CRM 304: Canadian Criminal Justice

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CRM 304 Canadian Criminal Justice

• Week 10
• Corrections

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This Week

• Role of prisons in society
• Canadas prison system
• Correctional population
• Special populations women, aboriginal
• Security issues
• Violence and suicide in prisons
• Prisoners rights

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Role of Prisons in Canadian Society

• Custodial model
• Earliest model
• Incapacitation and deterrence
• Rehabilitation model
• 1950s to 1970s
• Treatment programs
• Reintegration/risk reduction model
• Current model
• Reintegrating offender back into society

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Canadas Prison System

• Provincial prisons
• Less than a two year sentence
• Some women with gt 2 years
• Federal Prison
• More than two year sentence
• Municipal
• Police lock-ups/remand centres (only temporary
  immediately after arrest)

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Federal Institutions

• 2000 52 federal institutions under Correctional
  Service of Canada(CSC)
• Atlantic 5
• Quebec 12
• Ontario 14
• Prairies 13
• Pacific 8
• Each houses 78 501 inmates.

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Provincial/Territorial Facilities

• 151 correctional facilities (1996)
• Ontario 47
• Quebec 19
• B.C. 19
• P.E.I. 2
• Yukon 2

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The Correctional Population

• 2000-2001
• 151,500 inmates,
• 130/100,000 population
• Declined 5 since 1991
• 97 of new admissions were provincial
• Mostly for nonviolent offences,
• 3 months or less

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The Correctional Population

• Federal sentences
• 2 to 3 years 47
• 3 to 4 years 21
• Life sentences 4
• Federal offenders
• 95 admitted are male (provincial 91).
• Median age 32 years.
• 17 are Aboriginal (19 provincial).

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Placement of prisoners

• In determining the type of correction facility,
  prisoners are classified according to 3 criteria
• Likelihood of escape
• Likelihood of violence against others
• Likelihood of breaking rules
• Prisoner is classified as maximum, medium, or
  minimum security risk
• Prior record and availability of programs are
  considered in final placement

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Maximum Security

• High fences and walls, guard towers
• Movement is controlled and monitored
• Solitary confinement for misbehaviour or
  protection
• Educational and treatment programs
• Accounts for 20 of males and 31 of females in
  penitentiary
• www.cbc.ca/prison/docs.htmlmaximum/
• CBC Documentary Lifers

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Medium Security

• Chain-link fence topped with barbed wire
• More freedom of movement
• Modern surroundings
• Training centres
• Educational and treatment programs
• 64 of males and 8 of females in penitentiary

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Minimum Security

• No walls or fences
• Relaxed security
• Staff and inmates intermingle
• Private or semi-private rooms
• Work-release programs

• 14 of males and 6 of females in penitentiary
• www.cbc.ca/prison/docs.htmlminimum/

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Multilevel Security

• Combines the features of two or more security
  levels
• 3 of federal inmates are in multilevel
• 86 of females are housed in federal multilevel
  security (1997)
• 41 of males and 35 of females are in multilevel
  provincial facilities

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7 Security levels

• Began in 1981-82.
• Level 1 Community correctional facilities.
• Level 2 Forestry and work camps.
• Levels 3, 4, 5 Medium security.
• Level 6 Maximum security.
• Level 7 Special handling units for violent
  offenders (supermax).
• 6 management levels for women were added in 1995.

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New-Generation Facilities

• Response to concerns about behaviour in prisons
• Design is podular
• Greater visual and physical access to inmates
• More interaction between guards and inmates and
  among inmates
• Direct supervision model
• Fewer behavioural problems

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New-Generation Facilities

• Central North Correctional Centre
• Penetanguishene, Ontario
• Podular
• Privately-run by Management Training Corp. (US)

http//www.centralnorthcc.ca/
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Womens Prisons

• Some federally sentenced women are housed in
  provincial institutions.
• 5 regional facilities
• Truro NS.
• Joliette QB.
• Kitchener ON.
• Edmonton AL.
• Burnaby BC.
• Also Maple Creek SK healing lodge.

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Female Inmates

• 2 of federal offenders are female
• Mostly in provincial facilities
• Short sentences
• 40 less than 14 days.
• Few violent offences (9)
• Property offences (25)
• Failure to pay fine (30)
• 25 are repeat offenders
• Prostitution, drugs, theft, alcohol, fraud
• Many are victims of sexual abuse, violence.

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Female Inmates

• More affected by family/relationship disruptions
• More self-inflicted injuries
• Child custody concerns (70 are mothers)
• Mother-child programs introduced in regional
  centres
• www.cbc.ca/prison/docs.htmlwomen/

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Aboriginal inmates

• Over-represented in federal and provincial
  prisons
• Less than 3 of the national population 15 of
  federal inmate population
• Prairies 64 percent of the federal inmate
  population
• A male treaty Indian is 25 times more likely to
  be incarcerated in provincial jail than a
  non-Native.
• A female treaty Indian is 131 times more likely
  to be incarcerated in provincial jail than a
  non-Native.
• Offences violent crime, spousal assault, high
  linkage with substance abuse

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Prison Violence

• Major assaults declined during 1980s, increased
  in the early 1990s
• Most occur in maximum security institutions
• Mostly inmate-on-inmate violence drug-related
  gang-related
• Gang membership
• Increases assaults among inmates
• Rival gangs housed in separate sections

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Prison Violence

• Attacks on staff are rare fewer than 10 per year
  
• Sexual assaults on female staff
• Inmates with psychiatric problems, history of
  violence, rejected for parole.
• Homicide of staff is extremely rare
• Prison riots are generally rare in Canada
• Some are triggered by prison conditions abusive
  staff, inhumane treatment, no TV

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Suicide

• Suicide is leading cause of death in prisons
• 96 per 100,000 prison population
• 14 per 100,000 for adult males generally
• Nearly half of all deaths are suicide
• Usually by hanging, early in the sentence
• High rate of Native womens suicide

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HIV/AIDS

• HIV/AIDS/Hepatitis
• Rampant in Canadian prisons
• Some call it an epidemic
• Results from unprotected sex and sharing of
  needles for drugs
• Despite epidemic, virtually ignored by rest of
  society

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Prisoners Rights

• Until the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
  hands-off doctrine
• Correctional administration left to the experts
• Societal apathy to rights/treatment of prisoners
• Prisoners had no rights, just privileges
• 1975 Jack McCann placed in solitary confinement
  for 754 days
• Court ruled this unusual punishment
• Today prisoners have increased rights can go to
  court to fight for rights

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Prisoners Rights

• The right to humane treatment
• The right to be heard
• Informed of allegations
• The right to respond to allegations
• The right to an impartial hearing
• No discrimination in decisions
• Not for arbitrary reasons

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Further Resources

• http//www.csc-scc.gc.ca/
• http//www.prisonzone.com/prisonphoto/index.html
• http//www.cbc.ca/prison/
• www.cbc.ca/prison/docs.htmlmaximum
• www.cbc.ca/prison/docs.htmlminimum