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Minister's Message

As Minister of Public Safety, I am pleased to present to Parliament the Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC’s) 2010-2011 Departmental Performance Report for the period ending March 31, 2011.

CSC is part of a larger public safety continuum – under the umbrella of Public Safety Canada – that works to keep Canadians safe through delivering programs and services in areas such as law enforcement, border security, emergency management, national security, crime prevention, and conditional release.

For its part, CSC is focused on the care and custody of federal offenders serving sentences of more than two years as imposed by the courts. This involves managing institutions of different security levels, supervising offenders on various forms of release in the community, and providing programs and services to offenders that will contribute to their rehabilitation and eventual safe return to society. CSC also provides information about federal offenders to registered victims, and invites them to provide statements which are considered when making offender case decisions.

In the fiscal year 2010-2011, CSC continued to integrate its Transformation Agenda into its day-to-day operations, in accordance with the Government's new vision for the federal correctional system. The changes CSC has enacted thus far, and those which continue to evolve, will better position CSC to fulfill its mandate and contribute to greater safety for Canada and its citizens.

Furthermore, the organization has ably responded to the challenges of managing a growing, complex and diverse offender population. This includes the development of accommodation strategies that better position the organization to continue to provide safe, secure and humane control of offenders, in institutions and in the community. In this vein, and in order to reflect the multi-faceted approach the organization is taking to respond to its changing environment, I was delighted to include in the 2011-2012 Report on Plans and Priorities a new strategic priority for CSC: “Productive relationships with increasingly diverse partners, stakeholders and others involved in public safety.” This reflects the reality that CSC cannot – and does not – work alone to fulfil its mandate.

CSC continues to adapt and evolve as an organization, in order to remain focused and flexible in a dynamic security environment. I am proud of the professional manner with which the more than 17,000 CSC employees carry out their duties every day, and I remain confident they will use this same approach to meet whatever future challenges may come their way.

Section 1: Departmental Overview

1.1 Raison d’être

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is one of several federal organizations operating within the public safety portfolio led by the Minister of Public Safety. CSC is the agency responsible for administering court-imposed sentences for offenders sentenced to a term of two years or more.

The Corrections and Conditional Release Act and related regulations provide CSC’s legislative mandate, and it is the Service’s longstanding Mission Statement that guides its day-to-day activities:

The Correctional Service of Canada, as part of the criminal justice system and respecting the rule of law, contributes to public safety by actively encouraging and assisting offenders to become law-abiding citizens, while exercising reasonable, safe, secure and humane control.1

1.2 Responsibilities

CSC manages institutions for men and women, mental health treatment centres, Aboriginal healing lodges, community correctional centres, parole offices, and also supervises offenders under several different kinds of conditional release in the community.

On an average day in fiscal year 2010-2011, CSC was responsible for 14,200 federally incarcerated offenders and 8,600 offenders in the community. Including all admissions and releases in the year, CSC managed 20,233 incarcerated offenders and 13,971 supervised offenders in the community.2 Of the approximately 17,900 people3 who comprise CSC’s workforce, about 83 percent of them work in institutions or in communities. Two occupational groups represent over half of all staff employed in operations: the Correctional Officer group makes up 40 percent of staff while 15 percent are in the Welfare Programs group that includes Parole and Program Officers who work in institutions and in the community. The rest of CSC’s workforce reflects the wide variety of other skills needed to operate institutions and community offices such as health professionals, electricians, food service staff, and staff providing corporate and administrative functions at local, regional and national levels. About 47.8 percent of CSC staff are women; 5.8 percent are from visible minority groups, 4.4 percent are persons with disabilities and 7.8 percent are Aboriginal.

In recent years, the profile of offenders entering CSC institutions has become more complex and diverse. CSC has continued to integrate transformative initiatives, and has adapted and changed operations and programs to ensure most appropriate and effective responses to meet the needs of the offenders under its supervision. CSC is focused on ensuring that effective communications occur at all levels of the organization and correctional efforts are fully integrated from offender admission to warrant expiry. In addition, CSC is strategically aligning its business planning and addressing infrastructure and accommodation enhancement, human resource renewal and strategic review exercises.

CSC does not and cannot work alone to fulfil its mandate, and has productive and collaborative relationships with many stakeholders and partners involved in the delivery of services. For example, some 8,700 volunteers are active in institutions and the communities, and they are essential contributors. They enhance and support the work of CSC staff and create links between the community and the offender. CSC also has volunteer Citizen Advisory Committees at the local, regional and national levels to foster citizen input to CSC policies and practices.

The Service also has a proud history of playing an important role outside of Canada, mostly through its International Development Program that contributes to international peace and stability by promoting good governance, human rights and democratization. As part of this involvement, CSC has continued to assist with training and mentoring staff at the Sarpoza Prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and in various prisons in Haiti. CSC also had an active role with Sweden through the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations in developing standards and training for the deployment of correctional professionals from African countries to post-conflict regions of that continent. As well, the Service facilitates research requests from individuals, university academics and organizations in other countries, and also plays a key role in building partnerships and sharing research data and outcomes to assist in advancing the correctional agendas of other countries.

1.3 Strategic Outcome(s) and Program Activity Architecture (PAA)

CSC contributes to the overall goal of a safe and secure Canada through its one strategic outcome, which is “The custody, correctional interventions, and supervision of offenders, in communities and institutions contributes to public safety.”

To achieve the strategic outcome, offenders are maintained in “Custody” in institutions. Those who become eligible and are granted conditional release are transferred to the community where they are managed under “Community Supervision”.4

In both the institution and the community, offenders receive “Correctional Interventions” to help them both change the behaviours that contributed to their criminal activity and to become law-abiding citizens. Some interventions begin while the offender is in the institution and continue or are maintained once the offender returns to the community, thus providing opportunities for the safe and successful reintegration of individuals back into the community. Internal Services encompasses all corporate and administrative services that support the effective and efficient delivery of operational programs, services and activities across the organization.

The Program Activity Architecture reflects how CSC organizes its work to deliver best public safety results:

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1.4 Organizational Priorities

Aligned with, and enhancing CSC’s strategic outcome are five organizational priorities that help guide the day-to-day work of the Service in its delivery of public safety results:

Priority	Type
Safe Transition of Eligible Offenders into the Community	Ongoing
Results (Mostly Met)
Key achievements include: Positive preliminary results with the Integrated Correctional Program Model pilot; Implementation of a web-based tool for research-based information on special needs populations; Enhancement in violent offender interventions and community maintenance programs that resulted in higher enrolment in programs; Increase in Education program enrolments and completions; Increase in institutional enrolments in Aboriginal Specific Programs; Implementation of a National Population Management Strategy to focus attention on key population related issues: Drugs, Women, Gangs and Radicalized offenders; and Implementation of a Revised Community Framework for Women with a focus on integration of institution and community correctional efforts.
Links to Strategic Outcome
Enhance public safety through reduced re-offending; Focus on providing interventions, correctional programs and effective supervision, as well as improved monitoring of the offenders' progress; Improve and streamline case management processes and develop tools to better assess the potential of offenders to re-offend violently; and Integrate program interventions including those designed to address needs of Aboriginal offenders and women offenders, to better identify and address those factors earlier and, where serious problems persist, provide sound control mechanisms.

Priority	Type
Safety and Security of Staff and Offenders in our Institutions	Ongoing
Results  (Met All)
Key achievements include: Strengthening of Security Intelligence capacity; CSC has continued to focus its efforts on drug interdiction measures such as a new visitor database, and mandatory scheduling of visits to offenders which supports CSC intelligence officers and principal entrance staff capacity in addressing visitors suspected of carrying drugs; Implementation of a new Population Management Strategy, and working groups at all levels to focus attention to women, radicalized offenders and gang and drug interdictions; Strengthened Drug Detector Dog Program capacity as an enhanced security measure at principal entrances and perimeters of correctional facilities; Enhanced staff training in a number of areas such as Personal Safety Refresher training, Emergency Trauma Care, First Aid and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation/Automated External Defibrillator Standard, Chemical and Inflammatory Agents, Fundamentals of Mental Health Gang Awareness sessions, and Applied Dynamic Security refresher training; Improved capacity to provide quality physical and mental health care for offenders through the implementation of its Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Programs; and Continued collaborative efforts to reduce deaths in custody, including a renewed emphasis on dynamic security practices based on ongoing observation and interaction with offenders and the launch of an Independent Review Group to assess the appropriateness and adequacy of corrective measures initiated by the Service in response to various deaths in custody reports.
Links to Strategic Outcome
Strengthen safety and security of offenders and staff; Focus on ways to eliminate the entry, trafficking and use of drugs in institutions; Continue to enhance Security Intelligence capacity; Implement the use of new drug and contraband detection equipment and provide closer monitoring of visitors to institutions to reduce the flow of drugs; Enhance static and dynamic security practices in an effort to reduce assaults and injuries to staff and offenders; and Implementation of a continuous quality improvement process to ensure CSC has the resources to deliver quality physical and mental healthcare services to offenders.

Priority	Type
Enhanced Capacities to Provide Effective Interventions for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Offenders	Ongoing
Results (Met All)
Key achievements include: Implementation of the Aboriginal Correctional Accountability Framework and a template for results reporting and monitoring, and continued implementation of a three-year plan to expand the number of Pathways units. In this fiscal year two new units were approved for implementation; Continued engagement of partners through the National Aboriginal Advisory Committee and community partners. Three meetings were held with the National Aboriginal Advisory Committee; Increased recruitment of Aboriginal program facilitators, managers, Elders, Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers and Aboriginal Community Development Officers; Development of an Aboriginal Cultural competency profile for staff recruitment; and Increased program enrolments and program facilitator training.
Links to Strategic Outcome
Enhance capacity to provide effective interventions for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit offenders; Effectively operationalize the Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Corrections; Provide awareness training for staff on Aboriginal issues, as well as increased recruitment of Aboriginal staff; and Work horizontally with other government departments to address the challenges that contribute to the disproportionate representation of Aboriginal peoples in the criminal justice system.

 

Priority	Type
Improved capacities to address mental health needs of offenders	Ongoing
Results (Met All)
Key achievements include: Continued implementation of CSC’s Mental Health Strategy; Over 2,500 warrants of committal offenders screened at intake (within 14 days of admission) for symptoms that may indicate mental health concerns; 9,200 offenders received institutional mental health services; Fundamentals of Mental Health training delivered to 1,366 staff, including 966 correctional officers at maximum security institutions; Internal audit conducted of the management function of the regional treatment centres, with implementation of several actions identified, including standardized criteria for admission and discharge; Progress made to reduce health professional vacancies, for example, 6 percent to 4 percent for nurses, 20 percent to 16 percent for psychologists and 11 percent to 8 percent for social workers; Implemented a pilot intermediate mental health care unit in Ontario region to address needs of offenders unable to cope in mainstream institutional settings; Continued clinical discharge planning (i.e. transitional service supporting offenders being released from an institution to the community) and community mental health specialist services; Community mental health services delivered to approximately 3,150 offenders, including 19 percent to Aboriginals and 10 percent to women; Community capacity building by mental health services staff that included contact with over 2,000 partners, stakeholders and community agencies; and Development and launch of the Responsivity Portal that is accessible to all staff and includes a resource kit specifically addressing offenders with mental health needs, and which functions as an awareness and intervention tool for program delivery staff by providing information on the various mental disorders commonly seen within CSC.
Links to Strategic Outcome
Improve capacity to assess and address the mental health needs of this population; Enhancements to the mental-health screening processes will enable CSC to more accurately and efficiently identify offenders who may need mental health services; Investments in mental health services in institutions will further augment community reintegration initiatives; Discharge planning, for offenders who are re-entering the community, will better align community-based services to address offender mental health needs; and In particular, all sectors of CSC’s operation will focus on preventing offender self-injury and offender suicides.

 

Priority	Type
Strengthened Management Practices	Ongoing
Results (Mostly Met)
Key achievements include: Through broad and inclusive consultation a new CSC Values Statement has been developed. Scenario based training has better equipped over 800 employees to support values based leadership. The Department has developed an Ethical Climate Survey which will assist in the measurement and response to future change. Partnerships with Regions and Sectors have been developed to promote values based leadership; Overall positive assessment by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat for CSC’s Management Accountability Framework; In the last two years, CSC has surpassed Public Service Renewal objectives with respect to recruitment of individuals from outside the public service into indeterminate positions, post-secondary recruitment, and mid-stream level recruitment. CSC has also increased representation rates in each of the Employment Equity groups; Continued implementation of government’s Common Human Resources Business Process designed to bring consistency to delivery of effective and efficient human resources services while maximizing the use of existing and innovative methods and tools; at CSC, common business processes for classification are currently under development; Client-service standards for Compensation and Benefits finalized and communicated, and a Compensation Review Model was developed for all regions to streamline processes and achieve efficiencies; Implementation of an Express Lane Staffing system during this reporting period. As well, monthly Employment Equity Representation Reports, the Employment Equity Data Cube and the online Corporate Reporting Tool continue to help managers more quickly and efficiently identify workforce gaps and responding accordingly (with recruitment and development strategies); Development programs being designed to strengthen skills in areas requiring specific expertise, such as an Evaluator Development Program and the Psychologist Development Program; Service agreement established with Canada Border Services Agency for use of its basic facilitation training; CSC is also building partnerships with provinces for the development of a warden orientation initiative; CSC created a Joint National Working Group of bargaining agents, employees and management, and has begun work to co-develop an Integrated Wellness Approach for CSC; Refinements and improvements to CSC’s management tools including a more integrated Corporate Business Plan, a more streamlined functional risk profile and the establishment of an Integrated Business Planning and Reporting Committee with representatives from all sectors and regions to oversee delivery of various corporate tools and documents; Development of new approaches to performance measuring and reporting included a revised Performance Measurement Framework, improved risk-based allocation and monitoring strategies, financial policy alignment, and enhanced financial and material management systems; Continued capacity and relationship building internally and externally with community partners through dialogue with partners and stakeholders via Citizen Advisory Committee meetings, National Volunteer Association meetings and Lifeline meetings; Continued responsive, relevant, inclusive, timely and accurate internal communications, with e-bulletins and event and celebratory announcements used extensively to ensure staff are fully informed; and Continued work under the guidance of the Infrastructure Renewal Team undertaken to ensure that appropriate infrastructure and accommodation measures are taken in expectation of more than 2,700 beds being added to facilities in coming years, which will better position CSC to provide accommodations for a rising offender population.
Links to Strategic Outcome
Focus on improving the way it delivers on all aspects of its mandate; Promote values and ethics, improve its internal communications, and strengthen its human resources management including its commitments to Public Service Renewal; Improve its internal monitoring of results and performance against plans, priorities and financial accountabilities; Strengthen its capacity to assess and analyze opportunities to identify economies and efficiencies in its operations; Need to build effective relationships internally and externally with community partners; and Revitalize its infrastructure and accommodation strategies in order to address issues of capacity and aging facilities.

1.5 Risk Analysis

During fiscal year 2010–2011, CSC continued to identify, monitor and manage risks in an increasingly complex and challenging environment in order to achieve quality public safety results for all initiatives.

CSC is facing increased pressures and demands as a result of offender population increases, a more diverse and challenging offender population, significant offender mental health needs, a disproportionate representation of Aboriginal offenders, an aging workforce, offender accommodation challenges and a deteriorating physical infrastructure. As a result, CSC will need to manage these multiple challenges in an integrated way that sustains public safety results.

Risk management happens on an ongoing basis at all levels and locations of CSC’s large, decentralized and complex work environment, with the most senior levels of management (CSC’s Executive Committee) overseeing high-level risks, while medium and lower levels of risk are managed at middle management, operational and site levels.

The organization’s Corporate Risk Profile identified 12 higher-level risks that require a mitigation strategy. They are as follows:

1. The aging physical infrastructure will not respond to the risks/needs of the challenging offender population.
2. CSC will not be able to improve correctional results for offenders with mental disorders.
3. The required level of safety and security within operational sites cannot be maintained.
4. CSC cannot sustain results with regard to violent re-offending.
5. CSC will not be able to respond to the risks posed by radicalized offenders.
6. CSC will not be able to maintain or secure financial investments that are required to sustain corporate commitments, legal obligations and results.
7. CSC cannot effectively respond to emergencies and crisis management.
8. CSC will not be ready and able to embrace and manage change.
9. The correctional results gap between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal offenders will not narrow.
10. CSC will not be able to continue to recruit, develop, and retain an effective and representative workforce.
11. CSC will not be able to meet its Corrections and Conditional Release Act obligation to deliver essential health care services to offenders.
12. CSC will lose the support of its current partners in providing critical services and resources to released offenders, and will be unable to engage the general public to gain their overall support.

To ensure risk management at all levels and locations, CSC uses a Functional Risk Profile that identifies and addresses strategies to manage lower level risks that may escalate to the level of a corporate risk if not managed, or may impact directly or indirectly on efforts to manage existing corporate risks, or are unique risks in a particular functional area.

During this reporting period, CSC’s Executive Committee reviewed progress achieved against its Corporate Risk Profile and identified strategies to manage risks. Progress results are published internally and regular reporting occurs to review the status of risk management strategies.

Most of CSC’s risk management strategies were on time, on budget and on plan, and in some areas, very proactive measures were taken to ensure that risks did not escalate. For example, like other government departments, CSC continues to face challenges in relation to retirement of staff and strong competition in the labour market to attract diverse professionals and skilled workers. As part of the Recruitment Framework, regional outreach plans and calendars were developed and implemented to ensure that workforce gaps were effectively addressed. Learning and development business processes have been developed and are currently being implemented. In addition, CSC continued with the implementation of the Employment Equity Action Plan to address systemic barriers to identified groups and address under-representation where applicable through measurable regional and national results.

1.6 Summary of Performance

2010-2011 Financial Resources ($ millions)

Planned Spending	Total Authorities5	Actual Spending6
2,460.2	2,559.7	2,375.0

2010-2011 Human Resources (FTEs)

Planned	Actual	Difference7
16,587	18,045	1,458

Performance Summary and Analysis of Program Activity ($ millions)

Program Activity	2009-2010 Actual Spending	2010-2011				Alignment to Government of Canada Outcomes
		Main Estimates	Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending5b
Custody	1,379.5	1,687.4	1,687.4	1,724.2	1,478.5	Safe and Secure Communities
Correctional Interventions	416.3	436.0	436.0	456.8	410.1	Safe and Secure Communities
Community Supervision	100.3	123.9	123.9	134.6	102.7	Safe and Secure Communities
Total	1,896.1	2,247.3	2,247.3	2,315.6	1,991.3

Performance Summary and Analysis of Program – Internal Services ($ millions)

Program Activity	2009-2010 Actual Spending	2010-2011
		Main Estimates	Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending5c
Internal Services	369.0	212.9	212.9	244.1	383.7

1.7 Strategic Outcome

All results reported in this Departmental Performance Report are from the second year of CSC’s five-year initiative to improve correctional results which began in fiscal year 2009-2010. The performance results related to organizational priorities in Section 1, and program activities in Section 2 of this document support CSC’s strategic outcome. The baseline commenced in 2008-2009.

Performance Indicators	Targets	2010–2011 Performance8
Violent Re-offending	Reduce violent re-offending	The rate of offenders under community supervision who incurred new convictions for violent offences while under community supervision decreased from 2008-2009 to 2009-2010.
Non-violent Re-offending	Reduce non-violent re-offending	The rate of offenders under community supervision who incurred new convictions for non-violent offences decreased from 2008-2009 to 2009-2010.
Community Supervision Performance	Reduce re-offending while on supervision	The rate of offenders under community supervision who incurred new convictions decreased from 2008-2009 to 2009-2010.

As outlined in the 2009-2010 Departmental Performance Report, for the 2010-2011 reporting year, CSC adopted a rate calculation based on Incidence Rate9. It is an accurate, reliable and complete rate calculation method that allows performance comparisons over different periods of time and provides increased validity or “frequency” of the events being measured. The reporting format consists of a “Rate per 100 Offender Person Years” where the incidence rate is multiplied by 100 to provide for relative context in relation to offender populations.

1.8 Expenditure Profile

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1.9 Estimates by Vote

For information on our organizational votes and/or statutory expenditures, please see the 2010–2011 Public Accounts of Canada (Volume II) publication.

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