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ARCHIVED - RPP 2006-2007
Correctional Service Canada


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The Minister's Message

I am pleased to take this opportunity to provide Parliament with my first Report on Plans and Priorities as Minister of Public Safety.

The Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada is part of the Portfolio of Public Safety, which includes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the Correctional Service of Canada, the National Parole Board, and three review bodies.

Canadians are rightfully proud of a tradition of community safety and security. Working collectively in an integrated fashion, the Department and the Portfolio Agencies are dedicated to protecting Canadian families and their communities, to secure our borders and to increase our preparedness to address public health threats.

To help meet these safety and security needs, the recent Budget 2006 provides $1.4 billion over two years to protect Canadian families and communities, to secure our borders and to increase our preparedness to address public health threats. Funding is being provided to the Portfolio for such initiatives as increasing the number of police officers on the street; preventing youth crime with a focus on guns, gangs and drugs; arming border officers and eliminating "work-alone" posts; and, enhancing our capacity to deal with catastrophes and other emergencies.

An additional focus will be on Canada's trading relationship with the United States , the largest and most comprehensive in the world. A safe, reliable and secure border is critical to Canada's continued economic and social prosperity. I will continue to work closely with my United States colleagues on facilitating the cross-border travel of people and low risk goods and ensuring that Canadians receive fair and equal treatment at border crossings.

I am confident that the Public Safety Portfolio will fulfill its mandate of ensuring a just and safe society which both protects Canadians from threats to personal safety, and maintains the rights and freedoms on which our open society depends.

_________________________________

The Honourable Stockwell Day, P.C., M.P. Minister of Public Safety

Commissioner's Message

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has the fundamental obligation and legislated mandate to contribute to the public safety of Canadians. It does this by carrying out sentences imposed by courts through the reasonable, safe, secure and humane control of offenders in institutions, and effective supervision of offenders in communities. It also does this by assisting the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community as law-abiding citizens, through the provision of programs and other forms of support in institutions and in communities.

In order to effectively carry out its mandate, CSC is responding to a number of challenges presented by our changing offender profile. Offenders now have more extensive histories with the criminal justice system and are more likely to have served a previous federal or provincial sentence. Many are affiliated with gangs or organized crime. There are m ore offenders rated as maximum security and receiving shorter sentences. Aboriginal offenders continue to be disproportionately represented and generally assessed as higher risk and higher need.  Mental health problems are also more prevalent and a significant proportion of offenders have substance abuse problems.

In order to meet these challenges, CSC will focus, over the next three years, on four strategic priorities, which all contribute to public safety:

  • Safe transition of offenders into the community;
  • Safety and security for staff and offenders in our institutions;
  • Enhanced capacities to provide effective interventions for First Nations, Métis and Inuit offenders; and
  • Improved capacities to address mental health needs of offenders.

CSC will also place a high priority on strengthening our management practices to improve the way we deliver on these key strategic priorities, and more generally, on all aspects of our mandate.

Focussing on these priorities will help CSC achieve tangible results for Canadians by contributing to:

  • A reduction in the rate of violent re-offending of offenders, both while they are in communities under CSC supervision and following the end of their sentence;
  • A reduction in violent behaviour within federal institutions;
  • A narrowing of the gap in the rate of re-offending between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offenders, both while they are in communities under CSC supervision and following the end of their sentence; and
  • An improvement in correctional results for federal offenders with mental disorders.

This report further describes the challenges, strategies and targeted results that will shape CSC's agenda to advance Canada's public safety agenda.

_________________________

Keith Coulter
Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada

Management Representation Statement

I submit for tabling in Parliament, the 2006-2007 Report on Plans and Priorities for the Correctional Service of Canada.

This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide for the Preparation of Part III of the 2006-07 Estimates: Reports on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Reports:

  • It adheres to the specific reporting requirements outlined in the TBS guidance;
  • It is based on the department's approved accountability structure as reflected in its Management Resources and Results Structure ( MRRS);
  • It presents consistent, comprehensive, balanced and reliable information; 
  • It provides a basis of accountability for the results achieved with the resources and authorities entrusted to it; and
  • It reports finances based on approved planned spending numbers from the Treasury Board Secretariat in the RPP.

_____________________________

Keith Coulter
Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada

SECTION I: DEPARTMENTAL OVERVIEW

This section of the RPP presents general information on CSC and its activities. The strategic priorities of CSC can be found in Section II.

1.1 Summary Information

Mandate of CSC

The purpose of the Correctional Service of Canada, as set out in the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, is to contribute to the maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe society by:

  • Ensuring that the protection of the public is the paramount consideration in all decisions relating to the custody, treatment and release of offenders;
  • Carrying out sentences imposed by the courts through the reasonable, safe, secure and humane custody and supervision of offenders with sentences of two years or more; and
  • Assisting in the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community as law-abiding citizens through the provision of programs in penitentiaries and communities.

1.2  Operating Environment of CSC

WHAT WE DO

  • Administer sentences of 2 years or more
  • Prepare inmates for safe and timely release
  • Supervise offenders on conditional release and Long-Term Supervision Orders (LTSO)

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is an agency of the Portfolio of Public Safety. The Portfolio brings together key federal agencies dedicated to public safety. It is designed to address a range of risks to the safety and security of Canadians - from crime affecting the lives of individuals, to natural disasters, to terrorism and other threats to national security. The Portfolio allows for a continuum of service delivery - from prevention to response, including, for example, emergency preparedness, crime prevention, border management, emergency response, law enforcement, corrections, and parole.

The legislative framework governing CSC is the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA). Other Acts, Regulations, policies, and international conventions that guide the delivery of its services include: Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms , the Canadian Human Rights Act , the Criminal Code , the Privacy and Access to Information Acts, the Transfer of Offenders Act and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners .

CSC is responsible for administering court-imposed sentences for offenders imprisoned for two years or more.  This includes managing institutions of various security levels and supervising offenders under conditional release in the community. CSC also provides post-sentence supervision of offenders with Long Term Supervision Orders (LTSOs). On any given day, CSC manages approximately 21,100 offenders: 12,700 offenders in institutions and 8,400 offenders serving the remainder of their sentences under supervision in the community. 1Furthermore, over the course of a year, CSC manages a flow-through of 25,500 different individual offenders.

1Source: Corporate Reporting System (CRS). May 14, 2006 .

FEDERALLY -MANAGED FACILITIES

  • 58 institutions
  • 16 community correctional centres
  • 71 parole offices

CSC has a presence across the country - from large urban centres with their increasingly diverse populations, to remote communities across the North. CSC manages institutions, 2 treatment centres, Aboriginal healing lodges, community correctional centres and parole offices. It does this through five regional headquarters that provide administrative support and serve as the delivery arms of CSC's programs and services. It also manages an addictions research centre, a correctional management learning centre, staff colleges and a national headquarters. In addition to federally-operated facilities, CSC partners with non-government organizations that run approximately 200 community-based residential facilities across the country. Specialized correctional services and programs are also provided through a variety of exchange of service agreements with provincial and territorial correctional and justice authorities. CSC also partners with Aboriginal communities to provide custody and supervision of Aboriginal offenders through the establishment of healing lodges and in the development of release plans under sections 81 and 84 of the CCRA. 3CORCAN, a Special Operating Agency of CSC, provides work and employability skills training to offenders in institutions to enhance job readiness upon their release to communities.

2An "institution" has been redefined as a facility where a warrant is required for admission.

3For more information on Aboriginal initiatives, visit http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/prgrm/correctional/abissues/know/12_e.shtml .

WORKFORCE

  • Approx. 16,000 employees, of whom 87% work in institutions and communities.

CSC employs approximately 16,0004 staff across the country and strives to maintain a workforce that reflects Canadian society. Approximately 5% are from visible minority groups, 4% are persons with disabilities, and over 7% are Aboriginal.5  These rates are at or above the labour market availability of workers in these groups for the types of employment offered by CSC.  Just under 45% of CSC staff are women.

4 This includes active full-time, part-time, term and casual employees, as well as those who may be absent at any given time. Data effective December 31, 2005.

5 Based on employment equity data effective March 31, 2005 .

Two occupational groups, for the most part exclusive to CSC, represent over half of all staff employed in operational units. The CX, or correctional officer group comprise 41% of staff, while another 13% are WPs, that is, the group which includes parole and program officers. The balance of CSC's workforce reflects the variety of skills required to operate institutions and community offices - from health care workers, to electricians, to food service staff, as well as staff providing corporate and administrative functions at the local, regional and national levels.

1.3 Correctional Approach

CSC's correctional approach is evidence-based and grounded in research. Criminological research repeatedly demonstrates that releasing offenders in a gradual and controlled manner to the community, when it is safe to do so and with proper supervision and support, is the best way to ensure short- and long-term public safety. Offenders who have benefited from targeted interventions are less likely to commit new crimes.

In general, CSC uses research-based approaches across the full continuum of an offender's sentence. The following four key activities comprise CSC's correctional strategy:

  • A comprehensive intake assessment to determine security risk and needs, as well as an initial placement to an institution at the appropriate security level.  The assessment results in a multi-disciplinary correctional plan for treatment and intervention throughout the sentence. 
  • Institutional accommodation and intervention to address the individual's risk for re-offending. This includes the delivery of research-based programs to the individual. A broad range of programs, varying in intensity, is available to match offenders' needs. These are demonstrated to be effective in reducing re-offending.
  • Risk re-assessment at specific points throughout the sentence to assess an individual's progress against his or her correctional plan and recommend any changes to the plan. CSC obtains input from the community, including police and victims, where appropriate.  These assessments inform both CSC's and the National Parole Board's decisions on, for example, transfers, temporary absences, and conditional releases. Preparation for transition to the community includes notification to police of all releases from institutions .  Victims who have so requested also receive notification.
  • Community supervision to provide community-based programs and interventions to address an individual's needs and risks and monitor progress. 

1.4 Partnerships

As one component of the larger criminal justice system, CSC works closely with a number of partners, such as other agencies in the Public Safety Portfolio, particularly the National Parole Board, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency. Other key relationships include those with the Department of Justice, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, Health Canada, the Correctional Investigator and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Groups such as Citizen Advisory Committees, the Health Care Advisory Committee, the Interfaith Committee, the National Ethnocultural Advisory Committee and the Regional Ethnocultural Advisory Committees provide advice and act as a link between communities and CSC. As well, approximately 8,100 volunteers contribute their time by providing essential support through tutoring, visits, sports, social, and spiritual activities. 6

6 Source: HRMS - Manage Volunteers database, March 31, 2006.

1.5 Program Activities

CSC's Program Activity Architecture (PAA) is depicted in the following chart. It outlines key results, outputs and performance indicators.

Recognizing the interdependent nature of all its activities, CSC has defined one overarching Strategic Outcome that highlights its unique contribution to public safety, namely that "Offenders are safely and effectively accommodated and reintegrated into Canadian communities."

Three program activities support this Strategic Outcome: Care and Custody, Rehabilitation and Case Management, and CORCAN,  which are further described below. Corporate Services at CSC contribute to public safety results by supporting all three program activities. Accordingly, resources attributable to them have been distributed and allocated throughout CSC's Program Activity Architecture (PAA).7

7 The PAA identifies the strategic outcomes of the organization, and describes the activities supporting these outcomes and how the organization is structured to manage them. N ote that CORCAN, a Special Operating Agency (SOA) of CSC was established as a separate entity under the PAA structure for 2006-07, a change applicable to all SOAs across Government operating through a revolving fund. CORCAN was transferred from the "Rehabilitation and Case Management" program activity into a new program activity entitled "CORCAN".

CSC's Program Activity Architecture (PAA)

1.5.1 Care and Custody

Expected Result

Reasonable, safe, secure and humane custody.

The purpose of the Care and Custody Program is to administer a sentence through reasonable, safe, secure and humane custody.

The program includes a wide range of activities that address the health and safety of offenders and has been sub-divided into four sub-activities, as follows:

  • Security : To provide effective management of correctional operations that ensures the safety and security of staff, offenders and the public. This includes maintaining security within institutions and in the community, drug interdiction, appropriate offender placement and control practices to prevent incidents related to offender incompatibilities and risk.
  • Health Services : To provide offenders with essential health care.
  • Institutional Services : To provide for the basic needs of offenders, such as food, clothing, clean working and living environments, and canteen services that contribute to reasonable, safe, secure and humane custody.
  • Accommodation Services : To provide suitable accommodation through technical, engineering and maintenance services related to facilities management including the planning, design and implementation of cost-effective construction.
Total planned spending and human resource allocations are as follows.

CARE AND CUSTODY

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

Financial Resources ($Millions)

Total

  • Security
  • Health Services
  • Institutional Services
  • Accommodation Services

 

1,225.5

581.4
144.5
110.1
389.5

 

1,220.0

583.2
147.5
109.9
379.4

 

1,242.1

581.6
157.0
109.8
393.7

Human Resources - Full-Time Equivalents

10,406

10,535

10,713


1.5.2 Rehabilitation and Case Management

Expected Result

Safe reintegration to the community when appropriate and consistent with the law.

The purpose of the Rehabilitation and Case Management Program is to assist in the safe reintegration of offenders to the community. 

Case management, including risk assessment and development of correctional plans, is an ongoing process that begins when offenders enter the correctional system and continues for as long as the offender is under supervision.  Case management is closely aligned with rehabilitation. Incarceration and supervision alone do not produce the long-term changes that many offenders require in order for them to lead productive, law-abiding lives in the community.  Correctional programs, in institutions and in the community, are essential to help bring about positive changes in behaviour and thus contribute to public safety.

The rehabilitation programs identified in offenders' correctional plans are aimed at addressing problems that are directly related to their criminal behaviour - problems that interfere with their ability to function in society. Programs deal with matters such as substance abuse, anger management, and interpersonal skills.  Other programs and interventions focus on developing life skills such as employability and literacy to increase the offender's potential for safe reintegration.  In order to sustain positive changes gained during incarceration, CSC needs local communities to provide the support and assistance required while offenders are under supervision and after expiry of their sentence.

Rehabilitation and Case Management includes the following major programs or services:

  • Program Development and Delivery: To develop and deliver structured correctional interventions that address identified offender needs and contribute to successful reintegration into the community.
  • Case Management: To provide for the assessment, classification, counselling and supervision of offenders both in institutions and the community.

Total planned spending and human resource allocations are as follows:

REHABILITATION AND CASE MANAGEMENT

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

Financial Resources ($Millions)

  • Total
  • Program Development and Delivery
  • Case Management
  • Inmate Pay

 

 

483.9

178.9

278.8

26.2

 

 

473.6

178.7

268.6

26.3

 

 

467.0

178.2

262.6

26.2

Human Resources - Full-Time Equivalents

4,008

3,995

3,995


1.5.3 CORCAN

The purpose of CORCAN, a Special Operating Agency of CSC, is to aid in the safe reintegration of offenders by providing work opportunities and employability skills training to incarcerated offenders, and for brief periods of time, after offenders are released into the community. Giving a sense of purpose to offenders helps maintain a safe environment in institutions. Providing offenders with the employment experience and the skills they need to become productive citizens when they return to the community helps them succeed in their reintegration and reduces the risk of re-offending. 

CSC research has shown that experience in the CORCAN work program immediately prior to release leads to a reduction in re-offending, particularly for those offenders who are on parole.8

8 Forum on Corrections Research, CSC, January 1996: Vol. 8, no.1.

CORCAN operates workshops in 36 institutions across Canada. The CORCAN workshops operate in a business-like manner that takes into account the institutional setting and training imperatives. CORCAN emphasizes the establishment of links between institutions and the community. It also offers support services in 41 community employment centres across Canada to assist offenders in securing employment upon release.

The total planned spending and human resource allocations related to this program activity are as follows.

CORCAN

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

Operating Costs ($Millions)

Revenues

  • $51.2 million revenues generated by sales
  • $22 million from CSC for training

73.2

(73.2)

 

73.2

(73.2)

 

73.2

(73.2)

 

Human Resources - Full-Time Equivalents

415

415

415

1.6 Financial and Human Resources

The three program activities - Care and Custody, Rehabilitation and Case Management and CORCAN, form the basis for reporting CSC's reference level and related ongoing activities in the 2006-07 Report on Plans and Priorities. Resources for Corporate Services' activities, including National Headquarters, are distributed across these three program activities on a pro-rated basis.

Approximately 71.6% of CSC's 2006-2007 annual reference level is dedicated to the provision of care and custody of offenders in institutions and in communities, which include such fixed costs as facilities maintenance and food.  The remaining 28.4% is allocated to rehabilitation and case management services, or approximately 77.9% across institutions, 12.6% in the community and 9.5% for capital.

 

2006-07

2007-08

2008-09

Financial Resources ($Millions)

1,709.4

1,693.6

1,709.1

Human Resources - Full-Time Equivalents

14,829

14,945

15,123