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 SECTION 1 OVERVIEW

 1.1 Minister’s Message

As Minister of Public Safety, I am pleased to present the Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC) Departmental Performance Report to Parliament for the period ending on March 31, 2008.

Public Safety is responsible for the delivery of services and activities that directly contibute to public safety, including: policing and law enforcement; correctional services; conditional release of offenders; emergency management; national security; crime prevention; and the protection of our borders.

In highligting progress made in key prioririty areas over the past Fiscal Year, this report underscores the integral role that CSC plays in enhancing public safety. Consistent with the strategic priorities identified in the 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities, the Service continued to make progress in five key areas that directly contribute to public safety:

• Safe transition of eligible 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;
• Improved capacities to address mental health needs of offenders; and
• Strengthened management practices.

In December 2007, after completing its in-depth review of our federal correctional system, the Independent Review Panel delivered its report, A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety. This report was endorsed by the Government in Budget 2008. Thanks to the clear direction provided in the report, CSC was able to acquire a more thorough understanding of its current challenges; better support its current priorities; and gain greater clarity on transformation initiatives that will help strengthen federal corrections in Canada over the long-term.

The reform of federal corrections represents a key component of the Government of Canada’s commitment to tackling crime and fostering safer communities for Canadians. The Government is determined to set the corrections system on a new foundation which significantly strengthens inmate accountability, improves offender employability programming, eliminates drugs from prisons, modernizes infrastructure and prepares the ground for earned parole. Undertaking such a fundamental transformation will help CSC ensure that it has the capacity to effectively protect Canadians in the face of complex correctional challenges for years to come.

__________________________________________
The Honourable Peter Van Loan, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Safety

1.2 Commissioner’s Message

For the past several years, CSC has experienced a series of new and highly complex correctional challenges that have resulted in increased pressures, demands and costs for the organization. Some of these challenges include the needs and risks associated with an ever-changing offender profile, escalating mental health needs and a deteriorating physical infrastructure.

Despite ongoing challenges, CSC exercised the creativity and flexibility needed to continue to deliver on its mandate and effectively contribute to public safety. This Departmental Performance Report provides an account of the results we achieved this past Fiscal Year against the performance expectations and priorities identified in CSC's 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities. Thanks to the ongoing efforts of our dedicated staff, valued partners and committed volunteers, CSC continues to make significant contributions to public safety in Canada.

In recognition of the Service’s operating pressures, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day appointed an Independent Panel in April 2007 to conduct a comprehensive review of the state of federal corrections in Canada.

The Panel’s report, which was made public in December 2007, outlines numerous comprehensive recommendations that provide us with a roadmap to achieving a strong and secure correctional service that has the capacity to respond to a wide range of correctional realities.

The Government of Canada has shown its support for the proposed renewal and revitalization of our federal correctional service through the funding provided to CSC in Budget 2008. These funds will allow us to move forward with transformation, address some of our most urgent requirements and implement the changes needed to produce lasting public safety results for Canadians.

__________________________________________
Don Head
Commissioner, Correctional Service of Canada

 1.3 Management Representation Statement

 1.4 Program Activity Architecture (PAA)

The Management, Resources and Results Structure¹ of a federal department or agency identifies the organization’s strategic outcome(s), describes the activities supporting these outcomes and establishes the structure by which the organization will manage these activities. The Program Activity Architecture, an inherent part of the Management, Resources and Results Structure, establishes an inventory of activities and sub-activities that allows the organization to clearly and accurately demonstrate results and value-for-money to Parliament, central agencies and Canadians against the priorities, expected results, plans and day-to-day operations it sets out to achieve.

CSC’s entire Program Activity Architecture is depicted in the chart on page 6. It presents CSC’s Strategic Outcome and its three Program Activities, with key results, key outputs and key performance indicators.

In all CSC activities, and all decisions that staff make, public safety is the paramount consideration. This is captured in the single Strategic Outcome which states:

Three Program Activities that contribute to the Strategic Outcome are: Care and Custody, Rehabilitation and Case Management, and CORCAN. Corporate Services, while not a specific activity within the Program Activity Architecture (i.e. finance, human resources and similar functions at CSC), supports all three Program Activities. Resources attributable to Corporate Services have been allocated throughout the Program Activity Architecture.

This will be the final performance report based on this Program Activity Architecture. CSC has worked closely with Treasury Board Secretariat Program and policy Analysts over the course of 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 to strengthen and refine its Management, Resources and Results Structure while ensuring it complied with Treasury Board policies.

 1.5 Strategic Context for Fiscal Year 2007-2008

Operating Environment²

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is an agency within the Public Safety Portfolio. The portfolio brings together key federal agencies dedicated to public safety, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the National Parole Board, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and three review bodies, including the Office of the Correctional Investigator.

CSC contributes to public safety through the custody and safe reintegration of eligible offenders. More specifically, CSC is responsible for administering court-imposed sentences for offenders sentenced to two years or more. This includes both the custodial and community supervision components of an offender’s sentence. CSC also administers post-sentence supervision of offenders with Long Term Supervision Orders for periods of up to ten years.³

CSC manages institutions, treatment centres, Aboriginal Healing Lodges, Community Correctional Centres and Parole Offices. In addition, CSC has a National Headquarters (NHQ), five Regional Headquarters (RHQ) and eight District Offices that provide management and administrative support and serve as the delivery arms of CSC’s programs and services. CSC also manages an addictions research centre, a correctional management learning centre and regional staff colleges.

CORCAN, a special operating agency of CSC, provides work and employability skills training to incarcerated offenders in order to enhance job readiness upon their release to communities, and to increase the likelihood of successful reintegration. CORCAN also offers support services at 53 community-based employment locations across Canada to assist offenders on conditional release in securing employment. CORCAN’s services are provided through partnership contracts internally as well as externally with other government organizations, non-governmental organizations, and private enterprises.

The majority of CSC employees work in institutions and various community settings. Two occupational groups for the most part are exclusive to CSC: the Correctional Officer group (CX), and the Parole and Program Officer group (WP). Other groups represent positions required to operate institutions and community offices from health care professionals, to electricians, to food service staff as well as staff providing corporate and administrative functions at the local, regional and national levels. All staff work together to ensure that CSC achieves excellent public safety results for Canadians. They do so by ensuring that the institutions operate in a secure and safe fashion and that offenders are properly supervised on release. CSC is fortunate to also have the support of approximately 9,000 volunteers.

Approximately 74% of CSC’s Annual Reference Level (2007-2008) was dedicated to the provision of care and custody of offenders for the administration of the sentence through reasonable, safe, secure and humane custody in institutions and Community Correctional Centres, which includes such fixed and semi-fixed costs as salaries for correctional staff, security systems, facilities maintenance and food. The remaining 26% was allocated to rehabilitation and case management services to assist in the rehabilitation and safe reintegration of offenders into communities.⁶

Challenges and Key Events Impacting CSC Performance in 2007-2008

The offender population continues to present significant security and reintegration challenges for CSC. In recent years, the offender population has been increasingly characterized by offenders with extensive histories of violence and violent crimes, previous youth and adult convictions, affiliations with gangs and organized crime, serious substance abuse histories and problems, serious mental health disorders, higher rates of infection with Hepatitis C and HIV and a disproportionate representation of Aboriginal people.⁷

For a number of complex reasons, there has also been a trend towards shorter sentences, and for CSC this has meant an increase of 59% in the proportion of male offender admissions serving a sentence of less than three years.⁸ The result of this is an increasing polarization of the offender population, with roughly one in four (25%) male offenders and one in three (42%) women offenders serving sentences of three years or less, and roughly one in four (23%) male offenders and one in six (16%) women offenders serving life/indeterminate sentences adding to the complexity of the management challenges in CSC’s institutions.⁹

CSC expects this trend to continue. Effective management of the more complex offender population requires greater resources, new training and equipment for staff, an increase in specialized services (e.g., mental health care for offenders) and more distinct and targeted interventions.

Another concern is the aging infrastructure. CSC has one of the largest facility portfolios in the Government of Canada, consisting of a variety of institutions, community correctional centres and parole offices¹⁰ in communities across Canada. Together, these represent nearly 160 different sites.

Over the past 10 years, CSC has been facing capital and operating expenditure pressures. The rapid increase in demand for operational enhancements, to manage a different offender profile, created the need for significant reallocations of capital budgets to operations. This caused further delays to repairing and/or replacing aging physical infrastructure.

On March 19, 2007, the Government announced, in the Federal Budget, interim funding of "$122million over two years to the Correctional Service of Canada to meet its key requirements, including infrastructure, offender programs and staff training". Subsequently, on April 20, 2007, Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, announced the establishment of an independent panel to review CSC’s operational policies, strategies and business plans. The Panel was mandated to determine future directions for the Service, as part of the Government’s overall commitment to Canadians to help prevent crime and enhance public safety.

Throughout spring and summer 2007, the Panel visited penitentiaries, parole offices and halfway houses to see first-hand the operations of federal corrections in Canada. They met with many groups, including front-line staff, managers and executives, union representatives, non-governmental organizations, volunteers, interested members of the public, and others.

The CSC Review Panel Report, A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety ¹¹, was released to the public on December 13, 2007. The Report includes 109 recommendations, focusing on five key themes:

1. Offender responsibility and accountability;
2. Elimination of drugs from prisons;
3. Offender employment and employability skills;
4. Modernization of physical infrastructure based on more efficient and effective design, construction and operations; and
5. Elimination of statutory release, and moving to earned parole.

The Panel stated that if these five key areas are strengthened, CSC would be in a better position to offer greater public safety results to Canadians.

The Panel also recognized that CSC is faced withsevere challenges in safely housing today's offender population in antiquated penitentiaries. Many of the federal penitentiaries in existence today were built in the 1800s and early 1900s. Newer penitentiaries that were built in the mid-1900s reflect the correctional management philosophy of that era which assumed that all inmates could function as a homogenous group. With the changing offender population over recent years, it is not uncommon today to find four or five distinct sub-populations, and two or three groups of offenders, who need to be physically separated from other offenders for their own safety, either through the use of segregation or special purpose units.

As part of the 2008 Federal Budget, the Government endorsed a comprehensive response to the recommendations of the CSC Review Panel and committed "$122million over two years to ensure that the federal corrections system is on track to implement a new vision to achieve better public safety results".

"Building on the significant funding provided in Budget 2007, Budget 2008 invests in this new vision by addressing some of the Panel’s key recommendations and by setting the foundation for changes to the federal corrections system. Budget 2008 stabilizes funding for Correctional Service of Canada while detailed planning for the transformation is undertaken. Inaddition, Budget 2008 provides funding for the first critical stage of transformation to allow Correctional Service of Canada to increase control of its institutions through enhanced safety and security, by dealing more effectively with the growing number of offenders with gang affiliations, and by detecting and eliminating drugs in penitentiaries. These investments will provide correctional staff with the tools and training they need to do their jobs safely and more effectively".¹²

This launched a long-term transformation agenda that will ensure that CSC is in a better position to improve results in institutions and in the community to enhance public safety. This long-term commitment will require a phased approach.

In early 2008, Treasury Board Secretariat launched a Strategic Review of CSC’s operations in order to further align its program activities and initiatives with government priorities. This review, in the long term, will better serve the needs of Canadians and will contribute to the government-wide focus on financial stewardship and the appropriate use of public funds.

 1.6 Departmental Performance

 1.6.1 Overview

In light of the challenges described earlier, and as reported in the 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities, CSC continued focusing on the same five priorities as the year before in order to sustain its public safety results:

• Safe transition of eligible 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;
• Improved capacities to address mental health needs of offenders; and
• Strengthened management practices.

In support of each priority, CSC developed a series of strategies and plans in order to meet performance expectations to advance contribution to public safety according to its mandate. CSC also developed a series of long-term result commitments, aligned with its priorities and in support of its Strategic Outcome. CSC focused on results that matter to Canadians and ensured that its progress against its priorities, in the long term, was measurable and transparent.

In February 2008, then-CSC Commissioner Keith Coulter¹³ established a Transformation Team to lead the Service’s response to the Review Panel. The Team was led by then-Senior Deputy Commissioner Don Head, and includes a number of CSC staff with extensive experience in operations and management.

The first part of 2008 was focused on informing and engaging staff and partners on the Panel’s recommendations and plans for the Transformation Agenda. This included ensuring existing and planned initiatives are aligned with the transformation vision.

The Transformation Agenda started by focusing on a series of immediate measures which would have lasting public safety impact. These measures will go a long way to improving safety for staff and offenders, both outside and inside Canada’s federal penitentiaries. These immediate measures support the theme of "eliminating drugs in the penitentiaries", including implementing scheduled visits and developing a national visitors’ database, as well as increasing the number of drug detector dog teams and hiring more Security Intelligence Officers for institutions and in the community.

Immediate measures in the area of Offender Accountability and Correctional Interventions will include implementing a revised intake assessment process; developing a revised program model for CSC; expanding employment initiatives; integrating education, employment and programs; and reviewing 12-hour day/use of leisure time. Short-term priorities for Community Interventions include strengthening policy on tandem visits; enhancing community consultation policy and standards; expanding federal-provincial-territorial partnerships; enhancing supervision and monitoring tools of offenders on statutory release and statutory release with residency; implementing an electronic monitoring pilot and holding community employment summits.

Ongoing initiatives in support of the infrastructure theme include developing a project plan; looking at opportunities of public/private partnerships for funding and building; and balancing current construction/infrastructure renewal demands that are critical for current and short-term operations.

The Budget endorsed this new vision for CSC, but deferred moving to an Earned Parole System, which includes the elimination of Statutory Release and Accelerated Parole Review. In the interim, emphasis is being placed on strengthening community infrastructure and partnerships to continue to support safe communities. This helps create the foundation for a move toward a system of Earned Parole.

The following tables identify planned and actual financial and human resources for Fiscal Year 2007-2008. After these tables, the overall performance status against the strategic outcome and priorities is reported by program activity.

Total Financial Resources for the Department ($ million)

The above variance between the actual and the planned spending represents the additional 2-year interim government funding received in the 2007 Budget for Fiscal Years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. The additional funding is for addressing challenges related to items such as ageing institutional facilities, maintenance of basic safety and security within institutions and meeting basic legal and policy program obligations.

Total Human Resources for the Department (full-time equivalents)

CSC’s Performance by Program Activity

 1.6.2 Key Results by Priorities

The following are highlights of CSC’s performance by priority against key commitments identified in the 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities to enhance public safety. More detailed information on specific initiatives associated with these priorities is presented in Section 2, at the Program Activity level.

Priority: Safe transition of eligible offenders into the community¹⁷

Preparing eligible offenders for a safe transition into the community remained a major priority for CSC in 2007-2008.

Every crime committed by an offender, either while incarcerated or while under supervision in the community is of significant concern to CSC. This is why CSC’s ultimate goal is to enhance public safety through reduced re-offending. This remains a serious challenge for CSC, as over 90% of offenders will one day return to the community. Furthermore, approximately 36% of offenders who complete their sentence will be convicted of a new crime; while the majority will receive some type of provincial sentence (i.e. less than two years)¹⁸ these recidivism results need to be improved.

In order to ensure that current results are improved, CSC has embarked on a Transformation agenda. This agenda, as outlined earlier, will help ensure greater offender accountability and stronger results in terms of inmate rehabilitation.  To ensure staff safety and effectively supervise offenders in the community, CSC provided additional training to staff and enhanced its safety processes.  Safety training for new Parole Officers is now provided as part of the Parole Officer Orientation training program.  Community supervision policies have been strengthened to further address staff safety concerns, and additional resources have been provided to small parole offices to improve staff safety.  Additional resources have also been dedicated to support the Advisory Committee on Community Staff Safety. Finally, CSC is working towards implementation of a Community Staff Safety Pilot Project to improve the safety and security of staff members who work with offenders in the community. In the fall 2008, participating staff members will be provided with a handheld device that is equipped with a distress button and voice recording and global positioning system capabilities.

Given the constantly changing correctional environment, CSC continued to ensure that front-line staff has clarity of roles and responsibilities necessary to carry out CSC's legislative mandate in the most effective manner possible. Also in an effort to clarify roles and responsibilities to front-line staff, this included in 2007-2008 the implementation of a new Community District Infrastructure, which is expected to be completed in 2008-2009.

In support of public and staff safety, CSC continually strives to improve its supervision and monitoring of offenders in the community, particularly for those offenders with higher needs and risks. To this end, CSC has studied the feasibility of developing a pilot Electronic Monitoring Program.  Implementation was not completed in Fiscal Year 2007-2008 as originally planned; the pilot was however re-initiated in June 2008  for implementation in September of 2008.

Key results against 2007-2008 RPP commitment

As shown in the above performance results, there was a slight overall decrease in violent offences and a slight increase in non-violent re-offending.  However, in general, current recidivism rates of 36 percent must be addressed through Correction’s transformation.

Priority: Safety and security for staff and offenders in our institutions²⁸

One of CSC's fundamental responsibilities is to ensure that its institutions are safe for staff and offenders as well as for the public. As such, CSC is committed to addressing the dynamics of aggressive behaviour in institutions and implementing effective measures to both anticipate and manage it. A major contributor to institutional violence is drug trafficking, both street drugs and prescription drugs. The use of illicit drugs contributes to instability and violence in institutions. Consequently, CSC continued to develop plans and implemented measures to reduce violence and illicit drugs in its institutions.

To address the challenge of illicit drug use, in addition to regular and ongoing drug interdiction efforts, CSC continued to implement its plan to reduce illicit drugs in institutions which included developing and introducing additional measures within its Drug Interception Strategy. These additional measures included developing a heightened public awareness campaign to communicate the hazards and repercussions of smuggling drugs into institutions; adding more ion spectrometry devices to conduct more thorough, non-intrusive searches of individuals coming into an institution; conducting more urinalysis and routine searches of inmates and their cells; maintaining better control of prescription drugs in institutions; and more closely monitoring inmates suspected of being involved in the institutional drug trade.

In support of this priority, CSC continued to enhance its institutional staff safety measures through increased training and increased organizational capacity to respond effectively to institutional incidents. For example, CSC has in place business continuity plans which provide direction to management and staff on emergency situations. In addition to protecting staff, these measures were also aimed at creating a better climate and conditions conducive for successful behavioural changes and rehabilitation of offenders.

To address the increasingly complex offender population, CSC initiated enhancements to its strategic intelligence capacity including additional financial and employee resources. Certain enhancement initiatives such as the implementation of the Security Intelligence Network were completed at the institutional level in 2007-2008. CSC also continued with its previously introduced Gang Management Framework. This helped to increase CSC's ability to mitigate the risks posed by offenders, in particular gang-affiliated offenders, which contributed to a safer environment for the staff, the offenders and the public.

Key results against 2007-2008 RPP commitment

2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities Result Commitment²⁹ was to prevent any escalation of violence, assaultive behaviour and illicit drugs within institutions, as measured by:

Given the more challenging offender profile, the increasing offender population and the relatively constant overall number of the employee complement, most of these results show significant achievements in 2007-2008 toward safer and more secure institutions for staff and offenders. However there remains more work to do in 2008-2009.

The presence of any illicit drugs in institutions continues to be an ongoing concern for the safety and security of staff, the public and offenders. These issues will be addressed through Correction’s transformation.

Priority: Enhanced capacities to provide effective interventions for First Nations, Métis and Inuit offenders³⁰

CSC continues to be committed to addressing the needs of Aboriginal offenders--who are over-represented in the federal correctional system--through enhancing effective interventions for First Nations, Métis and Inuit offenders. CSC continued to implement its long-term Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Corrections (2006-2011)³¹ that will contribute to safe and healthy communities by being more responsive to the needs of Aboriginal offenders.

CSC focused on narrowing the gap in terms of correctional results between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offenders and is already beginning to see improvements. For example, the percentage gap between Aboriginal offenders charged or convicted of a violent or non-violent offence while in the community under CSC supervision versus Non-Aboriginal offenders has been reduced; as outlined in the Key Results table below. Although CSC was able to meet all of its objectives and plans of 2007-2008 in support of this priority, the results still show a gap in the outcome. With respect to results, changes are incremental given that it is a long-term strategy. Full impact of these measures on reducing the gap will take time to realize.

CSC continued to improve inmate population management for Aboriginal offendersin anticipation of the continued growth of the Aboriginal offender population. More specifically, CSC will expand existing Aboriginal-specific correctional programs; increase cultural competency in case management through Aboriginal perceptions training; implement a Northern Corrections Framework; and continue to develop and implement options with territorial and provincial governments to address the unique needs of Northern offenders.

Given the unique needs and risks of Aboriginal offenders, and their disproportionate representation in the correctional system, all CSC policy has completed consultations on all policy development and changes have been reviewed through an Aboriginal lens to ensure that there are no systemic barriers that may negatively impact on Aboriginal offenders.

CSC also worked collaboratively both within the Public Safety portfolio and with other federal departments and agencies, and with other levels of government, in order to address the gap in correctional results between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offenders. This included a more active involvement in interdepartmental committees and consolidation of efforts such as:

• Indian Residential Schools Resolution-proposed settlement agreement (led by Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada);
• Housing and Homelessness Initiative renewal (led by Human Resources and Social Development Canada); and
• Memorandum of Understanding on Aboriginal employment and employability (led by Service Canada).

Aboriginal offenders, including women Aboriginal offenders, neither participate in standard treatment programs nor complete them at the same rate as other offenders. Initial results indicate that Aboriginal offenders complete Aboriginal-specific programming at much higher rates than standard programs.³² Recognizing the need to develop Aboriginal alternatives to core programs, and the specific risks and needs of Aboriginal women offenders, CSC has undertaken the development of several program-based initiatives to improve Aboriginal offenders' safe reintegration.

Key results against 2007- 2008 RPP commitment³³

2007-2008 Reports on Plans and Priorities Result Commitment was to prevent the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal correctional results from widening, as measured by:

As evidenced by the above performance results, a gap still remains with respect to re-offending, both while offenders are under CSC supervision in the community and following the completion of their sentence. As such, reducing re-offending among Aboriginal offenders will continue to be a priority for CSC.

Priority: Improved capacities to address mental health needs of offenders³⁷

Offenders with mental health disorders are often at higher risk of repeated arrests and incarceration, especially in the first few months following release. They are at a higher risk of failing to comply with treatment obligations and of violating their parole conditions.³⁸ By improving its capacities to address mental health needs of offenders, CSC enhances its contribution to public safety.

CSC continues to face challenges in optimizing mental health care and ensuring that offenders’ needs are addressed both while incarcerated and during conditional release in the community. These challenges include the increasing cost of providing mental health care; the need for more comprehensive mental health screening and assessment of offenders; the need for enhanced capacity to provide a continuum of integrated mental health services for both primary and intermediate mental health care; and the need for staff training specific to the provision of mental health services.

In 2007-2008, CSC continued with the implementation of the five components of its previously introduced Mental Health Strategy in support of this priority.
More specifically in 2007-2008, CSC focused on and was able to achieve all of its objectives and plans with respect to the implementation of the Community Mental Health Initiative, which aims to better prepare offenders with serious mental health disorders for release into the community, by strengthening the continuum of specialized mental health support and providing continuity of support from institutions to the community. Ensuring continuity of care for offenders with mental disorders on release from institutions and after the expiry of their sentence is crucial to public safety. However CSC continues to experience difficulties in recruiting health professionals. Detailed progress for the Community Mental Health Initiative in 2007-2008 is outlined in Section 2 and includes: hiring of new staff for clinical discharge planning, staff training in mental health related issues, and contracts for mental health services for offenders.

CSC continued to work with the Federal Government’s recently established Mental Health Commission and its Advisory Committees, which have been mandated to develop a national mental health strategy, share best practices for the benefit of Canadians, and undertake public awareness and education in order to combat the stigma associated with mental illness.

Key results against 2007- 2008 RPP commitment

2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities Result Commitment³⁹ was to improve correctional results for federal offender with mental health disorders as measured by:

As shown in the above performance results, there was a slight overall increase for offenders with mental needs charged with a violent offence and a more significant increase in offenders convicted with a violent offence within two years of ending their sentence. Therefore reducing violent re-offending among offenders with identified mental health needs will continue to be a priority for CSC.

As shown in the table above, there was an increase in offenders with identified mental health needs charged with a non-violent offence and a slight decrease in offenders with identified mental health needs convicted of a non-violent offence while under supervision. There was also an increase in the non-violent offences and returning to custody within two years of ending their sentence. Based on these results, reducing non-violent re-offending among offenders with identified mental health needs will also continue to be a priority for CSC.

Priority: Strengthened management practices⁴⁵

CSC recognizes that its success in achieving correctional results over the coming years in its priority areas depends on developing strong management practices, and CSC was able to meet all of its initiatives set out for 2007-2008 in support of this priority.

CSC worked collaboratively with union representatives to develop an action plan that addresses the results of the Public Service Employee Survey.

CSC also undertook to promote an organizational culture that integrates values and ethics into all decision-making while continuing to develop mechanisms in the resolution of conflicts. These efforts aim to improve decision-making, support productive working relationships, and improve trust within the organization, consistent with government-wide values and ethics objectives.

Two internal surveys were launched to improve internal communicationsand better achieve CSC’s overall correctional and public safety mandate. A new Bridge Building Award, introduced in 2007-2008 by the Commissioner, recognized employees who demonstrated excellence in improving communications and enhancing teamwork between National Headquarters and its five regions.

Attracting and retaining an innovative and representative workforce with the appropriate skills to meet CSC's business needs at all levels of the organization is fundamental to the sustainability of correctional results today and into the future. In 2007-2008, CSC completed all of its plans for strengthening its human resources management. This included, but was not limited to: improving human resources planning and governance, reviewing the Human Resources Management policy framework, and building human resources capacity.⁴⁶

In 2007-2008, CSC was guided by its Corporate Risk Profile. The Reports on Plans and Priorities, the Evaluation Plan, the Audit Plan and the Research Plan for this year were all based and aligned with CSC’s corporate risks and mitigation strategies to ensure risk-based planning, decision-making and resource allocation. In response to changes in CSC’s strategic context and operating environment, the Corporate Risk Profile has been further refined during the Fiscal Year and strengthened for 2008-2009.

Key results against 2007-2008 commitment

Result commitments were to continue to make a strong contribution to public safety in priority areas, as measured by:

 1.7 Link to the Government of Canada Outcome Areas⁴⁷

A "whole-of-government" framework groups all federal departments’ Strategic Outcomes and Program Activities into 13 long-term benefits to Canadians--referred to as "Government of Canada Outcomes"--in three broad sectors: social, economic, and international.

Through three Program Activities--Care and Custody, Rehabilitation and Case Management and CORCAN--CSC contributes directly and indirectly to the social affairs sector, under the Government of Canada Outcome, "Safe and Secure Communities".

The Government of Canada is committed to strengthening the justice system and reinforcing Canada's capacity to prevent and combat crime. To ensure the safety of Canadian communities, the Government of Canada also works in partnership with volunteers, academics, governments, and community organizations on ways to prevent crime by investing in approaches that help stakeholders address the root causes of crime and victimization, such as family violence, gang recruitment, or substance abuse.

CSC’s third Program Activity, CORCAN, also contributes to the economic sector, under the Government of Canada Outcome, "Income Security and Employment for Canadians."

CSC also contributes to the Government’s cross-cutting theme on Aboriginal peoples and the Aboriginal Horizontal Framework of the Government of Canada. Specifically, through its Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Corrections⁴⁸, CSC has developed a modern approach to correctional interventions aimed at implementing care and services to Aboriginal offenders that fully respects the diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis offenders and their communities.

International Contributions

Canada has long cooperated internationally in judicial and correctional matters. Transfer of Offenders Treaties enable offenders, with their explicit consent and with the discretionary approvals of the sentencing country and country of citizenship, to serve their foreign-imposed sentence in their country of citizenship. The International Transfers Program is administered by CSC, with the assistance of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's Consular Services.

Building a foundation for the rule of law continues to be an integral and indispensable part of the Afghanistan reconstruction program. As part of the Government’s commitment to help Afghanistan become stable and self-sufficient, CSC has been playing a key role in prison reconstruction in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

In 2007-2008, CSC officers continued to work with front-line staff and administrators in order to improve security and make advancements in the general living conditions of prison facilities. They provided advice on infrastructure improvement and on equipment acquisition for prisons in poor condition and worked in collaboration with the United States' Correctional Sector Support Program (CSSP) to finalize the national training curricula. The officers conducted ongoing projects, mentoring and compliance review pursuant to the United Nations Minimum Standard Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners within Sarpoza prison. These initiatives will ensure that a long-term capacity will be developed within the Central Prison Department of the Afghan Ministry of Justice.

CSC has a long history of providing assistance and support for programs and initiatives operating in Haiti. Various exchanges and visits started in the mid-1990s, leading to the deployment of CSC experts through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Following the 2004 Assessment Mission to Haiti, CSC deployed four staff members in July 2007 for a one-year assignment with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). As part of the security component of MINUSTAH, the CSC officers are providing security sector reform, as well as training and mentoring of Haitian correctional services staff. They are part of a mission that will help to build a strong correctional system that respects international standards of human rights and contributes to Haiti's stability and democracy.

CSC has been providing a Training Program to officials of the Corrections and Prisons Service of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Training to a third delegation of Saudi Prison Service Officials was provided in August of 2007.

This project responds to two of Canada's slated foreign policy priorities, namely improved security for Canadians and greater engagement with global partners, and would be considered as an example of bilateral technical cooperation under the CSC Framework for International Development.

In addition to these collaborations, CSC also hosts, on a regular basis, visits from Justice System representatives from various countries interested in our expertise on corrections. In 2007-2008, CSC such visits included representatives from Switzerland, Guatemala, Malaysia,  United Kingdom, Scotland, Kenya, The Netherlands, Singapore, France, China, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, South Africa, Sweden, Belgium and Bahamas.

International Recognition

On February 14, 2008, four CSC officers received the United Nations Peacekeeping Medal for their ongoing contribution to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

Health Contributions

CSC is working closely with the Federal Government’s recently established Mental Health Commission, which has been mandated to develop a national mental health strategy; share knowledge and best practices for the benefit of Canadians; and undertake public awareness and education in order to combat the hurtful stigma associated with mental illness.

CSC also partners with the Public Health Agency to address issues of public health, including:

• infectious diseases surveillance and control within federal institutions; and
• provision of harm reduction programs that reduce the impact of high-risk behaviour.

Finally, CSC is a member department of the Federal Healthcare Partnership (FHP). The FHP is a voluntary alliance of federal government organizations whose responsibilities include delivery of healthcare to select members of the Canadian population such as offenders. The objectives of the Partnership are to achieve economies of scale, while ensuring provision of care for clients; and to provide leadership on key healthcare issues.

Environmental Contributions

Government-wide, federal departments have sustainable development obligations and have been required to submit a Sustainable Development Strategy to Parliament every three years since 1997. CSC continues to move ahead with its sustainable development agenda with the adoption and publication of its fourth Sustainable Development Strategy guided by the departmental goal of "Contributing to a just, peaceful and safe Canadian society, respectful of natural resources and ecological capacities".

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