Review of Research by Correctional Service Canada

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List is a list of publications by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government that were catalogued in the previous week. 

The most recent issue includes Research Year in Review 2022-2023, a publication of Correctional Service Canada (CSC).

From the introduction by Andrea Moser, PhD,  Director General of the Research Branch of the CSC:

"The Research Branch of the Correctional Service of Canada is a centralized research unit operating within the Policy Sector at National Headquarters. As an in-house research unit, CSC’s Research Branch is uniquely positioned to provide relevant, operationally meaningful and applied correctional research in support of CSC’s mandate and corporate priorities."

"The Branch strives to produce research that is timely, agile and that responds quickly and efficiently to urgent and priority requests while also balancing the need for and importance of more in-depth longterm projects (...)"

"The intent of this Research Year in Review is to highlight the excellent work done by our research team and ensure that the findings are broadly disseminated, including outside of our organization and the Canadian federal correctional context. We therefore hope that you find this review valuable and that you share it with others who may benefit from this knowledge."

There are sections on substance use, security threats, the impacts of the pandemic, Indigenous prisoners, correctional programs, and other topics.

New UNESCO Collection of Best Practices for Prsion Libraries

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning has made public a series of 16 case studies on best practices by prison libraries in different parts of the world:

"Education is a fundamental human right, of which prisoners should not be deprived. Lifelong learning opportunities in penitentiary contexts can empower individuals by equipping them with the tools to create new lives and livelihoods for themselves after release. Through fostering personal growth, and economic and social reintegration, prison education can result in lower rates of recidivism and promote more cohesive societies. In this context, gender-sensitive and human-centred approaches are key."

"Across the globe, inspiring efforts to promote prison education, including through the development of prison libraries, are being spearheaded by prison authorities, non-governmental organizations, civil society groups, international organizations and educational institutions, among others. This online collection seeks to showcase innovative and effective practices in this area, while sharing key impact data and personal stories that illustrate the transformative power of lifelong learning opportunities that are available to individuals who are incarcerated."

UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Canadian Federation of Library Associations Support for Prisoners’ Right to Read

The Canadian Federation of Library Associations (CFLA) recently published a statement on reading and access to information for people incarcerated in Canadian correctional institutions:

"Prison libraries must be given the space necessary to provide access to collections and library programs that meet incarcerated people’s recreational, cultural, educational, and other information needs. As supporters of intellectual freedom and access to information, prison libraries must provide people who are incarcerated with the widest variety of relevant and current materials possible, including access to legal materials. Materials should be provided in universally accessible formats, and/or libraries should have access to conversion technology in order to provide universally accessible formats. Collections and programming in prison libraries must also reflect the ethnic and cultural incarcerated population including people with disabilities. Library professionals are key to the prison library mandate including library staff dedicated to managing collections and delivering programs and services (...)"

"This statement is supported by the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules) (2015), the IFLA/UNESCO Public Library Manifesto (2022) and the IFLA Guidelines for Library Services to Prisoners (2023) as well as CFLA-FCAB’s policies on intellectual freedom."

 The Canadian Association of Law Libraries is a member of the CFLA. 

Canadian Prison Law Conference: Rights, Remedies and Decarceration

The Canadian Prison Law Association is partnering with the Peter A. Allard School of Law to organize the Canadian Prison Law Conference: Rights, Remedies and Decarceration in Vancouver on October 4-6, 2024.

The event will include topics such as "Indigenous self-determination and Indigenous justice practices, life sentences, solitary confinement in its many forms, enforcing human rights in places of detention, abolitionist legal strategies, constitutional rights and remedial possibilities, prison law and legal education, and more."

The conference program can be found online.

Video Recording of CALL Conference Session on Legal Information for Incarcerated Persons

At the recent annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries in late June in Montreal, panelists and advocates from across the country took part in a panel discussion on access to libraries, law, and legal information for incarcerated persons. 

The session is now available on YouTube.

"Prison libraries are fundamental as they provide access to information about the rights of the incarcerated person and the tools necessary to access those rights. Imprisoned Canadians are an underserved segment of the population who lack adequate access to legal information and library services. Most provincial prisons do not have formal libraries. Without a legislated requirement for library access to books and materials, incarcerated persons lack recreational, cultural, educational, and law reading materials. As more legal information is placed online, incarcerated persons are being excluded from simple access to the law. The 'language of law' is not available to this group."

Panelists included:

• Helen Anderson, Director, CLEO Connect
• Alan Kilpatrick, Law Society of Saskatchewan
• Romy Otayek, Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal
• The Honourable Kim Pate, Senate of Canada
• Karen Sawatzky, Manitoba Law Library
• Ava Sinclair, Buffalo Sage Wellness House
• Kirsten Wurmann, Manitoba Library Association

Recent Government of Canada Publications from the Weekly Acquisitions List

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List is a list of publications by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government that were catalogued in the previous week. 

Some of the documents in the most recent list include:

• Audit of Indigenous Intervention Centres (Correctional Service Canada): "The NIP [National Indigenous Plan] provides a national framework to transform Indigenous case management and corrections with an Indigenous first approach through enhancing various policies, operations and practices to better meet the needs of Indigenous offenders. The NIP includes streamlining existing Indigenous resources and services to ensure that Indigenous offenders have earlier access to parole and Indigenous interventions. Key components of the NIP include: Indigenous Intervention Centres, (...) enhanced case management, Elder and liaison services, section 84/81 enhancement, Offender’s Security Level reviews, and reintegration."
• Audit of Sentence Management (Correctional Service Canada): "CSC [Correctional Service Canada] is responsible for reviewing and analyzing court-imposed sentences in order to prepare a timeline for each offender that includes all sentences. This timeline takes into account any additional impact resulting from decisions made by the courts or the Parole Board of Canada (PBC) throughout the offender’s sentence. The interpretation and application of the legal provisions are less complex when the offender is serving a single sentence. However, many offenders receive multiple sentences, which may be imposed at different times, as a result of multiple convictions. Offenders convicted of multiple offences may be required by the court to serve consecutive sentences, concurrent sentences, or a combination of the two, making the sentence timeline more complex to calculate. It is therefore important for CSC to have an effective management framework and a system of controls in place to ensure that each admission or release of an offender is in compliance with current and historical legislation."
• Legal Aid in Canada 2022-2023 (Justice Canada): "While policy development related to criminal legal aid is a shared federal/provincial/territorial responsibility, each province and territory is responsible for the delivery of legal aid services based on their own policies and procedures. This report provides national level statistics on revenues, expenditures, personnel, and caseloads from legal aid service providers across Canada. Justice Canada has produced the Legal Aid in Canada report since 2016-17, and this is the seventh annual edition. This year’s report includes data from the 2022-23 fiscal year, as well as trend data from the past five years."

New Statistics Canada Articles: Online Hate and Resentencing of Adults Released from Custody

Statistics Canada recently published 2 justice-related articles:

• Reconvictions among adults sentenced to custody or community supervision across five provincial correctional programs, 2015/2016 to 2018/2019: "This Juristat article presents data and information on reconvictions among adults released from full-time custody, starting an intermittent custodial sentence, or starting a community supervision sentence across five provincial correctional programs in 2015/2016. Reconvictions were examined for up to four years, from 2015/2016 to 2018/2019. Findings are disaggregated by age, gender, criminal history and population group, including Indigenous, Black and other racialized groups."
• Online hate and aggression among young people in Canada: "Frequent social media and Internet use can place younger people at a higher risk of experiencing or being incited to perpetrate online harms and cyberaggression, from exposure to harmful online content to cyber-related hate crimes and other acts of cyberbullying, such as sexual exploitation targeting specific individuals. Today, in advance of Pink Shirt Day (February 28), Statistics Canada is releasing new analysis on cyberaggression among young people ..."

Recent Government of Canada Publications from the Weekly Acquisitions List

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List can be a great way to discover new research reports published by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government. 

It is a record of all publications catalogued in the previous week.

The most recent list had a few documents that attracted my attention:

• Consultation on copyright in the age of generative artificial intelligence (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) 
• Ten Years since Spirit Matters: A Roadmap for the Reform of Indigenous Corrections in Canada (Office of the Correctional Investigator)
• MAID and Mental Disorders: The Road Ahead (Report of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying, House of Commons)
• Canada’s Sanctions Regime: Transparency, Accountability and Effectiveness (Report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, House of Commons)

Statistics Canada Article on Over-Representation of Indigenous Persons in Adult Provincial Custody

The Statistics Canada publication Juristat has published an article on Over-Representation of Indigenous Persons in Adult Provincial Custody, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.

It found that the Indigenous incarceration rate was 8.9 times higher than the non-Indigenous incarceration rate in 2020/2021 in the five provinces covered (Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia).

Among the highlights:

• Indigenous men were most likely to experience incarceration, with almost one-in-ten Indigenous men aged 25-34 years experiencing incarceration over this period.
• In 2020/2021, the Over-Representation Index for Indigenous people was highest in Saskatchewan at 17.7 times higher than the non-Indigenous population, followed by Alberta (10.8), British Columbia (7.9), Ontario (6.3), and Nova Scotia (1.9).
• Over-representation increased in 2020/2021 by 14% from the previous year, when the over-representation index was 7.8.  Although, over-representation increased, the Incarceration rates for both Indigenous (down 18%) and non-Indigenous people (down 27%).
• The over-representation of Indigenous women in provincial correctional facilities (15.4 times higher than non-Indigenous women) was greater than for Indigenous men (8.4 times higher), in 2020/2021.
• In the three correctional services programs for which data are available, bail was used more frequently than remand for non-Indigenous persons. The ratio between average counts for bail and remand was 4.9 (that is for everyone one person in remand, almost 5 people were on bail), compared to 2.6 for the Indigenous population.

Recent Research Reports from Correctional Service Canada

Correctional Service Canada, which administers federal prisons, has a research unit that periodically publishes its findings.

Here are 2 of its recent publications:

• The Adverse Childhood Experiences of Canadian Federal Offenders: "Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) refer to instances of abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction that have been linked to a number of negative health, neurological and behavioural outcomes in adulthood. Ten ACEs have been identified in the literature: emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, violent treatment towards mother, household mental illness, household substance use, parental separation or divorce, and having an incarcerated household member (...) Results suggest that the majority of offenders (80% men; 86% women) had experienced at least one ACE. Men and Indigenous women were most likely to experience substance misuse in the household, whereas non-Indigenous women were most likely to experience abuse or neglect. Notably, Indigenous men and women had the highest rates of exposure across all ACE categories and were more likely to have exposure to multiple ACEs when compared to the other ethnocultural groups considered. Increased exposure to ACEs were associated with a number of negative institutional and community outcomes, such as substance use, institutional charges, institutional incidents as an instigator/associate or victim, recorded incidents of self-injurious behaviour, correctional program drop-out, and revocations of conditional release with and without an offence. In some cases the association between institutional and community outcomes and ACE factors varied across gender and ethnocultural groups."
• Comparing Characteristics, Institutional Adjustment, and Post-Release Success of Security Threat Groups: "The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) defines a Security Threat Group (STG) as a formal or informal offender group, gang, organization or association, consisting of three or more individuals ...  STG affiliated offenders pose a number of operational  and behavioural challenges in correctional settings. Operational staff attempt to limit the criminal activities of STGs while at the same time ensuring that offenders affiliated with STG groups who have compatibility issues are managed in separate units or institutions when necessary.  Understanding the specific characteristics and behaviours of various STG groups may assist in the management of these offenders during incarceration and identify how CSC can best support their reintegration into the community."

New Université de Montréal Library School Thesis on Services to Inmates

The Université de Montréal website Papyrus just published the text of Romy Otayek's Master's Thesis on library services to Quebec prison inmates, Portrait actuel des services de bibliothèque dans le milieu carcéral québécois (text in French).

It is an infrequently studied topic in Canada:

"The presence of a library in a prison environment brings benefits to prisoners. It is a source of leisure, education and access to information in a highly secure and limiting environment. The prison library is supported by the statements of the United Nations for the treatment of prisoners, the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) which highlight its benefits. Studies have been conducted in different countries in the presence, management and roles of the prison library in different types of correctional institutions. However, very few studies have been published in Canada and none in Quebec since 1973. Thus, the research aims to draw a portrait of the library services offered in detention facilities under Quebec's jurisdiction. The realization of this descriptive research has been done through a documentary research and a survey with the people managing the libraries using an online questionnaire. The results of this study show that all establishments offer library services in detention centres under provincial jurisdiction in Quebec. The results show that prisoners cannot use services on site or directly access documents in almost all establishments. In addition, there is a lack of diversity in the document supports, few activities are proposed, and no technological resources are accessible. These results enrich a section of librarianship that is little treated by providing current data on the situation in the province’s detention facilities. They shed light on an often invisible segment of the population for whom the library is important and pave the way for future research on the subject." [English abstract]

 Other Library Boy posts on the topic:

• New UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning Book on Prison Libraries (October 28, 2019): "The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning has published the first UNESCO publication on prison libraries, highlighting their contribution to the personal development and education of incarcerated adults and young people (...) The open access e-book was launched at the most recent conference in August of the  International Federation of Library Associations in Athens."
• Most Recent Issue of the Canadian Law Library Review (March 8, 2023): "Check out the feature article on p. 9 by Danielle Noonan Readers’ Advisory Services in Canadian Prisons: 'Library services in Canadian prisons have often been influenced by American standards. There is little research on libraries in Canadian prisons, and of that research it is evident that readers’ advisory services in prisons are nearly nonexistent. The following article  overviews 1981 and 1984 recommendations to the Correctional Service of Canada and a 2003 national survey about the operation of prison libraries. Through a comparison of the  American Library Association’s criteria and the current state of Canadian prison libraries, this article identifies the issues and proposes solutions that would enable prison librarians  to meet the recommended standards for readers advisory services in prisons'."

Most Recent Issue of the Canadian Law Library Review

The most recent issue of the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR) is available online.

The CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL). It is an open access publication.

Check out the feature article on p. 9 by Danielle Noonan Readers’ Advisory Services in Canadian Prisons:

"Library services in Canadian prisons have often been influenced by American standards. There is little research on libraries in Canadian prisons, and of that research it is evident that readers’ advisory services in prisons are nearly nonexistent. The following article  overviews 1981 and 1984 recommendations to the Correctional Service of Canada and a 2003 national survey about the operation of prison libraries. Through a comparison of the  American Library Association’s criteria and the current state of Canadian prison libraries, this article identifies the issues and proposes solutions that would enable prison librarians  to meet the recommended standards for readers advisory services in prisons."

 

International Federation of Library Associations Guidelines for Library Services to Prisoners

The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) has published the fourth edition of its Guidelines for Library Services to Prisoners.

From the "Purpose for the Guidelines" section of the document:

"The objective of this document is to provide a tool for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of library services to prisoners. The document is intended to serve as a model guide for the development of national guidelines for prison libraries. The guidelines are applicable to all places of incarceration, regardless of the term used to describe the facility. They are therefore applicable to adult and juvenile prisons, detention centres, and jails ... and can be adapted to reflect local circumstances and needs (...) A section of minimum standards is included in recognition that many countries will not be able to comply with these broader guidelines. It is hoped that these minimum standards will be achievable in most contexts and will provide a starting point for environments where prison libraries are not commonly available or well-supported."

"The guidelines provide a tool for planning new libraries and for the evaluation of existing libraries and can be used in the absence of any local guidelines or standards. In addition to being a practical tool for the establishment, operation, and assessment of prison libraries, these guidelines shall serve as a general statement of principle for the fundamental right of prisoners to read, learn, access and acquire information. The guidelines are aimed at librarians, library administrators, prison authorities, legislative and administrative branches of government, and other agencies/authorities that are responsible for administering and funding prison libraries."

Founded in 1927, IFLA has member library associations and institutions in 150 countries. 

Public Safety Canada Report on Resolution of Victim Complaints

Public Safety Canada has published a report evaluating the resolution of victim complaints to a number of federal law enforcement and justice system bodies. 

The Public Safety Canada Portfolio Report (2020-2021): Victim Complaint Resolution Mechanisms looks at how complaints were handled involving the Canada Border Services Agency, the Correctional Service of Canada, the Parole Board of Canada, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police:

"The Canadian Victims Bill of Rights (CVBR) was enshrined in law in July 2015, which identified four statutory rights for victims of crime in the criminal justice system (CJS):

• right to information,
• right to participation,
• right to protection, and
• right to seek restitution."

"To ensure these rights are upheld, a federal complaint resolution mechanism was established as a remedy to alleged infringements of victims’ rights and to take corrective action. Victims of crime may file a complaint if they are of the opinion that their rights have been infringed or denied by a federal department or agency during their interaction with the Canadian CJS. Public Safety Canada (PS) and its Portfolio agencies continue to implement the CVBR with the aim to improve victims’ experience with the CJS."

"This report summarizes complaints received and responded to by the PS Portfolio agencies within the 2020-2021 fiscal year. This report also includes how the complaints were resolved, any improvements that were made to the complaint process by each agency, data from previous fiscal years for comparison purposes and reports on actions taken to address concerns raised by victims."

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Webinar on Prison Law

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) will host a webinar on January 28, 2021 on Prison Law: Researching Health and Legal Implications of Aging Prison Populations. 

The event will take place 1:00 - 2:15 PM ET:

"Dr. Iftene will present on the substance and the methodology of her biggest project to date. This project was built around the experiences of older prisoners, the challenges individuals face in Canadian penitentiaries, and their struggles for justice. Through firsthand accounts and quantitative data drawn from extensive interviews, her work brings forward the experiences of federally incarcerated people living their 'golden years' behind bars. These experiences show the limited ability of the system to respond to heightened needs, while also raising questions about how international and national laws and policies are applied, and why they fail to ensure the safety and well-being of incarcerated individuals."

The speaker will be  Dr. Adelina Iftene, Assistant Professor and the Criminal Justice Specialization Coordinator at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, in Halifax.

Webinar Costs:

• CALL Member: $40 + HST
• CALL Student Member: $25 + HST
• Non-member: $60 + HST

Most Recent Feature Articles in LawNow: Corrections

The most recent issue of LawNow is available online. 

The magazine is published by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.

The issue features a series of articles about the correctional system:

• Comparing Canada’s Corrections to Europe, the United States and Aboriginal Communities
• The Many Faces of ‘Corrections’: A call for universal reform
• How Inmates in Canadian Prisons Suffer
• Transgender Inmates in Canada

Library of Parliament Article on COVID-19 and the Federal Correctional System

HillNotes, a publication of the Library of Parliament in Ottawa, has published an article on COVID-19 and the Federal Correctional System:

"Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal penitentiaries across the country have reported infections, with institutions experiencing outbreaks in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. Both federally sentenced persons and guards have been infected. Because correctional facilities and their populations are part of the larger community, a disease outbreak within penitentiaries is also a health risk to society."

"Approximately 14,000 federally sentenced persons are in federal correctional facilities. They generally live in close quarters, with little separation between cells. Practising physical distancing is either not feasible or could require imposing measures (e.g. prolonged solitary confinement and lockdowns) that have been shown to cause significant physiological and psychological harm."

"The federally sentenced population is particularly vulnerable due to aging and higher rates of chronic illness. Many federally sentenced persons have struggled with high-risk behaviours associated with chronic health conditions such as Hepatitis C Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus. In addition, Indigenous Peoples are overrepresented in federal corrections (30% of federally sentenced persons compared to 5% of Canada’s overall population), and have higher rates of infectious disease and chronic health issues."

The article looks at the obligations to provide health services in correctional institutions, reports by the federal prisons ombudsman, the debate over early release of inmates during the pandemic, and current court challenges against the Canadian government's handling of the situation

New UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning Book on Prison Libraries

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning has published the first UNESCO publication on prison libraries, highlighting their contribution to the personal development and education of incarcerated adults and young people:

"This publication explores the extent to which prison authorities fulfil their societal mandate to rehabilitate and reintegrate inmates by enabling them to use prison libraries to pursue their right to education."

"Reading and using a prison library can open up a world beyond prison bars, allowing prisoners to forget for a time the harsh reality of prison life and empower them to choose their own reading materials in an otherwise extremely restrictive and regulated environment. Providing access to relevant books and information in various languages, including easy reading materials, is crucial for prisoners’ personal development."

"This publication takes a closer look at selected examples of prison library systems around the world, outlining best practice and possible challenges, thus demonstrating their transformative potential as informational, educational, cultural and recreational meeting and learning spaces."

The open access e-book was launched at the most recent conference in August of the  International Federation of Library Associations in Athens.

Statistics Canada Article on Adult and Youth Correctional Statistics

Juristat, a Statistics Canada publication, recently published an article entitled Adult and youth correctional statistics in Canada, 2017/2018.

Overall, fewer adults and youth were under supervision by correctional services in Canada in 2017/2018 compared with five years earlier. However, the number of adults in remand awaiting trial or sentencing continues to be greater than the number in sentenced custody.

Statistics Canada Article on Adult and Youth Correctional Statistics in Canada

The Statistics Canada publication Juristat last week published an article entitled Adult and youth correctional statistics in Canada, 2016/2017.

According to the article, the number of adults and youth being supervised by correctional services in Canada has fallen by almost one-fifth since 2012/2013.

It also found that the overrepresentation of Indigenous Canadians continued.

Aboriginal adults represented about 5% of the Canadian adult population in 2016/2017, while accounting for 28% of admissions to provincial/territorial correctional services and 27% of admissions for federal correctional services. In comparison, in 2006/2007, Aboriginal adults accounted for 21% of admissions to provincial and territorial correctional services and 19% to federal correctional services.

Aboriginal males accounted for 28% of male admissions to custody in the provinces and territories in 2016/2017, while Aboriginal females accounted for 43% of total female admissions to custody.

The overrepresentation also applied to Aboriginal youth. They accounted for 46% of admissions to correctional services in 2016/2017, while representing 8% of the Canadian youth population.