Correctional Service Lacks Compassion Dealing with Families of Inmates Who Die
"Canada's prison watchdog has issued a scathing report on how the federal correctional service communicates with next of kin when an inmate dies. Correctional investigator Howard Sapers says the service has not been compassionate, open or transparent with families.

The report cites a case where a family member arrived to view the body of his loved one at the appointed time, but was informed the inmate had already been cremated.

"'o make matters worse, sometime later, the ashes were couriered to him without prior notice'" reads the report. It quotes the family member saying, 'They cremated him and they sent him by Purolator … sending someone in the mail … it's just not right.'

Sapers says his office decided to conduct a formal review because after years of raising his concerns, Corrections Canada has not changed its ways."

View the Report
 

Delayed Paroles Pose Safety Risk, Cost Taxpayers: AG Report

"Correctional Services Canada has agreed to look into why the vast majority of offenders are remaining behind bars past their first parole eligibility date.

Today’s auditor general’s report detailing Corrections measures for preparing male offenders for release concluded that 80 per cent of male prisoners in Canada are still incarcerated past their first opportunity for parole. And 54 per cent of offenders are being released directly from penitentiary only on their statutory release date – most from medium and maximum security prisons – instead of being slowly introduced back into the community.

This poses a risk to the community, the report concludes. Studies show a slower reintegration of offenders into the community increases their chances of a successful return to life on the outside, and reduces their risk of reoffending.

Delays in parole also increase the load on the taxpayer, as it’s three times more costly to keep a prisoner incarcerated than to supervise him in the community. Since March 2011, custody costs have risen by more than $90 million. Although admissions into federal custody have not increased, the report says the rise in cost is due to offenders serving larger stretches of their sentences behind bars."

View the Auditor General's Full Report: Preparing Male Offenders for Release - Correctional Service Canada

Corrections Canada is Sentenced to Fail, Again and Again

"Correctional Service Canada has finally responded to the coroner’s inquest into the 2007 death of a troubled young woman who spent more than 1,000 days in solitary confinement before choking to death in an isolation cell as correctional officers watched, unwilling to help her. The agency quietly put the response online late Thursday – a full year after the inquest made its 104 recommendations – and then went back to ignoring the world outside its walls.

Feel free to read the report. If you do, though, do not hope to be uplifted. Once you get past the self-important acronyms (CRIMP, IMP, RSPMC) and the sly appeals for public sympathy in CSC’s response to the “absolute tragedy” of Ashley Smith’s death, you will be left with the sinking feeling that what happened to that 19-year-old girl will happen again, if it hasn’t already.

That’s because the response reinforces that fact that the agency that employs 18,000 people to look after 22,000 federal offenders, including more than 15,000 inmates, is allowed by the government to work outside the reach of public oversight. It answers only to itself. The federal prisons ombudsman, Howard Sapers, can make recommendations. So can the federal Auditor-General. So can a well-meaning inquest jury. But they are among the very few public advocates that prisoners have, and nothing they say is binding."

Canada

Discourses Of Difference - Constituting The "Ethnic" Offender
Sarah Turnbull, Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies Alumna  presents at 41st Annual Conference of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control

Gag Order To Be Imposed On New RCMP Transparency Office
The federal government is developing a commission to help restore public confidence in the RCMP – but it will be shrouded in secrecy.

Planning documents for Public Safety indicate anyone working for the RCMP’s new Civilian Review and Complaints Commission will be required to take an “oath of secrecy.”

“This oath ensures that these persons pledge not to disclose any information that they come across in the course of their duties to anyone not legally entitled to that information,” the document reads.

Correctional Service Canada Withholding Information On Anti-Psychotic Drugs: Watchdog

Federal correctional authorities are getting in the way of an investigation into drug-prescribing practices for inmates by withholding relevant information, Canada's prisons ombudsman says.

It's Time To Talk About MDMA
"This isn't another health-class lecture, but a grown up discussion of what's really in those pressed pills and how to make it safer."

Canada Studying Private Firms for Prisons as Budgets Fall

Canada is studying the use of private companies to deliver some prison services as it cuts spending and imposes tougher sentences on criminals, which may benefit companies like GEO Group Inc. (GEO)
 
Correctional Service Canada, which oversees federal prisons, “may consider” partnerships with private firms to provide “basic institutional services such as cleaning and food preparation,” says a memo prepared for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews in advance of a May 14 meeting with Crispin Blunt, U.K. Minister of State for Prisons in London.

Officials in the department urged Toews to discuss Canada’s “interest in considering the privatization of penitentiary services on a limited basis,” according to the memo obtained by Bloomberg News under Canada’s freedom-of-information law.

Public Safety officials were lobbied by the GEO Group as the government was preparing legislation to introduce or lengthen mandatory sentences for some types of crime. The annual budget of Correctional Service Canada, which reports to Toews, will fall to C$2.86 billion ($2.81 billion) by the year beginning April 2014 from C$3.03 billion in the current fiscal year, according to agency planning documents.

Read on...

The cost of one Conservative crime bill for one year: $458-million

The Correctional Service of Canada will spend more than $450-million this year implementing just one of the Conservative government’s new tough-on-crime measures – the Truth in Sentencing Act – as Canada’s prison system expands to accommodate a rush of new inmates.

The Conservatives have spent years trying to pass a series of crime and justice laws, with much of the opposition debate centred on the cost of new initiatives. The CSC report reveals for the first time how much one legislative change is costing taxpayers at a time when the Conservatives are set to pass new omnibus law-and-order legislation.

The 2010 Truth in Sentencing Act – which ended two-for-one sentencing practices in which judges give a convicted individual two days credit for each day spent in awaiting trial – has led to more inmates and increased costs, the agency responsible for federal prisons acknowledges.

Read on...

Yep, lets shred the social safety net and spend it all on prisons. Tom

Harper Government Pushes Prison Expansion and Sounds Like a Broken Record

We know the Harper Government runs a tight ship and likes to keep everyone on message. But Crimbrary was astounded to come across the following quotes, from MP's right across the country.

"In the previous system, a violent criminal sentenced to nine years in prison could potentially be on our streets in as little as three years if he or she spent two years awaiting trial. This possibility is not acceptable to Canadians," said MP Glover.

"In the previous system, a violent criminal sentenced to nine years in prison could potentially be on our streets in as little as three years if he or she spent two years awaiting trial. This possibility is not acceptable to Canadians," said the Honourable Gordon O’Connor,

"In the previous system, a violent criminal sentenced to nine years in prison could potentially be on our streets in as little as three years if he or she spent two years awaiting trial. This possibility is not acceptable to Canadians," said Minister Clement.

"In the previous system, a violent criminal sentenced to nine years in prison could potentially be on our streets in as little as three years if he or she spent two years awaiting trial. This possibility is not acceptable to Canadians," said Randy Hoback, Member of Parliament for Prince Albert.

“In the previous system, a violent criminal sentenced to nine years in prison could potentially be on our streets in as little as three years if he or she spent two years awaiting trial. This possibility is not acceptable to Canadians,” said MP Fast.

“In the previous system, a violent criminal sentenced to nine years in prison could potentially be on our streets in as little as three years if he or she spent two years awaiting trial. This possibility is not acceptable to Canadians,” said Minister Toews.

“In the previous system, a violent criminal sentenced to nine years in prison could potentially be on our streets in as little as three years if he or she spent two years awaiting trial. This possibility is not acceptable to Canadians,” said MP Blaney.

"In the previous system, a violent criminal sentenced to nine years in prison could potentially be on our streets in as little as three years if he or she spent two years awaiting trial. This possibility is not acceptable to Canadians," said Mr. Day.

“Under the previous system, a violent criminal sentenced to nine years in prison could be on our streets in as little as three years if he or she spent two years awaiting trial. In at least one case, a convicted terrorist was released one day after being sentenced. This is not acceptable to Canadians,” said Mr. Armstrong.

Nice to know our MP's are on the same page. Thinking alike. Talking alike. Voting Alike. Taking dictation alike. Tom

Prisons given funding, but no clear plan

Correctional Investigator of Canada and Federal Ombudsman for Prisons, Howard Sapers, holds a news conference to release their final assessment of the Correctional Service of Canada's response to deaths in custody at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Sept. 8, 2010.

Diana Zlomislic Staff Reporter

The federal government poured $50 million into Canada’s prison system to deal with mentally ill offenders without a comprehensive plan to make sure it was properly spent, a watchdog report has found.

“Significant funds were advanced to the Correctional Service of Canada on the basis of much less detailed planning and reporting accountability than that generally demanded of the public,” according to the report by the Office of the Correctional Investigator of Canada.

The result: a hodgepodge of poorly planned and unfinished programs scattered over a prison system strained by a growing number of inmates with mental disorders.

“We know that there’s a growing demand for mental health interventions,” correctional investigator Howard Sapers told the Star. “And we know if that demand is unmet, there will be a less safe environment in Canadian penitentiaries.”

Read on...

Here is the press release. Tom