43^rd Annual Report to Parliament
2015 – 2016
Presentation Deck

October 31, 2016

Overview

2015-16 Annual Report assesses progress on six key priorities:

1. Health Care in Federal Corrections
2. Prevention of Deaths in Custody
3. Conditions of Confinement
4. Indigenous Corrections
5. Safe and Timely Community Reintegration
6. Federally Sentenced Women

The report contains 27 recommendations, including three directed to the Minister of Public Safety. The Report includes a Special Focus on the use of inflammatory agents (pepper spray) in corrections.

Federal Corrections in Context

$111,202

Average Annual Cost (2013-14) of Incarcerating a Male Inmate
(Women Inmates cost twice as much)

1 in 4

inmates are Indigenous
(36% of women inmates are Indigenous)

1 in 4

inmates are over the age of 50

Almost 60%

of inmates are classified as medium security

1 in 5

inmates are serving a life sentence

More than Half

of all women inmates have an identified mental health need
(compared to 26% of male inmates)

4 in 10

inmates are serving a sentence of 2 to 4 years

Between 2005 and 2015, the federal inmate population grew by 10%. Over that same period, the Aboriginal inmate population grew by nearly 50%. The Black inmate population grew by almost 70%. Today, Indigenous women are the fastest growing sub-population in corrections, almost doubling in size.

Over that same time period, release to the community has slowed, creating a stacking effect for some groups, especially Indigenous, mentally ill and older offenders. As parole grant rates decline, more offenders are serving proportionately more of their sentence behind bars.

The number of offenders over the age of 50 has increased by nearly one-third in the last five years alone. This growth is attributed to three main demographic factors: i) accumulation of long-serving inmates (today, one in five inmates is a “lifer”); ii) trend toward longer sentences (and less parole) for particular offences (especially sexual offences) and; iii) an overall aging of the Canadian population, including a progressive increase in the number of people being sentenced later in life.

2015-16 OCI Annual Statistics

By the Numbers – 2015/16

• $4.3 M budget
• 358 days spent in penitentiaries
• 6,500 offender complaints
• 2,196 interviews with offenders and staff
• 1,833 use of force reviews
• 196 deaths in custody and serious bodily injury reviews
• 25,600 toll-free phone contacts
• 1,918 hours on toll-free line

1. Access to Health Care

Issues of Concern

• Life histories of federal offenders - educational attainment, poverty, substandard housing, a history of childhood abuse are associated with poorer health outcomes.
• Significant numbers of older (over age 50) offenders admitted with or developing chronic conditions while incarcerated. Palliative care, end of life, nursing home part of correctional landscape.
• Reductions in “non-essential” dental care mean that only the most severe or urgent cases are being provided treatment.
• Need for comprehensive prison harm reduction measures equivalent to those provided in the community (safe tattooing, needle exchange).
• Psychotropic medications more commonly prescribed to federal offenders than in the general Canadian population (30.4% vs. 8.0%).
• Incidents of self injurious behavior and complex mental health cases continue to be too often managed by a security-driven response model.

Key Recommendations

• I recommend that CSC develop, publicly release and implement an older offender strategy for federal corrections in 2016-17 that addresses the care and custody needs of offenders aged 50 or older. This strategy should include programming, reintegration, public safety and health care cost considerations.
• I recommend that CSC enhance harm reduction initiatives including the re-introduction of safe tattooing sites and the implementation of a needle exchange pilot and assess the impacts of these measures on inmate health, institutional substance miss-use and security operations.
• I recommend that the Minister of Public Safety direct CSC to develop additional community partnerships and negotiate exchange of service agreements in all regions that would allow for alternative placement and treatment arrangements other than incarceration for significantly mentally ill federal offenders. These arrangements and agreements should be in place by the end of the current fiscal year.

2. Prevention of Deaths in Custody

Issues of Concern

• Quality of internal investigations into deaths in custody.
• Premature and preventable deaths.
• Independent reviews challenge CSC’s conclusion that most prison suicides could not have been prevented.
• CSC’s overall strategy to prevent deaths in custody lacks responsiveness, transparency and accountability.
• Inadequate information sharing with families who have lost a loved one in custody.

Key Recommendation

• I recommend that the Minister of Public Safety work with provincial and territorial counterparts to create an independent national advisory forum drawn from experts, practitioners and stakeholder groups to review trends, share lessons learned and suggest research that will reduce the number and rate of deaths in custody in Canada.

3. Conditions of Confinement Use of Inflammatory Agents

Issues of Concern

• Use of force interventions in federal correctional facilities are increasing. Less reliance on de-escalation techniques (i.e. verbal interventions).
• 61% of all use of force incidents reviewed by the Office involved the use of an inflammatory agent (i.e. commonly known as OC spray or pepper spray).
• Inflammatory agents were used in more than half of use of force incidents involving a self-injurious offenders.
• 41% of all use of force incidents at CSC’s treatment centres (psychiatric hospitals) included the use of pepper spray.
• Recurring compliance deficiencies in use of force interventions:
  • Decontamination procedures not followed in 31% of all incidents reviewed.
  • Post-use of force health care assessments deficiencies noted in 54% of all reviews.
  • Strip search procedures were not followed in 30% of all interventions.

Key Recommendations

I recommend that:

• The removal, display or threatened use of a chemical and inflammatory agent should be properly and immediately reinstated as a “reportable” use of force in CSC’s use of force policy and review framework.
• CSC should conduct an immediate review of the factors behind the increasing use of inflammatory agents in CSC facilities and assess whether additional review and accountability controls are required to ensure their safe and proper use.
• CSC policy should require shower and wash as soon as possible following the use of or contamination by an organic inflammatory agent, with any delay of more than 20 minutes requiring notification of the Institutional Head.  
• After each and every use of an inflammatory or chemical agent, the canister should be weighed and the volume discharged duly recorded. Officers should be held to account for the use(s) and volume of inflammatory agents discharged for each incident. These records should be shared regionally and nationally on a quarterly basis.

Conditions of Confinement Inmate Pay

Maximum Inmate Payment (Less than 9% of inmate population receives the maximum amount)

$6.90 / Day

Deductions (Per Day)

25% Reimbursement for any Indebtedness to the Federal Crown

22% Food and Accommodation

8% Inmate Telephone Administration Fee

15% Inmate Welfare Fund

10% Mandatory Savings

Net Daily Pay

$1.95: Amount available for canteen purchases, telephone calls, family visits……

Issues of Concern

• Inmates required to pay more for a greater range of items.
• Pay/allowance levels have not changed in 35 years.
• Lack of resources upon release is a significant barrier to safe and successful reintegration.

Key Recommendation

• I recommend that the Minister of Public Safety initiate a review of the inmate payment/allowance system in federal corrections.

4. Indigenous Issues

Issues of Concern

• Indigenous peoples now account for 25% of the total federal inmate population.
• Since March 2005, the Aboriginal inmate population has increased by 52%.
• Gap in correctional outcomes between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offenders continues to widen.
• Uneven application of Aboriginal social history (Gladue factors) in CSC decision-making.
• Participation and involvement of Elders not adequately supported by CSC.

Key Recommendation

• I again recommend that CSC appoint a Deputy Commissioner for Indigenous Corrections.

5. Safe and Timely Community Reintegration

Issues of Concern

• Over 70% of releases from federal institutions were at statutory release in 2014-15.
• Spending on educational and vocational programming is declining as needs increase.
• Limited access to resources to help offenders prepare for community reintegration - temporary absences, work releases, library holdings and digital resources (computers).

Key Recommendations

• I recommend that CSC develop a three year action plan to meet demand for meaningful work, increase vocational training skills and participation in apprenticeship programs.
• I recommend that CSC implement a comprehensive pilot project providing for monitored email, tablets and laptops in the coming fiscal year to assess security issues, privacy issues and costs, with the goal of full implementation within three years.

6. Federally Sentenced Women

Issues of Concern

• Aboriginal women account for over 35% of all women in federal custody.
• Regional women’s facilities ill-equipped to provide an appropriate therapeutic environment for women presenting with significant mental health issues.
• Operational challenges associated with the new Minimum Security Units.

Key Recommendation

• I recommend that CSC significantly enhance access to the community for women residing in the Minimum Security Units through increased use of temporary absences, work releases, employment and vocational skills training programs.

Annex: 2015-16 Recommendations

1. I recommend that CSC consult with professional colleges, licensing bodies and accreditation agencies to ensure operational policies do not conflict with or undermine the standards, autonomy and ethics of professional health care workers in corrections.
2. I recommend that CSC develop, publicly release and implement an older offender strategy for federal corrections in 2016-17 that addresses the care and custody needs of offenders aged 50 or older. This strategy should include programming, reintegration, public safety and health care cost considerations.
3. I recommend that CSC create a national action plan to address dental waitlist concerns, restore funding for preventative dental health care and improve access to dentistry services in federal penitentiaries.
4. I recommend that CSC enhance harm reduction initiatives including the re-introduction of safe tattooing sites and the implementation of a needle exchange pilot and assess the impacts of these measures on inmate health, institutional substance miss-use and security operations.
5. I recommend that CSC work collaboratively with community groups that have proven expertise in providing treatment services and supports for FASD affected individuals to address significant gaps in assessment, programming, treatment and services to these offenders in federal corrections.
6. I recommend that CSC’s gender dysphoria policy be updated to reflect evolving legal and standards of care protecting the rights of transgender people in Canada. Specifically:
   • upon request and subject to case-by-case consideration of treatment needs, safety and privacy, transgender or intersex inmates should not be presumptively refused placement in an institution of the gender they identify with.
   • the ‘real life’ experience test should include consideration of time spent living as a transgender person during incarceration.
7. I recommend that CSC develop a new, separate and distinct model from the existing Situation Management Model to address medical emergencies and incidents of self-injurious behaviour in partnership with professional mental health organizations.
8. I recommend that the Minister of Public Safety direct CSC to develop additional community partnerships and negotiate exchange of service agreements in all regions that would allow for alternative placement and treatment arrangements other than incarceration for significantly mentally ill federal offenders. These arrangements and agreements should be in place by the end of the current fiscal year.
9. I recommend that internally allocated specialized complex case funding should not be used as an alternative to seeking placement in an external treatment facility and that the CSC allocate funding for treatment beds commensurate with diagnostically identified needs.
10. I recommend that CSC retain, as a mandatory requirement, that a psychological review/autopsy be conducted by a registered mental health clinician into each and every prison suicide.
11. I recommend that CSC publicly release the third Independent Review Committee report on deaths in custody and the action plan responding to the report’s findings and recommendations.
12. I recommend that the Minister of Public Safety work with provincial and territorial counterparts to create an independent national advisory forum drawn from experts, practitioners and stakeholder groups to review trends, share lessons learned and suggest research that will reduce the number and rate of deaths in custody in Canada.
13. I recommend that:
    • The removal, display or threatened use of a chemical and inflammatory agent should be properly and immediately reinstated as a “reportable” use of force in CSC’s use of force policy and review framework.
    • CSC should conduct an immediate review of the factors behind the increasing use of inflammatory agents in CSC facilities and assess whether additional review and accountability controls are required to ensure their safe and proper use.
    • CSC policy should require shower and wash as soon as possible following the use of or contamination by an organic inflammatory agent, with any delay of more than 20 minutes requiring notification of the Institutional Head.
    • After each and every use of an inflammatory or chemical agent, the canister should be weighed and the volume discharged duly recorded. Officers should be held to account for the use(s) and volume of inflammatory agents discharged for each incident. These records should be shared regionally and nationally on a quarterly basis.
14. I recommend that CSC suspends the introduction of the new inmate purchasing system, and proceed with in-depth, meaningful consultations with all stakeholders, including this Office, Inmate Committees and front-line staff.
15. I recommend that the Minister of Public Safety initiate a review of the inmate payment/allowance system in federal corrections.
16. I again recommend that CSC appoint a Deputy Commissioner for Indigenous Corrections.
17. I recommend that the Service develop new culturally appropriate and gender specific assessment tools, founded on Gladue principles, to be used with male and female Indigenous offenders.
18. I recommend that CSC’s National Aboriginal Advisory Council review gaps and barriers to increased participation of Elders in federal corrections and publicly release its recommendations by the end of the fiscal year.
19. I recommend that the Integrated Correctional Program Model be immediately and independently evaluated against key performance outcome measures including: day and full parole grant rates; number of and reasons for Parole Board hearings that are waived, cancelled, postponed or withdrawn; reasons why release delayed until statutory release; percentage of inmates held until statutory release in minimum security.
20. I recommend that CSC develop a three year action plan to meet demand for meaningful work, increase vocational training skills and participation in apprenticeship programs.
21. I recommend that, in the coming year, CSC review temporary absence criteria, resources and staff support and develop an action plan to facilitate improved access to the community through increased use of Temporary Absences and Work Releases. Performance measures and indicators supporting transition from the institution to the community should become a standard feature of subsequent CSC Reports on Plans and Priorities.
22. I recommend that:
    • CSC update and renew inmate libraries so that they are compliant with policy and comparable to the services, materials and technologies available in community libraries.
    • CSC ensure that copies of law and policy are current and updated as necessary, and made available in both print and electronic formats.
    • CSC explore safe, practical and innovative ways to expand access to the widest variety of electronic information, technology and communication possible in a correctional setting.
23. I recommend that CSC implement a comprehensive pilot project providing for monitored email, tablets and laptops in the coming fiscal year to assess security issues, privacy issues and costs, with the goal of full implementation within three years.
24. I recommend that CSC focus efforts on developing protocols and arrangements with provincial child welfare/protection agencies to ensure referrals to and assessments by these external bodies are completed in a timely manner.
25. I recommend that CSC significantly enhance access to the community for women residing in the Minimum Security Units through increased use of temporary absences, work releases, employment and vocational skills training programs.
26. I recommend that access to case management team members be increased for women residing in the Minimum Security Units, including mandatory frequency of contact and consultation standards and that transfers to the main multi-level facilities should only be used when all other less restricted alternatives have been considered.
27. I recommend that CSC enhance partnerships with community groups and organizations to deliver programming, opportunities and activities for women residing in the Minimum Security Units in the community and that this activity be monitored by an Advisory Committee of stakeholders.