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SECTION I: OVERVIEW
A. Correctional Investigator’s Message
As Canada’s federal prison Ombudsman offering independent oversight of federal Corrections, the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) contributes to public safety and the promotion of human rights by providing independent and timely review of offender complaints. The OCI makes recommendations that assist in the development and maintenance of an accountable federal correctional system that is fair, humane and effective. In order to achieve this result for Canadians, the OCI monitors and investigates the acts, omissions, decisions and recommendations of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), to help ensure that CSC carries out its statutory mandate in compliance not only with its own policies and procedures, but also with its domestic and international legal and human rights obligations.
This past year, my staff has again addressed more than 7,500 individual offender inquiries and complaints. The workload at the OCI has been growing in recent years. Many complaints have become more difficult to address, in part due to the increasing number of federal offenders with significant mental health issues housed in Canada’s penitentiaries. Furthermore, as policy and legal issues become increasingly complex, it takes more time and effort to thoroughly review and investigate complaints. Again this year, workload pressures have challenged our ability to effectively carry out our legislative mandate. We will continue to pursue additional resources to ensure the Office addresses these pressures.
I will take this opportunity to convey my sincere appreciation and admiration for the work my staff has accomplished this year, as it has been an especially challenging time for my Office. In November 2006, after over two and a half years of auditing work, the Auditor General (AG, Chapter 11) reported alleged improprieties by a previous Correctional Investigator. The audit covered the period between 1998-1999 and 2003-2004. The report also raised concerns regarding governance, financial management and human resources policies. The Office acted promptly and decisively to address these concerns, a task that included initiating and finalizing the recovery efforts recommended in the audit report. Despite this additional workload, my Office was able to carry out its legislative mandate with a high degree of professionalism and enthusiasm. I cannot thank my employees enough for their dedication, hard work and invaluable contribution.
Again this year, limited gains have been made on several key systemic issues identified by the OCI, including addressing gaps in mental health services, removing systemic barriers that prevent timely safe reintegration of Aboriginal offenders into the community, and ensuring the delivery of appropriate programs and services to women offenders. Moreover, over the last decade, the OCI has become increasingly concerned about the high number of deaths and self-inflicted injuries in federal institutions.
As a result, this past year, I initiated a study on inmate deaths in federal custody. This study, publicly released on June 27, 2007, examined all reported deaths, due to factors other than natural causes, occurring over a five-year period in Canadian penitentiaries. The Deaths in Custody Study examined 82 reported suicides, homicides, and accidental deaths in custody from 2001 to 2005. The report provided evidence that the Correctional Service has limited capacity to keep a corporate focus on recommendations related to deaths in custody. It documented a failure to consistently incorporate lessons learned and implement corrective action over time and across regions, as such the same errors and recommendations are being made time and again. The Correctional Service has begun to respond to the issues identified in the study.
In the next fiscal year, the OCI will continue to pursue resolution of key areas of focus and the many barriers that restrict the Correctional Service’s ability to maximize its positive impact on public safety identified in my last Annual Report 2006-2007. The OCI will continue to be committed to foster a collaborative, respectful and productive relationship with the CSC, and to work diligently to carry out its challenging mandate with the highest degree of professionalism.
Howard Sapers
Correctional Investigator
B. Management Representation Statement
I submit for tabling in Parliament, the 2006–2007 Departmental Performance Report for the Correctional Investigator Canada.
This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide for the Preparation of Part III of the 2006–2007 Estimates: Reports on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Reports:
- It adheres to the specific reporting requirements outlined in the Treasury Board Secretariat guidance;
- It is based on the department’s approved Strategic Outcome(s) and Program Activity Architecture that were approved by the Treasury Board;
- 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 numbers from the Estimates and the Public Accounts of Canada.
C. Summary Information
Agency’s Reason for Existence
The Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) provides Canadians with timely, independent, thorough and objective monitoring of their federal correctional system to ensure that it remains safe, secure, fair, equitable, humane, reasonable and effective. Essentially, its oversight role is to ensure that the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) carries out its statutory mandate in compliance with its domestic and international legal and human rights obligations.
| 2006-2007 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Planned Spending | Total Authorities | Actual Spending |
| 3,114 | 3,268 | 3,156 |
| 2006-2007 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Planned | Actual | Difference |
| 22 | 22 | -- |
| 2006-2007 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Status on Performance | Planned Spending | Actual Spending |
||
| Strategic Outcome: The problems of offenders in the federal correctional system are identified and addressed in a timely and reasonable fashion | ||||
| Priority 1 Investigate and resolve individual offender issues |
Program Activity Oversight of correctional operations Expected Result Individual offender complaints are reasonably addressed by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and corrective action is taken (when necessary) |
Performance Status Exceeded expectations |
1,310 | 1,365 |
| Priority 2 Investigate, monitor and resolve systemic offender issues (Mental Health is an area of special interest) |
Program Activity Oversight of correctional operations Expected Result Systemic issues will be acknowledged by CSC and corrective action taken |
Performance Status Not met |
766 | 614 |
| Priority 3 Monitor, evaluate and provide representations on CSC management of mandated issues (s.19 investigations and Use of Force incidents) |
Program Activity Oversight of correctional operations Expected Result Increased thoroughness, objectivity and timeliness of the Correctional Service of Canada’s investigative process regarding s.19 Investigations and Use of Force incidents |
Performance Status Not met |
211 | 272 |
| Priority 4 Investigate, resolve and provide leadership on specifically identified issues ( e.g. Women Offenders and Aboriginal Offenders) |
Program Activity Oversight of correctional operations Expected Result Improvement in CSC performance with regard to specific issues related to Women Offenders and Aboriginal Offenders |
Performance Status Not met |
320 | 154 |
D. Operating Environment and Context
The mandate of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is to manage the sentence of the court consistent with the rule of law, respectful of individual and collective human rights. While giving primacy to the protection of the public, Canadians legitimately expect a correctional system that reflects their values, provides safe and humane custody which supports the offender’s successful reintegration into society.
The primary function of the Correctional Investigator, as an Ombudsman for federal offenders, is to independently investigate and facilitate resolution of individual offender issues. In 2006-2007, the Office’s investigative staff managed nearly eight thousand offender complaints, spent over four hundred working days in federal institutions, interviewed twenty seven hundred offenders and at least half as many institutional staff. As in years past, it is with the resolution of the individual offender issues at the institutional level where the OCI has achieved its best performance in terms of providing expected results.
Where the OCI has been less successful, is influencing CSC to recognize and address systemic offender issues in a timely and reasonable fashion. Despite considerable investment in a more holistic approach, a sustained dialogue with CSC officials at all levels and a broad spectrum of recommendations towards improvement or resolution of systemic issues, limited gains have been made on several key systemic issues identified by the OCI, including addressing gaps in mental health services, removing systemic barriers that prevent timely safe reintegration of Aboriginal offenders into the community, and ensuring the delivery of appropriate programs and services to women offenders. Moreover, over the last decade, the OCI has become increasingly concerned about the high number of deaths and self-inflicted injuries in federal institutions.
The over-representation of offenders with mental health issues has affected the quality of institutional life, with the safety and security of both inmate and staff, and the respect of offenders’ basic human right being negatively impacted. Evidence can be found, among a multitude of indicators, such as in the number and duration of placements in administrative segregation or similar custody arrangements, the increases in the number of incidents of institutional violence, and in the number of incidents where force is used by correctional staff against offenders. In turn, all of these manifestations result in a growing number of highly sensitive and complex issues being brought to the attention of the OCI, that are either directly about or relate to the gaps in the treatment of offenders suffering from mental health issues.
Another challenge for the OCI stems from CSC’s perennial lack of progress in significantly improving the correctional outcomes it offers to Aboriginal Canadians. Although the issue is largely beyond CSC’s control, they continue to be overrepresented within the offender population. They also continue to be overrepresented in higher security institutions, due in part to the culturally insensitive security classification tools still used by CSC, despite being denounced as unfair and ineffective not only by the OCI, but also by many partners involved in Aboriginal corrections and in academic circles.
Moreover, Aboriginal offenders continue to be overrepresented in the segment of the offender population that serves the bulk or its entire sentence within the penitentiary, rather than benefiting from a timely conditional release to their community. They also continue to be overrepresented among the offender population whose conditional release is suspended and/or revoked before the expiry of their warrant.
To fully understand and appreciate why Aboriginal offenders suffer such a fate within the correctional system, one must look beyond the generalities of cultural differences and systemic obstacles and also beyond the confines of the institution. The focus must also be on the lack of employment opportunities, adequate housing, accessible health care, mental health and post-penal after care services.
There have been some improvements in the situation for women offenders in recent years. The Prison for Women was replaced a number of years ago by five new regional facilities and a healing lodge which accommodate women offenders in closer proximity to their community. The women’s maximum security units in male penitentiaries have also been closed. A Deputy Commissioner for Women has now been in place for a decade, which has assisted in maintaining a focus on women’s correctional issues.
Unfortunately, this Office remains concerned about the significant barriers to the safe reintegration of women offenders, such as the overall lack of access to programming specifically designed to meet the needs of women. As well, there is not enough meaningful employment and employability programming, and inadequate accommodation and support for women offenders upon their release into the community. Access to programs in maximum security units remains problematic. Systemic barriers and limited opportunities persist for Aboriginal women offenders to reintegrate in a timely fashion into their home communities as evidenced by the disproportionate number of Aboriginal offenders on conditional release.
In the OCI Annual Report 2005-2006, the Office raised its concern about the number of similar recommendations made year after year by the Correctional Service of Canada’s national Board of Investigations, provincial coroners, and medical examiners reviewing inmate deaths. The OCI undertook to conduct a comprehensive review of reports and recommendations dealing with deaths in custody and other matters. The Office retained the services of a senior academic from the University of Ottawa to conduct the project on deaths in custody.
This study, publicly released on June 27, 2007, examined all reported deaths, due to factors other than natural causes, occurring over a five-year period in Canadian penitentiaries. The Deaths in Custody Study examined 82 reported suicides, homicides, and accidental deaths in custody from 2001 to 2005. The report provided evidence that the Correctional Service has limited capacity to keep a corporate focus on recommendations related to deaths in custody. It documented a failure to consistently incorporate lessons learned and implement corrective action over time and across regions, as such the same errors and recommendations are being made time and again. The Correctional Service has begun to respond to the issues identified in the study.
Externally, the Office has maintained its criminal justice outreach and public education activities. It held a formal press conference upon release of its 2005-2006 Annual Report, which focused on concerns related to Aboriginal federal offenders, and received wide media coverage. Both OCI management and staff have established linkages with many stakeholders and disseminated information about our agency’s mandate, role and responsibilities to various organizations and, during conferences at the local, provincial, national and international level.
Internally, the Office has provided a variety of training opportunities to both intake and investigative staff. The objective pursued is that the OCI remains current and capable of providing timely assistance to offenders in relation to on-going and emerging correctional practices, trends and issues. In addition to increasing our physical presence within federal institutions, we have maintained the frequency of our meetings with offender organizations, Native Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods, Black Inmate Associations and Lifer groups.
Our debriefing process at the conclusion of institutional visits with the Warden aims to ensure that those issues which can be resolved are dealt with in a timely fashion. We have continued as well to review specific "areas of concern" with institutional managers during each visit. These areas are frequently raised on complaints and issues associated with rights or liberty concerns such as segregation, the internal grievance process, involuntary transfers and timely access to programs and conditional release.
Throughout fiscal year 2006-2007, the Office has also engaged the Service’s senior managers, at both the regional and national level, on a broad spectrum of on-going and emerging correctional issues. In the course of this dialogue, the OCI has clearly expressed its position, provided input, advice and recommendations for improvement or resolution not only on individual and systemic issues, but also regarding policy development and review.
In the final analysis, the ultimate aim of our efforts is the achievement of the OCI’s Strategic Outcome, which is to ensure that the problems of offenders in the federal correctional system are identified and resolved in a timely, fair and reasonable fashion.
E. Link to Government of Canada Outcome Area
As Canada’s federal prison Ombudsman offering independent oversight of federal Corrections, the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) contributes to public safety and the promotion of human rights by providing independent and timely review of offender complaints. Public safety is enhanced by ensuring that offenders are treated fairly, provided the necessary assistance to become law-abiding citizens, and safely reintegrated into society in a timely and supported fashion. As part of the Public Safety Portfolio, the OCI contributes to safe and secure communities.