengthen the capacity to increase the number of women released into the community, as well as to ensure successful reintegration of offenders.
Overcoming Challenges
1. The Mother-Child program is an important component for sustaining the mother-child relationship while Mother resides in the institution, in order to ensure that the relationship is more readily reclaimed and reaffirmed upon release. Joliette institution currently has adapted the program whereby extended visits are made available to mothers who do not or cannot live full time with their child. Thus, mothers are given another opportunity to stay connected and in relationship with their children. The warden reports that there are several women participating in the extended visits. In addition, CSC has piloted a CHILD LINK program whereby women offenders in institutions are able to Skype (video-conference) with their children. Very preliminary and anecdotal results indicate that the small pilot has been successful. However, no decision has been made about whether the program can be implemented throughout women’s institutions at this time. Thus it appears that if the rules are too restrictive to allow women to live with their children, the Women Offender Sector could continue to adapt the program and think creatively about ways to ensure that mother and child maintain their important relationship both in the institution and in the community.
2. CSC should collect statistics regarding the number of women residing with their children in the community accommodations, as well as how many women are accessing children’s services resources to reconnect/maintain relationships with their children. It is not possible to comment on this aspect of the National Community Strategy, as the data has not been collected.
3. CSC has many Aboriginal community partners that can provide the awareness training required regarding historic trauma and the unique circumstances and needs of Aboriginal women. This training would be helpful for all community and institutional staff who work with Aboriginal women offenders.
4. Further, training all staff in the women offender sector on the Circle of Care, as well as their part in this circle, would be immensely beneficial.

PANEL RECOMMENDATION #67

Full review of capacity and capability of community residential facilities in particular lack of community accommodation alternatives available for women offenders as well as Sections 81/84 with Aboriginal communities.

Achievements

Launch of the Revised National Community Strategy for Women Offenders, the Community Action Plan (updated annually) and Federal Community Corrections Strategy (discussed in Glube Recommendation)
Increase in the number of beds available for women offenders^{Footnote 30}
1. In 2008 a review of community-based residential facilities in Canada was conducted. At the time, there were a total of 78 facilities (women-only and co-ed). At these facilities, there were a total of 194 women-only beds available, as well as 89 beds available for men or women.
2. Since then, funds were provided to the regions to be used for contracts with partners to develop non-traditional residential options for women such as Private Home Placements. Seed funding was provided to several outside partners for the creation of satellite apartments for women. In the 2012-13 Action Plan, funding was made available to focus on residential options for women with children, women with substance abuse issues, and women with mental illness.
  
  The Community Planning, Resources and Partnerships Division (CPRP) conducted a review of the community accommodation capacity and usage for women offenders in the 2012-13 year. The following information was taken from the document entitled “Review of Community Accommodation for Women Offenders”. The following findings were reported:
  1. Total Number of Community Accommodation Beds Across Canada, there were a total of 65 facilities that accepted women offenders in 2012-13. These included 42 facilities that accepted only women, as well as 23 that were co-ed facilities. The women-only facilities provided 229 beds per day, while the co-ed facilities provided 233 beds for men or women. Due to limitations in reporting it was not possible for CPRP to determine how many co-ed beds were used for women.
  2. Thus, although the number of facilities has decreased since 2008 (from 78 to 65), the number of beds available to women have increased (229 women-only beds from 194). It is difficult to comment on the co-ed facilities, as the number of beds used by women is unknown. However, the number of co-ed beds available has risen significantly from 89 to 233.
  3. Further, it should be noted that in the 2008 review, the total women offender population number used was 1,155. This included 495 (47.9%) in institutions and 561 (52.1%) in the community. In the fourth quarter of 2012-2013 the total population was approximately 1,037^{Footnote 31}. This included 555 (53.5%) in institutions and 482 (46.5%) in the community. Of those in the community, 128 had a residency requirement (day parole or residency restriction and not including those with CSC imposed residency). Therefore, while the overall population and the population in the community have decreased the number of available beds has increased.

Number of Facilities 2012-2013
Region / District	Women	Co-ed	Total
Atlantic	4	5	9
Quebec	3	5	8
Montreal Metropolitan District	1	2	3
Quebec East West District	2	3	5
Ontario	11	2	13
Greater Ontario & Nunavut District	5	2	7
Central Ontario District	6	0	6
Prairies	9	9	18
Manitoba/Saskatchewan/Northwest Ontario District	5	6	11
Alberta/Northwest Territories	4	3	7
Pacific	15	2	17
National Total	42	23	65

Daily Maximum Number of Beds Available
Region / District	Women	Co-ed	Total
Atlantic	27	49	76
Quebec	18	30	48
Montreal Metropolitan District	15	14	29
Quebec East West District	3	16	19
Ontario	55	11	66
Greater Ontario & Nunavut District	21	11	32
Central Ontario District	34	0	34
Prairies	59	123	182
Manitoba/Saskatchewan/Northwest Ontario District	25	87	112
Alberta/Northwest Territories	34	36	70
Pacific	70	20	90
National Total	229	233	462

The counts for men and women only include those locations that offer services exclusively to each gender. All facilities that offer beds to both women and men have been counted as co-ed.

- 1. Type of Community Accommodations 2012-2013 CPRP classifies CBRFs into six types
    1. Community Residential Facilities (CRF), in Quebec this includes centres residentiels communautaires and centres d’hébergements communautaires;
    2. Treatment Centres (TC);
    3. Hostels (H);
    4. Private Home Placements (PHP);
    5. Supervised Apartments (SA); and
    6. others (such as satellite apartments).

1. The majority of women’s beds, 183 of 229 (79.9%), are in CRFs. There are 26 women’s beds (11.3%) in hostels, 11 (4.9%) in treatment centres, and the remaining 10 (4.4%) are split evenly between private home placements and others. No comparable statistics were available for 2008.

Daily Maximum Number of Women Beds Available by Facility Type
Region / District	CRF	TC	PHP	H	SA	Others	Total
Atlantic	27						27
Quebec	18						18
Montreal Metropolitan District	15						15
Quebec East West District	3						3
Ontario	49		1			5	55
Greater Ontario & Nunavut District	20		1				21
Central Ontario District	29					5	34
Prairies	54	5					59
Manitoba/Saskatchewan/Northwest Ontario District	25						25
Alberta/Northwest Territories	29	5					34
Pacific	35	6	3	26			70
National Total	183	11	5	26	0	5	229

Daily Maximum Number of Co-ed Beds Available by Facility Type
Region / District	CRF	TC	PHP	H	SA	Others	Total
Atlantic	37			2	10		49
Quebec		16		5	9		30
Montreal Metropolitan District				5	9		14
Quebec East West District		16					16
Ontario	1	10					11
Greater Ontario & Nunavut District	1	10					11
Central Ontario District
Prairies	102	21					123
Manitoba/Saskatchewan/Northwest Ontario District	72	15					87
Alberta/Northwest Territories	30	6					36
Pacific		8		12			20
National Total	140	55	0	19	19	0	233

1. Community Accommodation Usage Rates The overall weighted average usage of beds in women-only facilities was 64.7% in 2012-2013. The highest usage rates were seen in the “other” and CRF beds at 82.6% and 71.2% respectively. Lower than average rates were seen in treatment centres (47.2%), private home placements (22.8%) and hostels (21.6%).
2. The usage rates provided for the co-ed facilities are not useful for this analysis, as they do not indicate how many co-ed beds were used by women offenders.
  
  No comparable statistics were available from 2008.

Usage Rates of Women Beds by Facility Type
Region / District	CRF	TC	PHP	H	SA	Others	Overall
Atlantic	63.2%						63.2%
Quebec*	96.3%						96.3%
Montreal Metropolitan District	83.0%						83.0%
Quebec East West District	162.8%						162.8%
Ontario*	83.2%		6.3%			82.6%	81.7%
Greater Ontario & Nunavut District	82.8%		6.3%				79.2%
Central Ontario District	83.4%					82.6%	83.3%
Prairies*	54.9%	66.0%					55.9%
Manitoba/Saskatchewan/Northwest Ontario District	51.1%						51.1%
Alberta/Northwest Territories	57.7%	66.0%					58.9%
Pacific	70.8%	31.5%	31.8%	21.6%			48.4%
National Total*	71.2%	47.2%	22.8%	21.6%		82.6%	64.7%

*Totals are a weighted average based on the number of overall beds used with respect to the overall beds available.

Usage Rates of Co-ed Beds by Facility Type
Region / District	CRF	TC	PHP	H	SA	Others	Overall
Atlantic	71.0%						63.2%
Quebec*		58.1%		20.5%	78.3%		57.9%
Montreal Metropolitan District				20.5%	78.3%		57.7%
Quebec East West District		58.1%					58.1%
Ontario*	54.5%	80.6%					78.2%
Greater Ontario & Nunavut District	54.5%	80.6%					78.2%
Central Ontario District
Prairies*	104.7%	54.9%					95.5%
Manitoba/Saskatchewan/Northwest Ontario District	96.6%	36.9%					85.0%
Alberta/Northwest Territories	121.5%	99.8%					117.9
Pacific		83.7%		87.0%			85.7%
National Total*	94.7%	64.7%		63.4%	58.6%		81.6%

*Totals are a weighted average based on the number of overall beds used with respect to the overall beds available.

Challenges

Addictions Services
1. In 2012-2013, there were 507 women offenders in the community. Considering the number of women offenders who present with addiction issues, the number of treatment beds remains low (11 in women-only centres and 55 in co-ed facilities). The facilities can provide a service for approximately 13% of the population, if women happen to be released in a community where beds exist. There are no treatment beds in the Montreal, Atlantic region and the Central Ontario area. Further, the women-only beds are concentrated in Western Canada and the usage of these beds is only 47.2%. Thus, on average only 5 of those beds are full. It is not possible to comment on the usage of the co-ed beds (which could reflect male or female use). However, the facilities are also being used to a maximum of 64.7% and the rate is likely lower for women. It appears that although addictions remain a significant issue in reintegration, resources are not necessarily being accessed.
2. The collection of data regarding the usage of beds will assist CSC in making adjustments in the location and types of beds available. Currently CSC has made significant gains in the number of beds available, but now needs to refine this availability to ensure the right type of beds are available in the right places. This is a complex process that is driven by the individual needs of the offenders and confounded by the availability of services in communities across Canada.
3. In the 2012-13 Community Framework for Women Action Plan, CSC created specific funding and processes to assist in placing women offenders in community residential accommodations (Community Action Plan: Residential Services); it is unclear whether this strategy has increased the usage in that fiscal year, as usage rates are not available for the years past. Further, the 2012-13 fiscal year was the first year that the action plan had been launched. It may be too soon to see significant outcomes, such as increased usage of available beds.

Achievement

New Section 81 Accommodation In September 2011 Native Counselling Services of Alberta opened the Buffalo Sage Wellness House (BSWH), a 16-bed Section 81 facility that houses both minimum security federal offenders and conditionally released women. BSWH offers Aboriginal women an opportunity to attend a variety of programs (both in-house and in the community) that address the issues of historical trauma, parenting and life skills, as well as work placement/job retention services. CSC and NCSA received a gold medal from the Institute for Public Administration Canada (IPAC) for this accomplishment.

Challenge

Unsuccessful Negotiations A second Section 81 facility was being negotiated in Quebec with an Aboriginal community partner. Negotiations were going well and a business case was created for the Board of Directors to consider. Unfortunately, the community partner withdrew from the process and thus the facility did not open.

Opportunity

Partnerships The Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate of CSC, as well as the Ontario Region of the CSC are working together to develop a partnership with an existing healing lodge in Ontario that could eventually lead to the development of a CSC healing lodge that could accommodate women offenders. The organization has been providing residential trauma treatment for Aboriginal men and women for a significant period of time. CSC has had numerous meetings with the potential partner to build a working relationship between the two organizations. As a result, there is now an opportunity for women offenders to attend treatment at the lodge as the first step. There is a plan to work towards a formal partnership to increase the amount of community-based programming for women offenders in Ontario. All parties are hopeful that eventually the lodge currently owned by the partner organization could be developed into a healing lodge specifically for Aboriginal women offenders.

Achievement: Section 84 Accommodations

Increased Number of Section 84 Accommodations

CSC reports that in the current 2013-14 fiscal year there are 14 Section 84 locations; as of August 9, 2013 there were 41 women who were released under a Section 84 agreement. When comparing this to previous years, CSC reports the following statistics. The trend demonstrates that the number of section 84 agreements is increasing each year.

Number of Women Offenders Released on Section 84
	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13
Day	2	5	8	17
Full	0	0	2	0
Stat	0	4	10	26
Total	2	9	20	43

CSC has been successful in the promotion of Section 84 to offenders. In the accountability framework Mid-Year Report 2011-12 (published December 2011), the Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate reported that 95.5% of Aboriginal offenders were informed of the Section 84 option for release; with the goal of ensuring Aboriginal offenders are aware of the choices available.
In addition, there have been some successful strategies undertaken with Aboriginal communities regarding the development of Section 84s. Anecdotally, CSC staff in the women’s supervision unit in Calgary attribute their success in developing Section 84 placements to the In-reach/Outreach and partnership engagement program. By bringing community correctional staff and partner agency staff to the institutions to meet women offenders, there is an increased willingness to assist women in finding community-based accommodations when released. Two examples are provided:
1. The women’s supervision unit in Calgary has been attempting to obtain beds in a local Aboriginal treatment centre. A partnership was developed with the assistance of one of CSC’s Aboriginal Community Development Officer in Calgary. A trip to Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge was undertaken with the treatment centre staff who met with the institutional staff as well as the women offenders. As a result the treatment centre is now willing to contract with CSC to provide treatment opportunities for women offenders. These partnerships help to create a realistic picture of the women in the institutions and create options for women to access resources in the community.
2. Two years ago the women’s supervision unit in Calgary organized an institutional visit. They invited several agencies including Elders and representatives from local post-secondary institutions to Okimaw Ochi and EIFW. Their perception of the women was transformed as a result of this experience. On the second day during a talking circle, an Elder said, “I just wept last night, when I saw all of my daughters that are in there. I am not naive, but I don’t know what we are doing to our girls”. She is now working with the ADCO to create Section 84 opportunities for women.
As a result, since 2010 the Calgary women’s supervision unit believes they have increased the number Section 84 placements. They estimate that if 20 women are released in a year, seven to eight are being released on a Section 84 agreement.

PANEL RECOMMENDATION #70

Review of community programs and resources required to support the implementation of maintenance programs and availability of community programs for women and Aboriginal offenders.

Achievements:

Development of the Self-Management Programs
1. The Community Relapse Prevention and Maintenance Program was transformed into the women’s self-management programs. These include the Self-Management Program (WO-SMP) and the Aboriginal Women Offender – Self-Management Program (AWO-SMP). These programs are designed to work within the Continuum of Care (for non-Aboriginal women) and the Circle of Care (for Aboriginal women). The Women Offender Sector has re-designed all programs available to women offenders to fit within these models.
2. For non-Aboriginal women, the Women Offender Sector created the Self-Management Program (WO-SMP). The WO-SMP is the fourth Correctional Program included in the Continuum of Care. However, for some participants it may be the only program they complete. This program is designed to support participants as they continue to make and maintain changes. The focus of this Program is on enhancing strengths, solidifying coping strategies, and increasing self-awareness. The Program provides participants with an opportunity to develop or revise and implement an individualized Self-Management Plan. By repeating and practicing skills learned in other programs, such skills are reinforced. In the community, the Program serves a double purpose: continue to support participants when they leave the institution and act as a refresher program for participants on release in the community.
3. The Aboriginal Women Offender – Self-Management Program (AWO-SMP) is designed to support participants as they continue to make and maintain changes. The focus of this Program is on enhancing strengths, solidifying coping strategies, and increasing self-awareness. The program provides participants with an opportunity to develop/revise and implement an individualized Healing Plan. Women offenders who require support and assistance while they are on release in the community are referred to this program. In the community there are no pre-requisites. The self-management program is also used as a risk management strategy to help women offenders successfully complete their conditional release.
4. Since 2010, there has been an increase in Self-Management program enrolments and completions. A number of factors have contributed to the growth in enrollment including: an increase in the number of women offenders overall, an increase in the number of trained facilitators, an increase of areas where the program is being offered, and an increase in the number of cycles of the program due to a reduction in the number of sessions (allowing for an increase in enrollments to the program thus completions).

Challenge

Program Outcome Data At this time, no program data is available to comment on whether the participants have developed skills, or whether the program gains will result in better community reintegration and more success in attaining Day Parole and Full Parole.

Opportunity

Training The Women Offender Sector has invested a great deal of resources and efforts to create the myriad of programs in the Circle of Care for Aboriginal offenders, as well as the Continuum of Care for non-Aboriginal women offenders. It is clear that these interventions were carefully constructed to address the needs of a variety of offenders and prepare them for successful reintegration. As previously mentioned, training all CSC staff to understand how they can support the skills/knowledge gained in the program, as well as increasing their awareness of their role in the Continuum of Care and Circle of Care, would be helpful.

Chapter 5: Issue #4- Dedicated Full Time Elders

THE GLUBE REPORT RECOMMENDATION #4

CSC to dedicate full time Elders to the Secure Units at Edmonton and Fraser Valley Institutions.

Achievements

Resources were secured through the National Capital Accommodation and Operational Plan for Edmonton Institution for Women (EIFW) and Fraser Valley Institution (FVI) secure units. FVI’s Secure Unit Elder commenced during the 2007-08 fiscal year, while EIFW’s Elder commenced April 1, 2008.
Currently, it appears that the allocation of resources for Elders on secure units has been maintained. The following was reported by wardens at women’s institutions:
1. EIFW currently has five Elders employed, with one dedicated to the secure unit.
2. FVI currently has two Elders. One full time Elder is dedicated to the Secure Unit and Structured Living Environment. The second Elder works full time with women in the Pathways Unit and in General Population.
3. Nova currently has funding for two Elders. One Elder has been on contract with Nova for the last three years. The institution has been unable to hire a second Elder. As such, the institution has used the funds to hire Aboriginal students during the summer to assist the Elder, as well as an additional part-time Aboriginal Liaison officer to provide teachings in aboriginal culture.
4. There is no Secure Unit at Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, as the lodge only accommodates women classified as medium or minimum security. The lodge works with Elders from the community.
5. Grand Valley Institution hired a full time Elder for the Secure Unit in 2008-09.
6. The Joliette institution typically has only 10-12 Aboriginal inmates. Therefore, one Elder who works 3 days per week can provide services to all of the Aboriginal women offenders.

Challenges

Providing Aboriginal Services
1. Although resources have been made available for Elders in the secure units, the larger enterprise of providing Aboriginal cultural and spiritual services for Aboriginal women offenders remains an issue in some locations. Ensuring that enough Elders are on staff and that the Elders have adequate help in their work can be challenging. In addition, gathering the supplies required for ceremonies is labour intensive, may require travel resources/permission and involves knowledge about the Aboriginal community, culture and worldview. The 2003 Continuum of Care model describes specific roles for CSC staff including:
  1. Elders First Nations, Métis and Inuit Elders contribute throughout the sentence to meeting the cultural and spiritual needs of diverse Aboriginal offenders. They provide guidance and leadership in correctional planning/intervention for those who wish to follow a traditional healing path.
  2. Aboriginal Liaison Officers This group ensures that the unique histories and needs of individual Aboriginal offenders in institutions and communities are understood and met. Aboriginal Liaison Officers provide liaison between offenders and non-Aboriginal staff to ensure that spiritual and cultural needs are addressed.
  3. Aboriginal Correctional Program Officers This group delivers culturally-appropriate programs within institutions to address behaviours that place Aboriginal offenders at risk to re-offend.
  4. Aboriginal Community Development Officers This group works with Aboriginal offenders who have expressed an interest in returning to their communities. Under Section 84 of the CCRA, ACDOs work with these communities to develop a plan for reintegration of the offender. These release plans are submitted to the Parole Board of Canada for consideration in making decisions regarding granting conditional release.
  5. Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers This group supports Aboriginal offender reintegration in urban communities.
2. In some locations across Canada, issues still exist in the recruitment, hiring and maintenance of the original roles of staff that provide Aboriginal continuum of care services. These include:
  1. Institutions are having a difficult time hiring and retaining the Elders they require. This was noted by the Correctional Investigator in 2009^{Footnote 32} and remains an ongoing issue in some institutions.
  2. The role of Aboriginal Liaison Officers (ALO) in the institution has become focussed upon the completion of paperwork/data entry. In the past, however, the ALO would provide “helper” services for the Elder, assisting in the considerable work involved in providing ceremonies for the offenders and instructing/role modelling for the offenders on how to be a ceremonial helper. Due to the evolution of the ALO’s responsibilities into a primarily administrative position, institutions need to hire additional staff to be Elder’s helpers. The resources for extra staff can be difficult to acquire. For example, one institution has 5 Elders and 2 ALO positions and they are also currently filling one Elder’s helper position.
  3. Elders who have extensive spiritual and cultural expertise are being expected to participate in case management and other institutional processes such as report writing. This can prove problematic for the older and more traditional Elders who may experience language barriers and/or come from a perspective or worldview of healing that may be significantly different from that of correctional offender management.
3. Thus, there remain challenges regarding how Elders are engaged in the overall Circle of Care for Aboriginal women. There is also the issue of providing adequate help for Elders in ceremonies and ensuring ceremonial resources are available.

Opportunities

The need for Elders on secure units in specific institutions was addressed in 2008. The WOS has further ensured that Elders are present in all of the Circle of Care programs for Aboriginal Offenders. It appears that this recommendation has now been completed. However, CSC still needs to continue to collaborate with Aboriginal community partners who can help find solutions to issues that arise when providing Aboriginal Offenders opportunities for healing.

Chapter 6: Issue #5- Community-Based Accommodations & Aboriginal Women’s Healing Lodge

THE GLUBE REPORT RECOMMENDATION #5

CSC incorporates the need for an Aboriginal women’s healing lodge facility in its long-range accommodation plan on a priority basis for Eastern Canada.

Challenge

Unsuccessful Negotiations

A second Section 81 facility was being negotiated in Quebec with an Aboriginal community partner. Negotiations were going well and a business case was created for the Board of Directors to consider. Unfortunately, the community partner withdrew from the process and thus the facility did not open.

Opportunity

Partnerships

The Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate of CSC, as well as the Ontario Region of the CSC are working together to develop a partnership with an existing healing lodge in Ontario that could eventually lead to the development of a CSC healing lodge that could accommodate women offenders. The organization has been providing residential trauma treatment for Aboriginal men and women for a significant period of time. CSC has had numerous meetings with the potential partner to build a working relationship between the two organizations. As a result, there is now an opportunity for women offenders to attend treatment at the lodge as the first step. There is a plan to work towards a formal partnership to increase the amount of community-based programming for women offenders in Ontario. All parties are hopeful that eventually the lodge currently owned by the partner organization could be developed into a healing lodge specifically for Aboriginal women offenders.

Chapter 7: Issue #6- Isabel McNeill House

THE GLUBE REPORT RECOMMENDATION #6

At the closure of Isabel McNeill House - retain and proportionately distribute resources to women’s regional facilities.

Background Information

Isabel McNeill House (IMH) –was opened in 1990 to provide minimum-security accommodation to women offenders transitioning into the community from the Prison for Women. Both were eventually replaced by the women’s regional facilities and are now closed.

Anticipating the closure of IMH at the time of the Glube Report, the Expert Committee urged CSC to retain existing funding to support the women’s correctional initiative. Further, they suggested that CSC focus on the development of an “orientation” protocol to support the adjustment of newly incarcerated women. Finally, the Committee encouraged CSC to provide a continuum of accommodation options to transition women into the community.

Achievements

Funding
1. In accordance with the Glube Report recommendation, CSC has retained the funding previously allocated to IMH for women’s programs. In fact, a review of the regional women’s facilities expenditures suggests that there has been a 30.7% increase in funding across sites from fiscal year 2008-09 to 2012-2013^{Footnote 33}. Noteworthy is the upward trend in funding for women’s regional facilities, despite the dramatic decrease in costs associated with IMH after the closure in 2008.
Orientation Process
1. In a 2005 review by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons,^{Footnote 34} the need to provide support for newly arrived women was identified. This recommendation was reiterated within the Glube Report which stated that- “there should be specific first night and orientation support, initially in separate accommodations, so that newly arrived women have access to objective and full information about the institutions and are prepared to move on to the houses”.
2. A national working group comprised of representatives from the women’s institutions, regional and national headquarters was established to look at the admission process. In 2007 the working group produced a series of guiding principles entitled Strengthening the Admission Process: Effective Orientation and Support of Newly Admitted Offenders.^{Footnote 35} The working group concluded the following:
  1. Although designated separate accommodations were desirable and available when the regional facilities first opened, an increase in the number of incarcerated women as well as other population management pressures, preclude this possibility in every institution.
  2. To strengthen the admission process, women offenders require immediate access to information and support.
  3. Three guiding principles should characterize the orientation process: (1) deferential reception; (2) responsive intake; and, (3) timeliness and continuity of information and support.
3. The guiding principles formulated by the working group were presented to each of the women offender facilities who were then asked to review intake operations and to make any necessary changes. Attestations were provided by each site regarding the implementation of the principles.
4. Each women offender institution has an orientation process and inmate handbook for newly arrived women. At the present time, CD 705-4 Orientation identifies the Institutional Heads as being responsible for establishing an orientation process and identifies the subject areas that should be included. In compliance with an Audit Report on Cross-Gender Staffing^{Footnote 36} each facility was asked to revise and resubmit the Inmate Handbook for review by the Women Offender Sector^{Footnote 37} .
Continuum of Accommodation Options

IMH provided women offenders transitioning from the Prison for Women with a community-based alternative for minimum custody offenders.^{Footnote 38}
1. CSC currently provides a number of options to support the transition of women into the community. For example, each of the regional facilities has a minimum-security unit. Halfway house placements and activities such as work release, family reintegration, treatment, and other socialisation opportunities are encouraged through the use of ETA’s, UTA’s and conditional release.
2. CSC has also demonstrated a commitment to expand the number of minimum-security beds for women offenders in the regional facilities. This decision was prompted in part by necessity given the increase in this population. However, the placement of new beds outside the security fence creates an additional accommodation option for minimum-security women.

Challenges

Orientation
1. CSC is challenged with ensuring that all efforts are made to orient women to the facility as quickly and safely as possible. At the time of this report, WOS confirmed that they are working with the women’s facilities to standardise the inmate handbook and orientation process.
Continuum of Accommodation Options
1. As the women’s facilities prepare to open up new units outside the fence each site will be challenged to broaden existing partnerships in the community and to increase opportunities for women to participate in community activities (e.g., increase ETA’s, UTA’s and work releases).
2. Interviewees reported that the Parole Board of Canada has been more cautious in granting early releases and women receive more conditions including (treatment requirements) than evidenced in the past.

Opportunities

Orientation
1. We recommend that WOS continue efforts to standardise an “orientation” protocol that is used consistently across the women’s facilities. The protocol should be designed to orient newly arrived women offenders to the institution as quickly and safely as possible.
2. At the current time each woman is given a comprehensive “Inmate Handbook” when she arrives at the facility. The handbook serves as an important guide for newly arrived women and contains resources that can be useful throughout incarceration. To ensure that it is used to the greatest extent we recommend that sites write the handbook in a manner that is accessible to all women.
Continuum of Accommodation Options
1. There appears to be a strong commitment by CSC to expand the continuum of housing options for women. Minimum security beds beyond the fence provide one additional stage in the move toward the community. As women’s facilities prepare to open beds outside the fence we encourage CSC to:
  1. Support the development of policies and practices that will expand opportunities for women to spend time in the community.
  2. Continue to work closely with the Parole Board of Canada to ensure that the continuum of housing options is fully utilized.
  3. Continue to build and develop partnerships with community stakeholders.

Chapter 8: Issue #7- Employment Strategy for Women Offenders

PANEL REPORT #25 (E)

Reassess the National Employment Strategy for Women Offenders

Background Information

Prompted by an internal mandate^{Footnote 39} to address the employment needs of women offenders and the results of several external reviews^{Footnote 40}, Correctional Service Canada released the National Employment Strategy for Women in 2006^{Footnote 41}. The Review Panel (2007) supported all recommendations in the work plan and encouraged CSC to reassess progress and action taken with respect to:

Assessment and correctional plan development requirements at intake.
Evaluation of the challenges to employment related to the unique operating environments in women’s institutions.
The gaps in the provision of support services and employment opportunities in the community. The Review Panel advised that particular attention must be paid to integrate transitional employment requirements with CSC’s enhanced community supervision and intervention infrastructure for women.

Achievements

It is noteworthy that there was considerable excitement expressed by those interviewed across the country with respect to the National Employment Strategy for Women Offenders and the various initiatives linked to this strategy. Each of the sites described their successes in building community partnerships and assisting women offenders to develop marketable skills that can enhance the prospect for employment as they transition to the community.

We begin this review by focusing on changes to the Employment Counsellor position and then exploring achievements made at each of the four-steps of the re-entry process.

Full-Time Employment Counsellor
1. A temporary Employment Counsellor position was funded by WOS and the women’s facilities during the pilot stages of implementing this strategy. Given the critical nature of this role to the success of the initiative we were pleased to learn that permanent funding for this position was secured in July 2013.
2. The job description of the employment counsellor has historically included vocational and employability assessments, the development of the employment plan and the provision of training in job acquisition and retention skills. The role and responsibilities of the new position have been expanded to include the following roles and responsibilities:
  1. Assess the impact of employment programs,
  2. Establish new and existing partnerships to identify new employment opportunities and determine the skills that women offenders will need to successfully gain employment when released.
A four-step re-entry model has been developed and implemented to support the Employability Plan

Step 1: Assessment and Correctional Plan Development at Intake
1. The process for developing an individualized Employability Plan appears to be well established in most sites. This includes:
  1. A comprehensive assessment of educational and vocational needs and interests is completed at intake. Most of those interviewed indicated that intake assessments are typically completed within the first week of admission.
  2. A culturally appropriate assessment process has been developed for Aboriginal offenders and is currently being implemented.
  3. The Employment Counsellor administers the educational and vocational assessments, conducts a semi-structured interview and develops the Employability Plan, which is subsequently presented to the Institutional Program Assignment Board.
  4. Progress with respect to the plan is continually monitored and then reviewed every 90 days.
Step 2: Institutional Programs
1. Women are assigned to Educational and Vocational Programs as determined in the employability plan.
  1. Women are encouraged to complete Grade 12 and can address employment needs at the same time.
  2. Women participate in two standardized employment programs designed to build motivation and enhance employment and socialization skills (e.g., National Employment Skills Program and the Social Integration Program for Women).
2. There has been a concerted effort to ensure that women are provided with training opportunities that support their vocational goals. Specifically we would like to comment on two initiatives that appear promising: (1) Institutional work assignments and, (2) certification programs offered by third party organizations.
  1. Institutional work assignments are standard practice in most facilities however, CSC is now using the opportunities strategically to support the development of marketable skills. For example, job descriptions have been developed for all work opportunities in the facility. The descriptions include learning objectives, skills to be learned, recommendations regarding skill development and a performance measurement strategy. This process has a number of benefits: (1) women can match their employment goals to the actual work assignments; (2) women can use their experience with work assignments to develop their resumes, and; (3) staff can use the performance measures to provide feedback to women as they build relevant work skills and competencies.
  2. Certification programs are critical to enhance the marketability of women offenders as they prepare to find work upon release. To facilitate this goal, specialized funding was introduced during 2012-13 by the Women Offender Sector. Sites were invited to submit proposals outlining the scope of their proposed activities and how this would enhance meaningful employment opportunities for women. Approximately $200,000 was released to 14 sites on a case by case basis. It is noteworthy that each of the invited sites applied for funding and that the requests varied in accordance with the institutional environment, connections with the community, and the vocational needs of the offender population under consideration.
    
    A report recently released by CORCAN (2013)^{Footnote 42} shows an increase in the number of certificates awarded to women across a range of specializations (e.g., Basic Food Safety; WHMIS; First Aid; Construction Safety; Employment Skills, Crisis Intervention; Textile Worker; Accounting; Fall Protection; Computer Training, etc.). While results varied across institutions, the total number of certificates earned by all women has increased since FY 2010-2011. The most significant gains in certificates were earned by Aboriginal women offenders with a 51.2% increase noted since FY 2011-2012.
Step 3: Pre-Release
1. The employment counsellor meets with each woman to consolidate the employment plan; provide community transition sessions; and to identify and access community resources.
  1. CSC has developed a number of community employment centres that are offered internally through CSC and CORCAN, or externally with agencies recognized for their expertise in working with offenders (e.g., E. Fry, John Howard Society, St. Leonard’s Society, YM/YWCA, and private sector).
Step 4: Community Partnerships and Reports
1. The final phase of the re-entry process focuses on helping women secure employment upon release. A number of innovative strategies have been introduced to increase employment opportunities for women offenders on conditional release:
  1. In February 2012, WOS partnered with the Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver to offer a workshop on Social Enterprises to 20 organizations serving women from across Canada. This three-day workshop was designed to explore the feasibility of social enterprises. One month later, WOS in collaboration with Employment and Social Development – ESDC (formerly Human Resources and Skills Development Canada - HRSDC), Homelessness Partnering Secretariat and Ontario Provincial Government, invited NGOs from across Ontario to participate in a 1 day workshop on apprenticeship programs. After these sessions, the NGOs were invited to submit a concept paper to ESDC for the development of social enterprises. A unique aspect of social enterprises is the involvement of three parties in the initiative: the employee, the employer and a supporting agency. Each party contributes to the success of the work placement and accelerates the potential for full-time employment.
    
    Seven sites are currently funded by ESDC. We spoke with a woman offender on day parole regarding her experience with the St. Leonard’s Place Peel project. She spent approximately one year searching for employment upon release. She reported that no one in the facility had prepared her for the fact that jobs were scarce and that she might not find work. She was referred to St. Leonard’s by her parole officer and was the first woman accepted into social enterprises. After completing in-class skills development training and a 6-week placement on-site, the employer offered her full-time employment.
    
    A one day forum is tentatively scheduled in November, 2013 with the NGOs that have implemented social enterprises/apprenticeship programs from ESDC so that they can share best practices, lessons learned and discuss future developments.
    
    WOS, in partnership with ESDC, are in the process of developing one video demonstrating the successful implementation of social enterprises in two settings.
  2. Several of the wardens reported that they host “job fairs” at the facility and invite employers, schools, business organizations, and various trades.
  3. We were struck by the creativity that the individual sites have demonstrated in building local connections and establishing partnerships within the community. These efforts have added to the richness of educational and employment opportunities available to women. For example, GVI is located in close proximity to several universities and has a well-established inside-out program where a professor from Sir Wilfrid Laurier teaches a sociology class within the facility to 10 inmates and 10 students from the outside. Other sites such as Okimaw Ochi Healing Lodge have reached out to businesses in the community to build opportunities for work release and job placements.
  4. A detailed Evaluation Framework on the Employment and Employability Continuum has been developed.
  5. WOS has partnered with colleagues from Community Reintegration, Community Mental Health and Partnerships (CMHP) Division, and Aboriginal Initiatives Directorate (AID) to create a video promoting employment among the offender population. The video highlights the mutual benefits of employment for both offenders and employers and will be distributed to partners, employers, institutions, and communities in the winter of 2013.

Challenges

The National Employment Strategy for Women Action Plan was fully implemented as we prepared this report and therefore we could not assess the impact of this strategy. Several potential challenges to the successful implementation of the plan were noted and should be monitored closely:

Limited Pre-Release Opportunities
1. Work releases and UTA’s have fluctuated dramatically over the last 5 years^{Footnote 43}. For example, a drop in work releases was noted across sites from a total of 160 in fiscal year 2009-10 to 74 in 2011-12. Similarly, the total number of UTAs in that fiscal year for personal development and community service totalled 55 across the 7 sites. This suggests an extremely low number of opportunities for women to engage in activities that would support the development of vocational skills. Despite an increase in the number of ETAs between fiscal year 2010-2011 and 2011-2012, CSC is challenged to continue to focus attention on increasing opportunities for personal development that support the Employability Plan.
Barriers to finding employment in the community
1. At the time of the Panel Review (2007) it was noted that only 50% of employable women on conditional release in the community were working. During fiscal year 2012-13, a slightly lower percentage was reported indicating that only 48% of the total number of women identified as employable had successfully entered the workforce^{Footnote 44}. Though these rates have improved in some areas of the country (e.g. the Quebec and Prairie Regions), this is clearly a critical outcome that should be carefully monitored within the evaluation framework.
2. Several individuals interviewed in the Ontario Region indicated that the caseload sizes for the CORCAN employment counsellors are extremely high. This can result in lengthy waiting periods for an initial appointment and limit the amount of time that is spent with each candidate. An exploration of regional caseloads, waiting list times, and an ongoing review of progress made with respect to individual Employability Plans is encouraged.
3. In a number of sites, the employment counsellors are located in male residences. This can be a safety concern for some women and suggests the need to modify the location and/or provide the employment counsellor with specialized training. Employment counsellors should be aware not only of potential concerns but learn to work collaboratively with women to resolve any obstacles or barriers to participation.
Addressing the differential employment needs of women
1. Several individuals expressed the concern that CSC and CORCAN continue to focus the majority of employment services and resources on the lowest risk and most strongly motivated offenders. CSC is challenged to ensure that women offenders with special needs and circumstances are provided with individualized educational and employment options. For example:
  1. There are a significant number of women offenders that have high education and employment needs who have not had the opportunity to fully benefit from the new employment strategy. These women will require additional support.
  2. Other women will return to their role as the primary caretakers of their children and may require assistance to fulfill this role and prepare to enter the workforce at a later date.
  3. CSC continues to be challenged to develop educational and employment opportunities for Aboriginal offenders and to support the growing population of women from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. Special needs and circumstances faced by minority groups should be identified and explored. For example, Grand Valley Institution has a number of women who are facing the possibility of deportation upon release from the facility.
  4. Finally, approximately 8% of women offenders in the community on conditional release have severe mental health needs that prevent them from entering the workforce.^{Footnote 45}

Opportunities

The model and process outlined in the National Employment Strategy for Women Action Plan was fully implemented in July, 2013. While, insufficient time has passed to assess the impact of this strategy, results of this review suggest a strong and positive response from the field. Many of the CSC staff, stakeholders and women offenders that we spoke with felt confident that favourable employment outcomes could be achieved. Recommendations to strengthen the implementation of this strategy and to support the integrity of the model are below.

Monitor the roles and responsibilities of the employment counsellor
1. The job description of the employment counsellor has been modified and expanded to include an emphasis on job development. Given the recency of this change and the important role that job development plays in the success of the model, we encourage WOS to monitor the various methods and options used by the Employment Counsellors to meet this objective.
2. Provide formal support to the counsellors and a forum to exchange information, review lessons learned, successes, challenges, and innovative practices.
3. Finally, we recommend that CSC review case-load sizes and performance outcomes for the employment counsellors in an effort to define optimum standards of practice.
Increase pre-release options for personal and professional development
1. We strongly encourage WOS to continue to provide regional sites with funding to develop educational and vocational opportunities for women offenders. This gives each site the opportunity to define and prioritize issues related to education and employment and helps to ensure that the specific needs of the population they serve are addressed.
2. Women need to develop and practice their professional skills in community work settings. A strong commitment was made by each of the wardens interviewed to continue to increase the number of ETAs, UTAs and work releases. We encourage WOS to monitor the number and variety of pre-release opportunities provided by each site and to reinforce all efforts to build new partnerships with potential employers and agencies that provide openings for women offenders.
3. The funding and evaluation for social enterprises rest with Employment and Social Development – ESDC (formerly HRSDC). However, several stakeholders recommended that WOS continue to play a supportive role through the following activities
  1. Bring sites together to learn from each other during formal and informal meetings (e.g., national forums, conference calls, etc.).
  2. Help sites that are managing the enterprise programs to develop high quality training experiences and the resources necessary to do so. This might include the development of skill-based programs offered while women are incarcerated.
Continued focus on developing educational and vocational programs and opportunities to address the diverse needs of this population
1. WOS is encouraged to continue their efforts to develop culturally appropriate educational and vocational assessments and resources for Aboriginal women and to monitor outcomes closely with this group.
2. There is also a need for WOS to play an advisory role in providing sites with the expertise and resources to fully engage women offenders from diverse cultural backgrounds and those who present with unique employability needs (e.g. women who are not employable).
3. Finally, given that the Employment Strategy Framework has only recently been fully implemented, there are a number of women offenders in the community or preparing for release, who will not fully benefit from the proposed continuum of services. They may require additional support when released to the community.
WOS is encouraged to continue to build partnerships with ESDC, Guiding Circles, government and other community agencies that share an interest in and understand the needs of marginalized clients.
The National Employment Strategy is now fully implemented. We strongly encourage WOS to use the Evaluation Framework that has been developed for this strategy in order to invest further in successes and when necessary, make refinements to the model.

The above report is a complete account of the review conducted by the Independent Review Committee of the actions taken with respect to women’s corrections in response to the recommendations made in the Glube Report (Moving Forward with Women’s Corrections: The Expert Committee Review of Correctional Service Canada’s Ten-Year Status Report on Women’s Corrections, 1996-2006) and the Panel Report (Report of the CSC Review Panel: A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety, 2007).

Chapter 9: Summary of Interviews and Focus Groups Conducted

Correctional Service Canada – National Headquarters

Jennifer Oades: Deputy Commissioner for Women
Kelley Blanchette: Director General, Women Offender Sector
Denise LeBlanc: Manager, Interventions and Policy, Women Offender Sector
Scott Harris: Associate Assistant Commissioner, Correctional Operations and Programs
Caroline Rueberer: Manager, Operations, Women Offender Sector
Carmen Long: Director General, Community Reintegration Branch
Stephanie Chalifoux-Taylor: National Trainer, Programs for Aboriginal Women, Women Offender Sector
Marlene Wells: National Trainer, Programs for Women, Women Offender Sector

Regional Head Quarters - Managers

Paul Urmson: Assistant Deputy Commissioner- Institutional Operations
Mike Ryan: Regional Deputy Commissioner-Ontario
Lori MacDonald: Regional Deputy Commissioner-Ontario
Liz Vitek: Area Director- Central District Ontario
David Niles: Assistant Deputy Commissioner- Institutional Operations
Cari Turi: Acting District Director Community Corrections Administration Office
Jamie Contois: Regional Administrator, Aboriginal Initiatives

Wardens of Women’s Institutions

Angela Draude: Edmonton Institution for Women
Adele MacInnis-Meagher: Nova Institution
Geneviève Thibault: Joliette Institution
Nancy Kinsman: Grand Valley Institution for Women
Carol-Ann Reynen: Fraser Valley Institution
Lee Anne Skene (acting): Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge

Community

Focus group with 6 parole officers: Women’s Supervision Unit in Toronto
Interview with Sue Coatham: Women’s Supervision Unit in Calgary

Community Stakeholders

Sonya Spencer: St. Leonard’s Society
Kim Pate: Elizabeth Fry Society

Women Offenders

We wish to thank two women recently released to the Toronto area who shared their experiences and their stories.

Chapter 10: References

A Review of Community-Based Residential Facilities in Canada (2008). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Aboriginal Women Offender Program: The Circle of Care. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Services Canada.

Access to Funding through the Community Framework for Women 2012-2013 - Complex Cases. Unpublished spreadsheet. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Audit of cross-gender staffing: Internal audit (2009). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada. Certification Programs (2013). Data Released by CORCAN.

Commissioner’s Directive (CD) 768 Institutional Mother-Child Program (2003). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Commissioner’s Directive (CD) 702 on Aboriginal Offenders (2008). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Commissioner’s Directive (CD) 715-5 Community Supervision of Women With Children (2008). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Commissioner’s Directive (CD) 577: Staff Protocol in Women Offender Institutions (2012). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Commission of Inquiry into Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston (Arbour Report) (1996). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Community Employment Rates- Women Offenders. CSC year-end report (2012-13). Correctional Service of Canada.

The Community Framework for Women Action Plan: Creating Sustainability. (2012). Ottawa, ON: Women Offender Sector, Correctional Service of Canada.

Community Framework for Women: Engagement, Partnerships & Residential Services. Unpublished spreadsheet. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Community Mental Heal Service Delivery Guidelines (2013). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Continuum of Care: Program Descriptions. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Creating Choices; The Report of the Task Force on Federally Sentence Women (1990). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Correctional Service Canada Review Panel: Deloitte Financial Advisory (2007). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Correctional Service of Canada’s Ten-Year Status Report on Women’s Corrections, 1996-2006 (2007). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

CSC’s Action Plan in Response to the Recommendations in the Report: Moving Forward With Women’s Corrections - The Expert Committee Review of Correctional Service Canada’s Ten-Year Status Report on Women’s Corrections, 1996-2006. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Delveaux, K., Blanchette, K., and Wickett, J. (2005). Employment Needs, Interests, and Programming for Women Offenders. Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada.

Deployment Of Correctional Officer II (Male Offender Institution To Primary Worker (Women Offender Institution): Rating Guide Used To Assess The Candidates. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Federal Community Corrections Strategy: Vision to 2020. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Financial Information and Trend Analysis (2013). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Funding Available through the Community Framework for Women 2013-2014 Complex Cases and Engagement. (2013). Memo from the Director, Women Offender Sector.

Funding Available through the Community Framework for Women 2013-2014 Partnerships. (2013). Memo from the Director, Women Offender Sector.

Funding Available through the Community Framework for Women 2013-2014 Residential Services. (2013). Memo from the Director, Women Offender Sector.

Governance, Roles and Responsibilities: Women Offender Sector (2008). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Mann, M. M., (2009). Good intentions, disappointing results: A progress report on Federal Aboriginal Corrections. Government of Canada.

Marginalized: The Aboriginal Women’s experience in Federal Corrections (2012). The Wesley Group and Public Service of Canada.

Moving Forward With Women's Corrections: The Expert Committee Review of Correctional Service Canada's Ten-Year Status Report on Women's Corrections 1996-2006 (Glube Report).

National Community Strategy for Women & Action Plan Glube Report Review: Overview of Achievements since 2010 Revised National Community Strategy for Women & Action Plan. Unpublished Manuscript. Correctional Service of Canada.

National Training Standards (2008/09). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Office of the Correctional Investigator (2010). Under warrant: A review of the correction services of Canada’s ‘mental health strategy’. Government of Canada.

Program Strategy for Women Offenders (2004). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Protecting Their Rights – A Systematic Review of Human Rights in Correctional Services for Federally Sentenced Women. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Report of the CSC Review Panel: A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety, 2007. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (November 2003). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Review of Community Accommodation for Women Offenders. Unpublished manuscript. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Risky Business: An Investigation of the Treatment and Management of Chronic Self-Injury Among Federally Sentenced Women (2013). Ottawa, ON: Office of the Correctional Investigator.

Snapshot: CSC Review Panel Report (2007). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada. Social Integration Program for Women Manual (2006). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Offenders (2006-2011). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Strengthening the Admission Process: Effective Orientation and Support of Newly Admitted Offenders (2007). Power-Point Presentation. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Sub-Population Management Strategy: Women Offenders. PowerPoint Presentation. Women Offender Sector, Correctional Service of Canada. The cross-gender monitoring project: CSC’s response to the third and final annual report (2001). Correctional Service Canada.

The National Community Strategy for Women Offenders (2002). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

The National Mental Health Strategy for Women Offenders (2002). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

The National Program Strategy for Women Offenders (2004). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

The National Employment Strategy for Women Offenders (2006). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

The National Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Offenders 2006-2011 (2006).Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

The Strategy for Aboriginal Corrections Accountability Framework (2009). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

The Report of the Auditor General into the Reintegration of Women Offenders (April, 2003). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

The Report of Correctional Service Canada Review Panel: A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety (2007). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Ten-Year Status Report on Women’s Corrections (1996-2006). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Women-centred training orientation program (WCTOP): Course outline women offenders sector (2013). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Women-centred training – refresher: Course outline - Becoming Trauma Informed (2013). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Women Offender Statistical Overview (2007). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Work Releases, UTA’s, ETA’s for Fiscal Years 2010-11 and 2011-12. Statistical Report. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Footnotes

Footnote 1

Governance, Roles and Responsibilities (2008). Women Offender Sector. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Return to footnote 1

Footnote 2

CHILD LINK is a program whereby women offenders are given access to government sanctioned conference equipment to stay in touch with their children.

Return to footnote 2

Footnote 3

One page- summaries of innovative policies and/or practices that are gender-responsive could be distributed to the field. For example, CSC is providing staff with refresher training in –“Becoming Trauma Informed”. A practice brief outlining how using trauma-informed practices enhance safety and security in women’s correctional facilities might be useful to inform and sustain this initiative.

Return to footnote 3

Footnote 4

The women’s programs were routinely described by the interviewees as exceptional. This was attributed to the fact that these programs (e.g., DBT; continuum of care) were developed from the research on women rather than adapted from a male model. The same argument could be applied to policy development.

Return to footnote 4

Footnote 5

Governance: Roles and Responsibilities (2008). Women Offender Sector. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Return to footnote 5

Footnote 6

Ibid, 2008.

Return to footnote 6

Footnote 7

Arbour Commission of Inquiry (1996)

Return to footnote 7

Footnote 8

National Protocol for Front Line Staffing (1998)

Return to footnote 8

Footnote 9

Cross-Gender Monitor (2001)

Return to footnote 9

Footnote 10

Canadian Human Rights Commission (2003)

Return to footnote 10

Footnote 11

Moving Forward with Women’s Corrections (2006)

Return to footnote 11

Footnote 12

Commissioner’s Directive 577- Operational Requirements for Cross-Gender Staffing in Women offender Institutions (1996-2006).

Return to footnote 12

Footnote 13

Management Control Framework (2006-2007). Located within the Audit of Cross-Gender Staffing (2009).

Return to footnote 13

Footnote 14

Audit of Cross-Gender Staffing (2009).

Return to footnote 14

Footnote 15

Commissioner’s Directive 577- Staff Protocol in Women Offender Institutions (2012).

Return to footnote 15

Footnote 16

Deployment of CXII (Male Offender Institution) to Primary Worker (WOI)- 2012

Return to footnote 16

Footnote 17

Primary Worker (CXII) Deployment and Interview Questions (2011)

Return to footnote 17

Footnote 18

Audit Report of Cross-Gender Staffing (2009).

Return to footnote 18

Footnote 19

Women-centred Training Orientation Program (WCTOP) (2013).

Return to footnote 19

Footnote 20

Women-Centred Training-Refresher: Becoming Trauma Informed (2012-2015)

Return to footnote 20

Footnote 21

Staff Protocol in Women Offender Institutions – CD 577 (2012-06-21)

Return to footnote 21

Footnote 22

Risky Business: An Investigation of the Treatment and Management of Chronic Self-Injury Among Federally Sentenced Women. Office of the Correctional Investigator, September 2013.

Return to footnote 22

Footnote 23

Revised National Community Strategy for Women Offenders. March 2010. P. 5

Return to footnote 23

Footnote 24

Moving Forward with Women’s Corrections: The Expert Committee Review of the Correctional Service Canada’s Ten-Year Status Report on Women’s Corrections, 1996-2006. 2006.

Return to footnote 24

Footnote 25

Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety. 2007.

Return to footnote 25

Footnote 26

Federal Community Corrections Strategy: Vision to 2020. Correctional Service Canada.

Return to footnote 26

Footnote 27

Return to footnote 27

Footnote 28

Changes to the criteria for full time participation were later made; currently children are eligible to participate until 5th birthday.

Return to footnote 28

Footnote 29

Return to footnote 29

Footnote 30

All information for 2) provided by CSC in a document entitled “Review of Community Accommodation for Women Offenders”.

Return to footnote 30

Footnote 31

Source: Women Offender Sector – Q4 2012-2013 Population Management Indicators

Return to footnote 31

Footnote 32

Good Intentions, Disappointing Results: A Progress Report on Federal Aboriginal Corrections. Michelle M. Mann. Office of the Correctional Investigator.

Return to footnote 32

Footnote 33

Financial Information and Trend Analysis (2013). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Return to footnote 33

Footnote 34

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (2005)

Return to footnote 34

Footnote 35

Strengthening the Admission Process: Effective Orientation and Support of Newly Admitted Offenders (2007). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Return to footnote 35

Footnote 36

Audit of Cross-Gender Staffing (2009).

Return to footnote 36

Footnote 37

Most of the sites had not completed this task at the time of this report.

Return to footnote 37

Footnote 38

For a more detailed discussion of the options currently available to women offenders see Panel Recommendation #67.

Return to footnote 38

Footnote 39

CSC conducted an extensive literature review and survey prior to the release of the National Employment Strategy (2006).

Return to footnote 39

Footnote 40

There have been four major reviews completed in CSC with a focus on women’s corrections and each have made recommendations with respect to employment. See the National Employment Strategy (2006) for a summary of these reviews.

Return to footnote 40

Footnote 41

The National Employment Strategy for Women Offenders (2006). Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service of Canada.

Return to footnote 41

Footnote 42

Certification Programs (2013). Data Released by CORCAN.

Return to footnote 42

Footnote 43

Work Releases, UTA’s, ETA’s for Fiscal Years 2010-11 and 2011-12. Statistical Report. Ottawa, ON: Correctional Service Canada.

Return to footnote 43

Footnote 44

Community Employment Rates- Women Offenders. CSC year-end report (2012-13).

Return to footnote 44

Footnote 45

Ibid, 2012-13.

Return to footnote 45