CAEFS Strategic Plan

Transcription

1 CAEFS Strategic Plan November 6, 2011

2 CAEFS Strategic Plan Table of Contents Introduction 3 1. Vision and Foundational Documents 3 2. The External and Internal Environment 4 3. CAEFS Framework 6 4. Strategic Priorities and Outcomes 7 5. Strategies and Actions 7 6. Ongoing Work Resource Base Monitoring and Evaluation Plan 13 Appendix A: CAEFS Vision Appendix B: Six Levels of Consensus CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 2 of 21

3 Introduction The Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) strategic plan sets out the strategic priorities of the organization over the coming five years. The plan involves and includes the whole E. Fry network: local, regional and national levels. 1. Vision and Foundational Documents Vision Canada without Prisons An explanation of the analysis behind this vision and the history of how it emerged is attached as Appendix A. Mission Statement CAEFS is an association of self-governing, community-based Elizabeth Fry Societies that work with and for women and girls in the justice system, particularly those who are, or may be, criminalized. Together, Elizabeth Fry Societies develop and advocate the beliefs, principles and positions that guide CAEFS. The association exists to ensure substantive equality in the delivery and development of services and programs through public education, research, legislative and administrative reform, regionally, nationally and internationally. Beliefs, Operating Philosophy, Goals and Principles CAEFS has a series of foundational documents, in addition to the vision and mission, which guide the work of the organization. These include the Beliefs, Operating Philosophy, Goals and Principles. Action: CAEFS developed a revised document that integrates the beliefs, principles and operating philosophy. It is as follows. MISSION STATEMENT CAEFS is an association of self-governing, community-based Elizabeth Fry Societies that work with and for women and girls in the justice system, particularly those who are, or may be, criminalized. Together, Elizabeth Fry Societies develop and advocate the beliefs, principles and positions that guide CAEFS. The association exists to ensure substantive equality in the delivery and development of services and programs through CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 3 of 21

4 public education, research, legislative and administrative reform, regionally, nationally and internationally. PRINCIPLES Member societies support the following principles: While the strength of our federation is the freedom to meet the needs of our communities in unique and effective ways, as an Association, CAEFS develops policies and positions and acts on common interests affecting women. Women s rights are human rights and women are entitled to substantive equality; that is, the right of access to equal opportunities and programs in the justice system; as well as the right to justice without fear of prejudice or discrimination on the basis of such factors as sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, age, religion and freedom of conscience, social or economic condition. Women who are criminalized should not be imprisoned; all efforts will be made to prevent women from being incarcerated and to facilitate the earliest community integration of those who are sentenced to a term of imprisonment. OUR GOALS To increase public awareness and promotion of decarceration for women. To reduce the numbers of women who are criminalized and imprisoned in Canada. To increase the availability of community-based, publicly funded, social service, health and educational resources available for marginalized, victimized, criminalized and imprisoned women. To increase collaborative work among Elizabeth Fry Societies and other women s groups working to address poverty, racism, and other forms of oppression. 2. The External and Internal Environment External Environment There are a wide range of relationships that are important to achieving the organization s goals. These are summarized in the chart below. It should be CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 4 of 21

5 noted that this is not an exhaustive list but gives an indication of the range and complexity of the relationships in the CAEFS environment. Mental Health Assocs PSEPC Municipal councils SWC The Women Food Banks Detox centres Individual donors Prov Status of Women Councils (including ED Funders Academic Member Tribunals honouraria) Women s Future community organizations Fund Regional bureaucrats CAEFS Councils AFN Pauktuutit FFQ Media Federal gov t politicians NAPO CFAD CCP J4G judges Metis women CERA CSC Legal Aid Prison Arts NPB Regional Provincial gov t Partners ASRSQ (40+) INAC prisons Provincial jails Criminal Lawyers Assoc. Health OOHL Remand centres Justice RCMP NWAC SIS Women for Justice Youth Justice HRDC Aborig UN WCPJS John Howard WISPR Heads of CACs NAACJ (17) NAWL FAFIA Policing corrections WFF ACLC CCJA ALC Amnesty Internat. Health Hospitals CAMH CPHA SI Welfare Some observations: The local, regional and national organizations have a lot of relationships and partners. Some of the relationships that locals have are very different from the relationships that the national has. Not everyone knows each other relationships and so women working in different parts of the organization can not always build on each other s knowledge. There were few funding relationships and CAEFS relies heavily on one funding source. Some Factors in the External Environment Criminal justice system: Law and order agenda: longer sentences, severe penalties, harsh treatment in institutions Few programs for women in maximum security units and for those leaving institutions Little or no commitment to alternatives to prison, or to reintegration options CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 5 of 21

6 Women are fastest growing prison population, esp. Aboriginal and other racialized women, and women with mental health disabilities. Increased criminalization of battered women, sexually abused and exploited women and girls, poor women, women with addictions, etc. Public perception that there may be a new profile of criminalized and imprisoned women and girls? System fuelling perception that women are becoming more violent, without any examination of the manner in which limited community resources and increasingly isolated and isolating prison environments and regimes are increasing resistance among prisoners Aging lifer population and increased age polarization among women in prison and on parole Canadian society Collapse of social safety net, reduced services (e.g. welfare eliminated and replaced by workfare, reduced social and health services in mental health, education, etc.) Poverty Unemployment Housing, homelessness Racism Patriarchy, backlash against women who defend or otherwise react to violence against themselves and others [usually children], absurd belief that women have gained equality Perceived shift in public attitude about victimization and criminal justice issues Media response, including high profile cases Youth gun violence New, cheap, available drugs Pending elections (federal, provincial, municipal) Funding Environment Competition for funding sources and donors Possible cuts to core funding Reduced funding available Invited to apply for project funding that has limited prospect of continuity Internal Issues and Challenges A series of key internal issues are important to take into account in the strategic plan: Regionalization: need to assess if it has been effective, to take lessons learned from the experience of it Network: lack of cohesion and communication among members and CAEFS, autonomy issues, need better ways for resolving disagreements CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 6 of 21

7 Funding is a constant challenge: never enough resources, vulnerability to losing funding, many local societies have already lost some funding sources Board leadership and effectiveness: need to clarify board and ED roles, leadership, ensure transparent decisions throughout CAEFS 3. CAEFS Framework CAEFS has an analysis based on the economic and human costs of incarceration and the benefits to society of alternatives. CAEFS needs to succinctly describe this framework. Action: CAEFS revised the existing fact sheet and distributed a description of the analysis or framework underlying its work. 4. Strategic Priorities and Outcomes The CAEFS network (local, regional, national) has chosen the following key priorities to focus on over the next five years: 1. Fewer women in prison. CAEFS will work pro-actively and preventively for systemic change and will intervene in the cases of individual women to seek to reduce the number of women in prison. 2. More extensive community services and options with and for women. CAEFS will work to educate the public, the media, all levels of government and the criminal justice system about the economic and social costs of incarceration, and the benefits to society of creating community options (e.g. the Human Rights in Action Project with NWAC and SIS will facilitate this). 3. Unified and interconnected CAEFS network. CAEFS will adjust its communication practices, review regionalization to ensure the organizational structure supports the implementation of the strategic plan, and create organizational processes to enable healthy and open dialogue and support the building of a shared vested interest. 4. Stable and sufficient funding base. CAEFS will create and implement a communications plan and a fund development strategy to pursue a variety of other funding sources, including donors, granting bodies, fund-raising events and others. CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 7 of 21

8 5. Strong and effective board. CAEFS will create a board structure that enables everyone in the network to have a vested interest in the success of CAEFS, and will enhance the board orientation and supports, and put in place a board work plan 5. Strategies and Actions 1. Fewer women in prison CAEFS will support regional and local social action activities on key issues by undertaking background work and coordinating actions across the country. This requires proactive information sharing between local, regional and national offices. The key issues are chosen to address the emerging law and order agenda and also to set out CAEFS alternative vision and policies for a more effective criminal justice response. The key issues include: i) Decarceration Remand and bail Housing and social / financial assistance Segregation, maximum security, and overcrowding Parole, statutory release Classification and community programming Alternatives to criminalization and imprisonment Human Rights in Action project Correctional accountability ii) Substantive equality Community institutions and supports related to mental illness, AIDS, legal aid, and other areas Immigrant women (Dominique will do a manual) Aboriginal and racialized women Criminalization of women with mental health and intellectual disabilities Issues for young women and girls iii) Proposed new legislation Access to justice (e.g. legal aid, court challenges, law commission) Mandatory minimum sentences (including 3 strikes-style proposals) Reduced access to conditional sentences Proposed reductions in conditional releasing Youth Justice CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 8 of 21

9 Immigration and detention issues Anti-privatization work (such as electronic monitoring) iv) International Work addressing the discriminatory treatment of women in/from prison immigration and detention issues. B. Strategies i) Prevention CAEFS will work to inform and educate judges, lawyers, academics, politicians, bureaucrats and the public about the consequences of criminalizing women and sending them to jail (both for the women and for society at large), the societal forces which contribute to women being criminalized, and what the alternatives are to incarceration. Specific approaches will be developed for each of these audiences, including: sharing research and studies, providing education and professional development sessions, encouraging the relevant professional institutions to provide education, establishing dialogues between the decision-makers and women with lived experience, intervening in individual cases and systemic advocacy, working in partnership with other organizations. Human rights complaints will also be used in some provinces to shed light on conditions. ii) Intervention For cases of specific women, CAEFS will continue the main elements of its current work on these issues, including: interventions with women serving long sentences, as well as those subject to 15 year judicial reviews, the CSC management protocol and other limitations on liberty. CAEFS will also work to encourage diversion, dropping of charges, sentencing options and, for women sent to prison, release as soon as possible, through legal challenges and interventions. This will include issues related to conditions of confinement, education and information work with judges, lawyers, and others, and encouraging the Parole Board to intervene, e.g. to provide counterweight to victim statements. CAEFS will work via the Human Rights in Action project to ensure peer support teams are developed in each of the regions. CAEFS will also seek to have additional external judicial review of corrections, as well as the development of a CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 9 of 21

10 Prisoners Fund established for the purpose of assisting women to directly challenge unfair or illegal policies and practices. 2. More extensive community services for women i) Positive image campaign CAEFS will undertake a campaign to profile the effectiveness of E Fry work with respect to cost savings (compared with incarceration) and with respect to public safety. This will be a campaign with national and local components, involving media, working with MPs, and reaching out to community groups. The purpose of this campaign is to build support for community services for women. ii) Program support To support work by local societies providing community services, CAEFS will strengthen the national website to share program and other information among local societies. The website will be searchable and as user-friendly as possible. It would be useful to have a member-only section. Information posted on the website will continue to include: programs offered by each local society (program description, funding sources, materials used, etc.) fact sheets, research and reports on various issues CAEFS is working on, including the issues noted under the first priority, Fewer women in prison. In addition, the Members Only section will include: an updated CAEFS policy manual Board and Executive Director orientation packages, including various orientation materials used by different local societies, and a basic orientation package explaining CAEFS, the roles and relationships of local societies and national, and the advocacy process staff and volunteer training materials used by local societies media kit and media materials Local societies will be responsible for providing the relevant information, and the national office will undertake to post materials and to oversee design and maintenance of the site. 3. Unified and interconnected CAEFS network A. Regionalization/Structural Review CAEFS will conduct a structural review to assess the strengths and shortcomings associated with its current structure, and identify options for the future, including possible changes. CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 10 of 21

11 In particular, the review will address: a) relationships among and between local societies, regional structures and the national level; b) the role of regional advocates and their place within the overall structure, as well as the roles of other parts of the local, regional and national structures regarding advocacy; c) accountability of local, regional and national entities; d) the scope and implementation of local society autonomy within the overall structure; e) the roles of local, regional and national structures in addressing the situation of federally and provincially sentenced women; f) funding of local, regional and national levels. The review will include: a) a description by each region of their current structure, services, communication, decision-making, and division of roles and responsibilities; b) gathering of input from all local societies, regional bodies, and national board and staff; c) an overview of models and structures used by other national organizations; d) analysis of the current structure, its strengths and weaknesses; e) development of options for the future structure; f) feedback on the options from the network The decision-making process should seek to develop consensus around the recommendations. The review will be guided by a steering committee of regional and national board representatives. Following direction from the Board, the Committee will continue to work on the regionalization review process and will continue to seek funding to continue the work and hire a consultant. B. Communications i) Social Networking The national web site and Members section will be upgraded and expanded as required. In addition to , CAEFS will continue to develop twitter and other forms of social media. ii) Orienting Executive Directors Particularly for new Executive Directors, there are often gaps in knowledge related to the history of CAEFS, roles and responsibilities of various positions in CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 11 of 21

12 the network, how to use the resources of CAEFS, etc. The following are some measures to share organizational memory and expertise among different parts of the network: match new EDs with experienced EDs, to help them understand the context of various decisions, organizational practices, etc. hold more frequent ED meetings. 4. Stable and sufficient funding base i) Emergency plan In the event that funds to CAEFS are cut with little or no notice, the following steps will be taken: A letter writing campaign will be launched among all local societies, partners and allies at the local, regional, national and international levels. ii) Fund Development Plan CAEFS will create and implement a fund development strategy to pursue a variety of other funding sources, and a committee to develop and oversee this strategy. This will include: Identifying foundations and other potential sources of funding, and preparing proposals for them Undertaking planned giving campaign Pursuing corporate donors Considering a national fundraising day for E Fry in Canada iii) Positive image campaign The campaign to profile the work of CAEFS (referred to above under More community services ) will also have some positive spinoff for fund-raising, as more donors in the community will know about CAEFS and the effectiveness of our work, 5. Strong and effective Board a) Board representation The board structure aims to ensure everyone in the Elizabeth Fry network has a vested interest in the success of CAEFS, and that everyone comes to the table equally.. b) Board orientation CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 12 of 21

13 To strengthen the board orientation, CAEFS will distribute the orientation manual to each new board members. c) Board work plan Although there are committee work plans, the board identified that it would be useful to also have an overall work plan for the board, which sets out the activities the board will undertake to implement the strategic plan. Maintain and enhance CAEFS as credible and effective voice This is not a separate priority in itself, but is a strategy about how CAEFS will work. This approach is intended to help in achieving the above priorities, especially the externally oriented work to have fewer women in prison and more community services, support and economic, housing and personal options. a) Credibility CAEFS will maintain and develop its credibility by ensuring a high level of knowledge of the issues, involving specialists in various fields (at both local and national levels) to act as resources and supports to CAEFS, documenting the validity and success of the approaches we are advocating, acting as a resource to those working in the field (for example, by collecting and making available to researchers, lawyers, academics and others the extensive studies, factums and other documents that already exist in the CAEFS network), demonstrating that we are a well-run organization, with good management, accountability, code of ethics, etc. b) Visibility and leadership CAEFS will be active and present in the political, judicial and correctional milieux, and will keep a high profile through media work, articles, participation at key conferences, etc. It will be important to update the communications strategy for CAEFS. c) Responsive relationships with key parts of government CAEFS must adapt our communications to the audience, and be strategic in our approach (e.g. how to speak to abolition). It is important that we adapt to each contact we are working with, with an understanding of the limits to their authority, and with sensitivity to their level of understanding of the issues. CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 13 of 21

14 It is important that CAEFS use a range of approaches when dealing with government, the public and other audiences whose decisions are key to achieving our strategic priorities. In some cases, a direct and challenging approach will be best, while in other cases more progress may be achieved through a more collaborative style, or some other approach. There is some degree of tension inherent in the range of work that the network does. On the one hand, there are efforts to advocate for the fair and reasonable application of rules and procedures, while on the other hand there are also efforts to change these very same rules at a systemic level. Without close communication and common understanding among the local societies and the national office, this inherent tension can work against the progress that the organization is trying to achieve. Our aim is to have a level of credibility, visibility and relationships across the whole organization at all levels, such that government cannot reasonably take a decision related to criminalized women without considering our views. 6. Resources The main resources of the organization are people and money. The budget of the national operation and the allocation of national staff and board time would reflect in part the priorities set out in the strategic plan. In addition, because this is a plan for the whole network, at the local, regional and national levels, the work of regional councils and local societies would in some ways reflect these priorities and the collaborative work as well. For example, local societies committed themselves to participating in the regionalization/structural review, to coordinating with the cross-regional issue teams, and to the emergency funding plan. 7. Monitoring and Evaluation CAEFS needs to decide how it is going to monitor progress on its strategic priorities and the various strategies and actions. This would include feedback from local societies, and sharing of monitoring and evaluation information with them. Action: CAEFS will develop a plan for monitoring and evaluation of the strategic priorities, strategies and actions in the strategic plan. CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 14 of 21

15 Appendix A: CAEFS Vision: Canada without prisons. History and Development of Position Taken by CAEFS in 1993 At the Annual General Meeting in June 1993 in Kelowna, the membership of CAEFS voted that the organization adopt penal abolition as a position. This decision was predicated by three years of frustration as the membership started to see the unravelling of what is still, nearly 20 years later, seen as one of the most progressive penal reform initiatives internationally. On the heels of many progressive reports and spurred on by the deaths of seven women, six of whom were Aboriginal, the Solicitor General of the day, granted the Correctional Service of Canada the authority to review the state of women s imprisonment in Canada. This led to the establishment in 1988 of the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women. The Task Force was co-chaired by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) and the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS). Half of the members were bureaucrats, but, for the first time before and since, half of the members were drawn from communitybased groups primarily members of CAEFS, but also other women s groups [and later a number of Aboriginal women formed their own circle and process]. The Task Force issued it s report, Creating Choices, in 1990, and it was heralded as a significant international milestone in women s corrections. The CSC/CAEFS partnership of the Task Force was ended by CSC after the report was tabled. The primary consequence was that the implementation phase was undertaken by CSC alone. Not surprisingly, this resulted in the overwhelming focus by CSC on the prison-building component of the Creating Choices recommendations, and virtually no work on the recommendations surrounding community development and the development of services and programs designed to assist women to address the issues that bring them to prison and/or facilitate their community integration after prison. It was in this context that support for CAEFS moving from a prison reform to an abolitionist perspective, whereby the work of the organization would focus on keeping and/or returning women to the community. When, in 1995, the Board confirmed its vision of a Canada without prisons, the strategic plan for the ensuing years was framed so as to include the development of coalitions with CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 15 of 21

16 additional women s, Aboriginal and visible minority groups, anti-poverty and other groups working to end the oppression of those who are marginalized. CAEFS also retains strong and enduring relationships with those groups involved in the criminal justice and correctional systems. In 2003, when CAEFS revised its mandate, the work was extended to include linkages with others doing similar work at the international level. Similarly, those working in the area of penal reform in other countries especially those working in the context of the imprisonment of women have identified similar trends, concerns and conclusions. For instance, in the United Kingdom, the Howard League for Penal Reform, Penal Reform International and Women in Prison, are groups whose practical experience with penal reform, informed by their academic research and legislative reform efforts, have all come to positions favouring the decarceration of women. In the United States and Australia, similar trends and sister coalitions have also developed. CAEFS has developed international linkages with these groups as well. Background and Contextualizing Information Many Canadians cannot envision a country without a penal system to administer punitive sanctions to its legal transgressors. Prisons are an archaic form of punishment that no longer address the needs of contemporary populations (if they ever did). The following points articulate some of the arguments put forth in support of penal abolition. Cost: Most women are not a risk to public safety and imprisoning them is costly. The human/social and fiscal costs of imprisonment are high. Most women in prison are criminalized for poverty-related offences and are not considered dangerous. Most are mothers; and, most of these were solely responsible for their children before they were imprisoned. Many of their children end up in state care while their mother are imprisoned. New child welfare procedures in some provinces and territories mean that a mother s imprisonment will result in the permanent severance by the state of her relationship with her children. The social and fiscal costs for these families and society are immense. Community-based sentences and/or pre-trial options can allow women to still be held accountable for any harm done, while allowing them to remain in the community, where they may continue to care for their children and otherwise support themselves. Recognizing the impact that the imprisonment of mothers may have on generations of children, when Nelson Mandela was President in South Africa, he decarcerated all of the mothers who were then imprisoned. CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 16 of 21

17 Community supervision options ranging from $5 to $25 per day whereas, for women in provincial jails, the cost of imprisonment is at least $50,000 per year and the cost of imprisonment for a woman in a federal penitentiary ranges from $ to $ per year. Inequality: The greater the degree of marginalization, the greater the likelihood of criminalization and imprisonment. Statistics Canada reports that crime rates have been dropping since 1996, the same year that the Canada Assistance Act was repealed, thereby allowing provinces to cut vital social, health and educational services to the most vulnerable. The retreat of the state occasioned by the evisceration of our social safety net, combined with a simultaneous intrusion of the state in terms of surveillance, monitoring, criminalization, and institutionalization, is resulting in the increased marginalization, criminalization and imprisonment of the most disadvantaged. Poverty 80 percent of women are imprisoned for economic related crimes. The most recent dramatic growth of women prisoners can largely be attributed to such global phenomena as the dismantling of social, health and educational services and programs. Women want to learn employable and transferable skills in order to prevent (further) criminalization and to support themselves and their children. However, women have virtually no access to meaningful work opportunities and employment programs while incarcerated. While the employment rate for women with children in the past quarter century has grown, women with children are still less likely to be employed than women without children. Also, in 1996, there were just over child care spaces available to preschool children in Canada, while at the same time, there were families in Canada with at least one preschool aged child living with two working parents or a single parent who was employed. Sexism Although women account for about 11% of those charged with criminal offences involving any form of violence, women are the fastest growing prison population. Women are generally imprisoned far from their homes, so they often lose touch with their friends, families and other communities of support. 82% of women serving prison sentences of 2 years or more have experienced physical and/or sexual abuse. Increasing numbers of women who call the police because they are experiencing abuse are counter-charged as a result of their attempts to defend themselves. CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 17 of 21

18 Federally sentenced women have high rates of childhood sexual abuse, commonly incestuous, violent, extended over a long period of time, and with multiple perpetrators. They also have high rates of re-victimization at the hands of violent men. As a result, the mere presence of men doing their bed checks, being forced to speak to male staff about their abuse and related triggers, being monitored by male staff and being strip searched, especially when male staff may be present, also serves to re-victimize women in prison. The institutionalization of women with these types of histories is inappropriate, ineffective, and detrimental to the women themselves. Women as a group have historically been subject to more disadvantaged treatment and more restrictive conditions of confinement than men. Women prisoners in particular tend to be invisible to society, because of their relatively small numbers. Women account for less than 5 percent of all individuals serving sentences of 2 years or more and the vast majority of women prisoners are first time prisoners, In 2001, 82 percent of federally sentenced women were serving their first federal sentence. Women are more likely to plead guilty and to be sentenced to prison. For example, 25 percent of men and 37 percent of women are jailed for theft. Women are far less likely than men to commit or to be convicted of serious crimes of violence. Prison is heralded as an institution to preserve the public s safety by incarcerating those considered dangerous. However, the majority of all charges for which federally sentenced women are convicted are poverty related, non-violent property and drug offences. Most women who are classified as maximum security prisoners tend to be so designated because they are labeled as having difficulty adapting to the prison (i.e. institutional adjustment), rather than because they pose a risk to public safety. Women released from prison are less likely to return to prison for new charges. Young women are also more likely to be detained for 'their own protection' on the basis of non-criminal, administrative offences, such as breach of bail, probation or parole conditions. Racism Aboriginal women and other racialized women are 44% of the federal prison population and can account for as high as 95% of some provincial and territorial jail populations. The prison system does not treat all prisoners of different ethnicities equally. Aboriginal federally sentenced women and other racialized women are singled out for segregation more often than other prisoners. CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 18 of 21

19 Data from the Correctional Service of Canada show that although Aboriginal women account for less than 2% of the population of Canada, they account for 29% of all incarcerated women in February 2003; they accounted for 35.5% of all involuntary admissions to administrative segregation and are frequently the majority of the women classified as maximum security prisoners. Aboriginal women classified at maximum security prisoners are denied access to the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, despite the fact that it was designed and envisioned to meet the needs of the very women who have never been provided access. In 2003, Aboriginal women were 46% of maximum security federally sentenced women, 35% of the medium security population and 23% of minimum security women. 90% of Aboriginal women serving prison sentences of 2 years or more have experienced physical and/or sexual abuse. Mental Health Cuts to health care and social programs, on the heels of the deinstitutionalization of those with mental health disabilities, has resulted in the re-institutionalization of many in our prisons. Prisons are not treatment facilities. Even when they try to provide therapeutic support, it is always secondary to their primary purpose of imprisonment as punishment. Many prisoners develop mental health issues while in prison. Imprisonment generally exacerbates pre-existing mental health issues; and although attempts are made to develop mental health services in some prisons, the most disabled prisoners tend to have the greatest difficulty in prison. Those prisoners who do not adjust well to prison or who self-injure are generally classified as maximum security prisoners and housed in the most isolated and segregated conditions of confinement. The mental health issues faced by some federally sentenced women are considerable and tend to be different than those of their male counterparts. In many cases women are harming themselves primarily as a means of coping with the distress caused by incarceration. Prison is not an appropriate place for criminalized women as most women need treatment and therapeutic intervention rather than to be incarcerated for public protection. Prisoners with the greatest needs are often incorrectly perceived as those who pose the greatest risk because their mental health issues, incidents of self-injury, CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 19 of 21

20 depression and suicide mean they do not adjust well to prison, which in turn frequently results in them being labeled as maximum security prisoners. CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 20 of 21

21 Appendix B: Six Levels of Consensus In this approach, people are not simply for or against the decision, but have the option to situate themselves on a scale that lets them express their individual opinion more clearly. This model is usually used with a round, so that everyone in the meeting is given the opportunity to state where they are according to the following six levels: 1. Fully support. 2. Support with reservations. 3. Acceptable 4. Will not block it, can live with it. 5. Need more information or more discussion. 6. No; cannot accept it. If someone is at level 2, 3 or 4, they have the option of explaining their reservations. These can be addressed by the meeting, if the group wishes to. This is not absolutely necessary, but it usually improves the recommendation or suggestion being discussed. If someone is at level 5, they have the obligation to explain fairly precisely what information or discussion they require from the group. If someone is at level 6, they have an obligation to try to offer a solution that can accommodate their interests and the interests of the rest of the group. (This model was adapted from the BC Labour Force Development Board) CAEFS Strategic Plan Page 21 of 21