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2 1 1 CAEFS BRIEF TO THE STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE OF THE CSC May Christie Jefferson HV 9308 J4 1980

3 Wen. \ et$ 'etent j\ Co Plret d t \$ eurn'i t fettle eta \ ned WI e autho tor Propg autboneon \ any intended usa. Las des dater du prase decument n' appeennent du contenu du présent pas a Étal.loute esen eine et êtçe Wee Peeteret Pg auteu.,//caefs BRIEF to The Strategic Planning Committee of the Correctional Service of Canada May, 1980 prepared by Christie,Jefferson (A special thank you to the Toronto and Calgary E. Fry Societies for their valuable contributions.) IFFIARY MINISTRY OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL OF CANADA MAR 7 mm MINIS ' CITTUR DA OTTAWA, C, 1,NIADA K I CIPO

4 Planning for the future is difficult in any sphere of activity, but is particularly onerous in the area of criminal justice. II Every facet of society affects the utilization of a last resort for intervening with an individual -- imprisonment. There are, however, a number of key trends that are presently evident that should be taken into account within CSC long term policy and program planning. Some factors highlighted are outside the purview of CSC but nevertheless wil1 affect CSC's future. We have generally, however, confined our recommendations to the Federal level. LEGISLATION Recent years have witnessed an astonishing increase in amount and scope of legislation at all levels of government. Legislation has been unofficially hailed as the answer to any social or economic problem. The increase in laws, often highly complex in nature, have further removed laws from public understanding. This cumbersome situation has been further complicated by jurisdictional haziness as to which level of government can pass certain kinds of laws. Provinces have increasingly become involved in enacting laws which allow for penal sanctions; this phenomenon has become so evident that "provincial criminal law" has become a commonly used phrase. The implications for this state of affairs are many; certainly law refont becomes much more difficult; if for example, soliciting or possession of maryuana were removed from federal legislation, there would be little to prevent a province, or even a municipality, from passing laws prohibiting these activities. Recommendation 1: The fundamental review of the criminal code of Canada, by the Law Reform Commission and the Department of Justice, should take into account the number, language and use of laws, as well as a clarification of jurisdictional responsibilities, and the seemingly arbitrary two years less a day jurisdictional split....2

5 -2 Furthermore, that the Task Force on Jurisdictional Overlap and Duplication in Justice, established by the Clark government, continue to exist and address the question of legislative jurisdictions. The use of mandatory minimum sentences has increased in Canada in the recent past. Federally, we have seen the introduction of the 25 year minimum imprisonment for first degree murder. Many provinces are introducing mandatory prison sentences for persons convicted for a second or third time of driving while impaired. The use of mandatory sentences is having an effect an most prisons in Canada. At the Federal level, the 25 year inmate is presenting new and tragic problems for CSC. Several provinces are already reporting a significant increase in female prison populations under the new laws concerning impaired driving. The long term impact of mandatory sentences is difficult to assess; we see it as undesirable in general to have mandatory minimum sentences, as the courts cannot take into account the circumstances surrounding the offence, nor the needs of the offender. More generally, imprisonment has not shown itself to be an effective measure for deterring crime, or enlightening offenders. To increase and guarantee the use of imprisonment is an expensive error, in both human and financial ternis. Recommendation 2: That the Federal Government and provincial governments review mandatory minimum sentences with an eye to resticting or removing such requirements from legislation. SOCIETAL FACTORS There are a number of trends outside the realm of criminal justice which are likely to have an impact on CSC....3

6 -3 We are on the whole an aging population, with a few notable exceptions. The "baby boom" is now in its thirties; this large aging group coupled with the drop in birth rates and an increased life expectancy, will create havoc in society's institutions. We have already seen the affects in the school system - massive expansion of facilities and staff in the ffties and sixties, and closure of schools and lay-offs in the late seventies. As crime, particularly of a violent nature, is generally a young adult phenomenon, any prison construction plans should be carefully considered. The major exception to the aging population of Canada is the Native population. At least one half of the Native peoples are under 20 years of age. The last two decades have witnessed an escalation in imprisonment of Native people to crisis proportions in some areas of Canada. This imbalance is particularly noticeable among female offenders. For example, the Pine Crove institution in Saskatchewan has a native inmate population of between 90% and 95% of the total. Kingston Prison for Women has experienced a noticeable increase in Native prisoners in the past year, unofficial counts being as high as 30 of the 110 women in Kingston. Native imprisonment will likely continue to rise unless immediate large-scale measures are introduced. Recommendation 3: That the recommendations agreed to by Federal and Provincial ministers at the National Conference on Native Peoples and the Criminal Justice System, held in February, 1975, be implemented and that all levels of government provide adequate long term funding for the recommended innovations. Recommendation 4: That CSC hire Native staff at the Kingston Prison for Women, provide funds for contracting with outside agencies for Native programmina, and more Native staff in management in all regions and in Headquarters to ensure adequate and appropriate policies and programmes for native prisoners...4

7 Furthermore, that adequate funding be allotted for Native community services for aid to Native inmates and parolees. The status of women in Canadian society is another key influence on female criminality and imprisonment. Female offenders largely commit economic related offences, ie. SO% of charges involve shoplifting and bad cheques. Soliciting for the purpose of prostitution is also an offence very much related to a woman's ability to earn a decent livelihood through legal and acceptable means. The earning power of women as compared to men in Canada is as bleak as ever. It is estimated, by the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, that 80% of women will work for most of their adult lives, and yet 62.7% of women work in sales, service and clerical low-paying jobs. Given prevailing economic and social conditions, this trend is unlikely to be reversed and may well worsen. It is not unlikely that economic-based crimes committed by women will increase in the 1980's. ' Alternatives to imprisonment for these kinds of offences must be developed; hopefully these new approaches could encorperate job training or retraining to help women meet their economic needs. Furthermore, this economic reality must be reflected in programs and training opportunities for women prisoners. We will address this issue in the next section in terms of making recommendations. An economic recession or depression will have other implications besides its effect on the status of women. Most major prison construction programs have been launched in Canada during times of economic crisis, (eg. late 1800's, and the 1930's). We have already witnessed a partial justification for a major construction scheme two years ago as a job creation program....5

8 -5-. Economic strains of the past 5 years have encouraged the use of cost/benefit analysis, a rather inappropriate base to measure human needs and services. This exclusive emphasis on financial accountability and costs per unit of service, in assessing the value of a program, has had an unprecedented impact on community services. Private services are becoming highly bureaucratized and professionalized to meet these new complex requirements of reporting to government funders. Some services are actually turning away high risk or difficult clients in order that their "success" statistics remain at the optimum level. Cost/benefit assessments are largely being rejected throughout the United States; this method of analysis is being replaced by block funding and the use of standards and accreditation procedures. Recommendation 5: That all implementation of ACA Standards be stopped. That the Ministry of the Solicitor General support and utilize the Canadian standards and accreditation scheme to be developed by the Canadian Association for the Prevention of Crime. Economic "hard times" are causing the reduction of critical services across Canada, the loss of which will ultimately affect the CSC "caseload". The erosion of public psychiatric facilities may increase the likelihood that prisons will be used to confine persons who are in fact mentally ill. This may, in the long run, push CSC into expanding the building of psychiatric facilities in addtion to penetentiaries, to fill the service vacuum. Canadians are consuming drugs and alcohol at an ever-increasing rate, perhaps to escape the strains of our modern world. These substances are prescribed with disturbing frequency by our medical profession, particularly tranquilizers (given in the main to women). Alcohol and drug abuse is a serious problem in every walk of life. Both staff and

9 6 inmates in the federal system are no exception. Drug and alcohol addiction is a common problem in the Kingston Prison for Women population. Yet, we as a society have not faced this growing dependency on drugs, either with effective public education, or treatment programs. In fact, federal money available for such programs has been drastically reduced. (A recommendation on this urgent matter will appear in the next section.) FACILITIES AND PROGRAMS FOR FEMALE OFFENDERS Women offenders, in the federal system, are discriminated against, in part due to their small numbers. Male inmates have a wide variety of institutions in which they can be confined, in each region, with a variety of security levels and program possibilities. Female federal inmates are either confined in Kingston, or in a provincial faciity if a transfer arrangement with the province exists, and if a province is agreeable and has the space. Many women in Kingston actually serve sentences of under two years; we would encourage a review of the seemingly arbitrary two year less a day jurisdictional division between federal and provincial inmates. Recommendation 6: That the federal government make a public commitment to close the Prison for Women. Reasons: 1) Kingston Prison for Women has been obsolete since the day construction began. It is a completely inappropriate physical plant for housing the federal female offender. 2) Kingston Prison for Women is the only facility in Canada operated by C.S.C. to house the federal women offenders, irrespective of type of offence, security demands, place of origin, and personal needs. It was designed primarily for maximum security. For the vast majority of federal women...7

10 7 offenders, this is ARBITRARY TREATMENT which is CRUEL AND UNUSUAL. 3) Women offenders in K.P.W. are isolated by distance and by maximum security conditions from thr homes and families, from the community at large, and from responsibility for the crime they were convicted for. This cannot be a rehabilitative or a growth situation. 4) Women inmates in K.P.W. are often caught in a jurisdictional vacuum, unable to receive many special services in education, mental and physical health, etc. because no one (C.S.C., Ontario provincial government, or their home province) will pay for it, even though the courts may have recommended it. 5) Realistic release planning in the home provinces is virtually impossible. Concerns: 1) CAEFS, as a national federation, supports the development of regional options for federal women. 2) CAEFS is sensitive to the fact that arranging these regional alternatives is a lengthy process. We have expressed serious concern for the well being of inmates and staff currently located there. We are convinced that resources can and must be made available within the Prison while it remains open, in areas of: social service treatment work opportunities physical health and fitness community and private sector participation expanded and varied use of the Temporary Absence Program affirmative action to fill senior management positions within the Institution with women individual program planning prior to transfer...8

11 3) At the same time, this does not justify the construction of a multi-million dollar activity centre within nor launching lengthy process of seeking accreditation for an obsolete facility 4) The federal woman offender has always been a low priority in the Canadian Corrections community. We are urging "affirmative action" on the issue of finding a suitable plan to relocate her. We reiterate our statement of July 1979 that adequate long term funding must be committed to future handling of woman offenders. Budget restraint should not be a rationale for continuing to deny women reasonable treatment. Conclusion: The continued use of Kingston Prison for Women as a facility to house women is unacceptable. We are concerned with programing for women presently in Kingston as plans for closure are explored and implemented. Given the poor employment opportunities and pay scales for women, the present programme at Kingston Prison are not providing the necessary skills for women to adequately survive upon release through legal means. Recommendation 7: That Kingston Prison for Women programs and services be expanded to provide adequate life skills training, and a variety of marketable job training opportunities, for example: trades training and data processing courses. Recommendation 8: Given that the vast majority of prisoners in Kingston Prison for Women have reported drug or alcohol abuse, drug and alcohol programs should be instituted in Kingston, and CSC should provide adequate encouragement and funds to community services for drug and alcohol programs. Special programs should be developed for Native women in this area...9

12 -9 THE COMMUNITY There are a number of significant trends worth noting with regard to the role of the voluntary sector in criminal justice: a) In 1978/79 the total CSC budget was approximately $340,600,000; the total budget allocation in the same year for private agencies and contracts with provincial governments was $4,570,631 or.6%. This sum, which was not fully expended, included parole supervision, community assessments, residential services, special programs, and grants. b) In 1966, voluntary or private agencies supervised 73% of the total number of parole cases; by 1979 this figure had dropped to 15%. Early indications for 1980 show a continued drop in referrals to private agencies. c) There have been consistent severe reductions in parole releases over the last few years; the union of Solicitor General employees have exp.ressed concern over threats to manyears; local CSC managers having to account for staff numbers are under considerable pressure to keep caseloads as high as possible. d) There is no over-all inistry policy on the role of the voluntary sector. e) The CSC has adopted a policy to change present grants to community agencies to contribution agreements; recipients will be required to submit yearly applications within the budgetary cycle specifying the service, its applicability to the CSC mandate and the form of evaluation to be used. The remaining drop of flexible funding to communities, grants, will thus be removed and replaced by a cost/benefit approach. These trends have a number of implications if left to follow their logical courses. 1. We foresee that the only type of private agency that can cope with complex reporting and accounting mechanisms will be costly...10

13 bureaucratic machines. will suffer. Flexibility, creativity and innovation 2. Within five years, there will be no private sector parole supervision. 3. Major lay-offs will occur within the first few years of this decade of CSC employees, particularly parole officers. 4. The costs of CSC will continue to mount. (The CSC budget has increased 4-fold in the last lecade despite only comparatively minor increases in numbers of inmates.) 5. The voluntary sector will increasingly join together in common alliances to balance government expansion and control. Recommendation 9: That a Ministry-wide policy on the role of the voluntary sector be undertaken in conjunction with the voluntary sector. As human and financial costs continue to mount in our use of imprisonment as a measure of social control, alternatives are needed more than ever. Funds for innovation from government, however, are scarce and are usually provided for a limited time period as a form of demonstration. Most governments have verbally committed themselves to the notion of prevention and innovative alternatives. And yet, of the three billion dollars spent in the administration of criminal justice in , over 64% was spent on police services, 30% on correctional services, and the remaining 6% on all other services, including prevention, alternatives, research and public education. In other words, money is spent on the apprehension and processing of offenders, rather than prevention or community-based alternatives. As long as this state of affairs continues we will incarcerate thousands of individuals for non-payment of fines, minor property offences, and offences against provincial statutes...1 1

14 The Federal Government has viewed prevention and alternatives to imprisonment and diversion as provincial in jurisdiction with the minor exception of small contributions toweard demonstration projects. It may be necessary to create a fund, a modest LEAA ( Law Enforcement Assistance Administration) federally to encourage across Canada alternatives at the community level. Another course available to the Federal Government to increase funding to the voluntary sector from individual taxpayers, is the tax reform scheme being proposed by the National Voluntary Organizations (NVO). (The NVO is comprised of 120 or so national voluntary groups including health, justice, environmental, native, Church, consumer, and social service groups.) The reform, Give & Take, is basically proposing that the standard $100 deduction for charitable donations be replaced by a tax credit, the donor receiving one dollar for every two dollars given to a charitable organization. Recommendation 10: That the Federal Government implement the Give & Take proposal. LiBfY MINISTRY CF THE S'''.-..:;_!CITOR GENERA: C A:7,A MAR 7 ign '7LY'..CTEUR ON CANADA i.1a

15 BOLDEN CANADA L B.LB BL III I I I I I 11 1i

16 Date Due DEC 1=9_1991 MV Jefferson, Christie J4 CAEFS BRIEF to the Strategic Planning Corn mittee of the Correctional Service of Canada.

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