1. Canadian Prison Law Conference Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia September 22, Dr. Ivan Zinger Correctional Investigator of Canada

2. Mission Statement
“As the ombudsman for federally sentenced offenders, the Office of the Correctional Investigator serves Canadians and contributes to safe, lawful and humane corrections through independent oversight of the Correctional Service of Canada by providing accessible, impartial and timely investigation of individual and systemic concerns.”

3. 2017-18 Annual Statistics By the Numbers – 2017/18 $4.7 M budget
36 FTEs
352 days spent in penitentiaries
5,846 offender complaints
1828 interviews with offenders
1,487 use of force reviews
137 deaths in custody and serious bodily injury reviews
24,578 toll-free phone contacts
81,927 hours on toll-free line
25 million website hits

4. 17% of total in-custody population (14,159) contacted the OCI
2017/18 Complaints
17% of total in-custody population (14,159) contacted the OCI
15% of all Indigenous inmates (558 of 3,798).
36% of all FSW (247 of 692).
33% of all Indigenous FSW (83 of 253).
19% of all Black inmates (225 of 1,174).

5. Top Complaints by CategoryFY

6. Systemic Investigations

7. “The degree of civilization in
a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1862)

8. Federal Inmate Profile

9. Changing Inmate Profile
Access to Community Health Care –
73% of federally sentenced men meet criteria for any current mental disorder.
29% identified by CSC as requiring follow-up mental health services at admission.
Psychotropic drugs are prescribed to federal inmates at a rate of almost 4x the Canadian Average (30.4% versus 8.0%).
33% of women meet the diagnosis for PTSD.
Incidents of self-injury doubled in last decade (now 975 by 301 prisoners).
Attempted suicides quadrupled in last decade (now 126 attempts)
Aboriginal Self-Governance – 28% of prisoners are of Aboriginal ancestry, but comprise about 5% of the Canadian adult population. 40% federally sentenced women are Indigenous.
Diversity in Canadian Society – Black Canadians represent less than 3% of the Canadian general population, but make up to 8% of the federal inmate population. The proportion of Caucasian inmates declined by about 10% in the last decade.
National Drug Strategy – 75% of prisoners have a history of substance abuse/addiction at admission. Substance abuse was directly linked with index offences in over 60% of cases.

10. Changing Inmate Profile (Cont’d)
Education – 75% of federal offenders reported no high school diploma (or equivalent) at admission. 65% enter the system with lower than Grade 8.
Employment – 62% of federally sentenced men were unemployed at the time of arrest.
Harm Reduction – In 2017, the prevalence of HIV in federal institutions was 1.2%, and 9% of federally sentenced men reported being Hepatitis C positive.
Women in Canadian Society – The number of women prisoners has increased 30% in the last 10 years (compared to -1.5% for males). The Indigenous women population increased by 43%. 68% of women offenders reported sexual abuse and 86% physical abuse.
Aging in Canadian Society – Over 25% of federally incarcerated offenders is aged 50 or over. This segment of the offender population increased by 50% over the past decade. 15% of federally sentenced women are over the age of 50.

12. Back to Basics Corrections is in the business of Human Rights.
People are sent to prison as punishment.
Role of Corrections is the “administration of sentences,” NOT law enforcement.
Retention of all rights except those restricted as a consequence of incarceration.
Commitment to least restrictive measures paramount for optimum public safety outcomes.
Healthy workplace free of practices that undermine human dignity. Human rights of staff matter!
Correctional policy and practice respect diversity and no discrimination based on gender, ethnic, cultural, etc.
Corrections is in the business of Human Rights.
Whenever there is a great deal of state power over citizens, the potential for HR abuse is greater. Same for policing, national security and armed forces.
Everything in Corrections is regulated. Eat, sleep, access to health care, who, when and how you can have family visits, etc.
Corrections must recognize that its in the HR business, and best practice is to have a corporate business line on HR.
Promote, prevent HR abuses, detect HR abuses, remedy HR violations to prevent future HR abuses…
People are sent to prison as punishment.
Not for punishment. Therefore, residual rights and freedom retained.
Role of Corrections is the “administration of sentences,” NOT law enforcement.
Over the years, which has accelerated post 9/11, Corrections is looking at police for training, uniforms and weapons. Police is looking at military for equipment. Military are looking at star wars and star trek…
Retention of all rights except those restricted as a consequence of incarceration.
Again, the punishment is incarceration. So should not influence other rights like voting, right to practice religion, freedom of expression, some rights to peaceful assembly and association, etc.

13. Back to Basics (Cont’d)
Commitment to evidence-based and best practices key to maintain balance between security and rehabilitation.
Balance between institutional and community corrections investments (MH, Indigenous, aging).
Safe and gradual reintegration through testing normalized environments with support, programs and services.
Even in most advanced democracies, compliance with human rights of prisoners requires strong external oversight.
Leadership at the top matters.
Correctional policy and practice influenced by political environment (tough on crime vs. evidence-based reform).
Commitment to least restrictive measures paramount for optimum public safety outcomes.
The least restrictive measure is grounded in empirical research. Safe, gradual releases produce better public safety outcomes than abrupt releases (eg, from medium and maximum security prisons) or releases at a later stage of the sentence (eg SR at 2/3).
Safe and gradual reintegration through testing normalized environments with support, programs and services.
Max, Med, Min, Community Corrections
Cascading offenders allows for testing normalized environments and increases the confidence/trust we have in safe reintegration by minimizing risk of re-offending.

14. Physical Infrastructure
Physical infrastructure can be conducive to rehabilitation/healing/treatment and better outcome.
Infrastructure can influence correctional workplace and culture.
Much harder to implement “effective” correctional practices in antiquated infrastructure.
Most (new and old) infrastructure is more secure/restrictive/oppressive than required – if and only if rehabilitation/healing central to correctional endeavor.
Rehabilitation/healing focus decreases the need for security and enhances institutional safety for both inmates and staff.
Most (new and old) infrastructure is more secure/restrictive/oppressive than required – if rehabilitation/healing central to the correctional endeavor.
If Correctional authorities are responsive to the needs of offenders and address complaints and grievances in a fair and timely manner, have positive and respectful interactions, offer an appropriate level of programs, services and activities, provide adequate food, good access to health care, focus on dynamic security and intelligence gathering, all this mitigate the need for higher security infrastructure.
Riot at Sask Pen in December Worse case scenario. Old aging infrastructure not conducive of rehabilitation, growing tension and dissatisfaction, little attention to addressing legitimate complaints, lack of attention to simple things like food, too many lockdowns, disruptions in routines, and too few programs and services….
Initial opening of new facility is important.
Federally sentenced women. Eg EIFW in mid 90’s. P4W, Creating Choice as blueprint, opening of 5 regional facilities. Some new facilities well prepared, but EIFW rushed. Fences went up, women co-located with men until closure of P4W, secure units introduced later, uniform reintroduced… Complete deviation from initial Creating Choice philosophy...
Rehabilitation/healing focus decreases the need for security and enhances institutional safety for both inmates and staff – yet vigilance is always required!

15. Service Infrastructure
Corrections is complex endeavor requiring a well-trained, dedicated and professional workforce.
The origin of the word Corrections is “corrigere” in LATIN, meaning “make straight, bring into order.”
Reintroduce focus on “corrigere” and “service” in Correctional Service Canada.
Ultimate correctional outcome is lower recidivism rates and enhanced public safety.
Effective corrections requires both physical and service infrastructure to be responsive and sensitive to needs of diverse sentenced populations (i.e., inmate profile).
Mentally ill, women, ethnic/cultural groups, aging, younger, LGBTQ, etc.
Corrections is complex endeavor requiring a well-trained, dedicated and professional workforce.
Safe and humane custody not enough to do A+ Corrections.
To do good Corrections is not easy. Changing profile of offender populations created new challenges for correctional authorities. Failed in many cases to adapt. Too much on old-style Corrections focused purely on security, instead of rehabilitation and service delivery.
Ultimate correctional outcome is lower recidivism rates and enhanced public safety.
Evidence-based policy and practice yield best outcomes.
Reintroduce focus on “services” in Departments of Correctional Services.
In Canada at the federal level, our Correctional authority is called Correctional Service of Canada.
Corrections: the origin of the word is “correcto” in LATIN, meaning “make straight, bring into order.”
Service requires “to be of service to or provide with a service.” The recipient of the services is the public at large for the administration of the sentence, and the prisoners as recipients of “correcto” services. In today’s lingo, rehabilitation/reintegration/healing services.

16. Directions for Reform
Reallocate significant (existing) resources to support community corrections and alternatives:
Partnership with community psychiatric hospitals.
Reliance on section 81 and 84 in partnership with Indigenous communities.
Built capacity to transfer aging/dying inmates.
24/7 health care coverage in all federal correctional facilities.
Accommodate the needs of younger and older offenders in federal custody.
Dedicated Patient Advocates at each of the five Regional Treatment Centres.
Appoint a Deputy Commissioner for Indigenous corrections.
Legislative reform of solitary confinement.