:
Good afternoon, colleagues. This is meeting number 92 of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts for Tuesday, April 17, 2018. I would remind all colleagues today that we are being televised, so I would encourage you to take your mobile phones and put them on silent mode so that you don't disrupt our witnesses or other committee members.
Today we are here in consideration of “Report 5—Preparing Women Offenders for Releases—Correctional Service Canada”, of the fall 2017 reports of the Auditor General of Canada.
I welcome to our committee today the Auditor General of Canada, Mr. Michael Ferguson; and from the Office of the Auditor General, Carol McCalla, principal. Welcome.
From Correctional Service Canada, we welcome Ms. Anne Kelly, interim commissioner; Ms. Kelley Blanchette, deputy commissioner for women; and Mrs. Jennifer Wheatley, assistant commissioner, health services.
I would also say that if we do have extra time today, we would like to keep back five or 10 minutes just to do some committee business. You may have seen that circulated by our clerk earlier. It's basically looking ahead at the calendar and some of those things.
We welcome you today. We will begin with our Auditor General, Mr. Ferguson, please.
Mr. Chair, thank you for this opportunity to speak about the results of our audit on how Correctional Service Canada, or CSC, prepares women offenders for release.
Our audit focused on the timely access to rehabilitation programs and services for almost 700 women offenders in federal custody. Indigenous women have grown to represent 36% of the women offender population. Although CSC cannot control the number of offenders who receive federal sentences, it can provide them with timely access to rehabilitation programs and culturally appropriate services to prepare them for release on parole.
We found that the tool CSC used to assign security levels was designed to assess men, not women. CSC also used this tool to refer women offenders to correctional programs, which is problematic because the tool wasn't designed for this purpose. As a result, some women offenders were held at a higher security level than necessary and were assigned to rehabilitation programs they didn't need.
[Translation]
We found that CSC did not provide women offenders with the rehabilitation programs they needed when they needed them. Most women offenders in federal custody were serving short-term sentences, which often meant that they became eligible for release within the first year of their sentences. However, the majority of women offenders had not completed the rehabilitation programs they needed when they first became eligible for parole because they did not get timely access to them. As a result, they had less time to benefit from a gradual and structured release into the community, which would support their successful reintegration.
[English]
However, we found that CSC increased the use of section 84 release plans for indigenous women offenders, under which indigenous organizations or communities are part of the reintegration process. Indigenous offenders with these release plans are more likely to be granted parole than other indigenous offenders.
However, we also found that access to culturally specific programs for indigenous women offenders was limited at some institutions. For example, healing lodges were available only in one region, and they operated at capacity. We found that offenders who participated in healing lodge programs had low rates of reoffending on release, yet CSC had not examined ways to provide greater access to more indigenous offenders.
[Translation]
We also found that CSC used segregation to manage some women offenders, and about half of the women offenders placed in segregation were indigenous. We found that, despite a reduction in the total number of offenders segregated each year, 20% of segregation placements were for longer than 15 days, the limit recommended by some prisoners' rights groups.
Two-thirds of sentenced women offenders have been identified as having mental health issues. We found that CSC did not have sufficient capacity to deliver the mental health services that women offenders needed. Mental health teams were not fully staffed across the women's institutions, and CSC's one psychiatric hospital has operated at or near capacity over the past two years.
CSC had not yet secured additional beds within provincial psychiatric hospitals to address identified shortcomings. We also found that CSC used cells on its segregation range to monitor women offenders at risk of self-harm or suicide, without 24-hour access to clinical treatment or support.
[English]
We are pleased to report that CSC has agreed with all of our recommendations and has committed to taking corrective action. In particular, CSC agreed to no longer place women offenders at risk of self-harm or suicide in cells on the segregation range.
Mr. Chair, this concludes my opening statement. We would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have.
Thank you.
:
Mr. Chair and honourable members of the committee, I want to thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the recommendations of the Auditor General's performance audit on preparing women offenders for release.
[English]
Among the many areas of women's corrections that were reviewed, the Auditor General produced numerous findings and recommendations related to the effectiveness, appropriateness, and availability of various aspects of the process of preparing women offenders for a safe and successful reintegration into society.
[Translation]
Women comprise a small but important subset of the total federal offender population, making up approximately 5.8% of the total federal offender population.
[English]
At the end of fiscal year 2017-18, there were a total of 1,387 women under federal jurisdiction, about half of whom, or 679, were incarcerated in a correctional facility. At the end of the previous fiscal year, the institutional count was 680.
It would appear that, for now, growth in the number of women in custody has subsided, after years of growth. It should also be noted that last fiscal year marked the first year since 2011 when we had more women under supervision in the community, 708, than incarcerated, 679.
Broadly speaking, women offenders tend to be younger, experience higher rates of poverty and unemployment, have a higher incidence of substance misuse, and are more likely to have a history of physical and sexual abuse. In the case of indigenous women offenders, these issues are often amplified. It is therefore particularly important for CSC to consider their needs in the context of their aboriginal social history and to ensure that culturally appropriate interventions are available.
[Translation]
Mr. Chair, since I began my career in federal corrections in 1983, I have observed the evolution of our approach to federally sentenced women and the considerable progress we have made in addressing their particular needs.
[English]
In fact, Dr. Blanchette, Mrs. Wheatley, and I have all served as deputy commissioners for women, or DCW, with Dr. Blanchette being the current DCW.
CSC has adopted a holistic, women-centred approach for managing women offenders. We have developed gender-responsive and culturally and trauma-informed correctional environments, programs, and interventions designed specifically for women. Today, CSC receives international recognition as a leader in the area of women's corrections. This is a reputation that has been earned through years of research, innovation, and tireless effort by many dedicated staff across the country.
The evolution of women's corrections has also been the product of lessons learned through listening to concerns from diverse stakeholders and the women themselves, and from being open to change.
[Translation]
With this goal in mind, CSC fully accepts all the Auditor General's recommendations.
I would now like to highlight some specific areas of the action plan we have implemented.
[English]
First, with respect to improving the initial security classification process, CSC is conducting research to identify risk factors relevant to women. This will determine what revisions to our initial security classification tool, if any, may be required to increase its validity for women offenders.
[Translation]
Another recommendation was related to an appropriate referral tool to assign women offenders to correctional programs in line with their risk of reoffending and their needs.
[English]
In response to this, we have finalized the criminal risk index tool, placed it in policy, and commenced training staff to ensure that it is used to assign the right intensity programs to women offenders.
[Translation]
The Auditor General also recommended that CSC ensure indigenous women offenders have sufficient and timely access to correctional programs, according to each offender's needs and preferences.
[English]
Building on the design and implementation of aboriginal intervention centres at seven facilities for men, we have finalized a model of this initiative for women offenders. This summer, we will complete the implementation of aboriginal intervention centres at women's sites to strengthen a culturally responsive approach to case management that maximizes the involvement of the indigenous community.
Further, the report recommended that CSC “increase the use of employment as well as work releases to support the successful reintegration of women offenders into the community.” In response to this, our special operating agency, CORCAN, which provides employment training and employability skills to both men and women offenders, has worked closely with the operational sites to identify vocational certification and on-the-job training opportunities for women offenders. There has been progress in several areas, including culinary skills, horticulture, technology assembly, and construction trades.
[Translation]
Further, the Auditor General made a number of recommendations with respect to mental health treatment and intervention for women offenders. To address this, CSC is currently finalizing, in collaboration with community experts, a comprehensive study on the prevalence of mental disorders among women inmates.
[English]
This prevalence study will enable us to identify any mental health service capacity gaps for women, and more clearly develop pathways of care that are responsive to their needs. In support of this effort, budget 2018 allocated $20.4 million over five years, and $5.6 million per year ongoing to provide enhanced mental health supports for incarcerated women.
[Translation]
With respect to the use of administrative segregation, as of August 1, 2017, specific groups of inmates are no longer admissible to administrative segregation. Notably, inmates with a serious mental illness causing significant impairment, inmates actively engaging in self-injury, which is deemed likely to result in serious bodily harm, and those at elevated or imminent risk of suicide, will not be admitted to administrative segregation. Unless exceptional circumstances exist, pregnant women, for example, will not be admitted to administrative segregation.
[English]
In addition to these changes, CSC will continue to advance its work to decrease reliance on administrative segregation, improve conditions of confinement, and enhance mental health initiatives.
Finally, CSC has taken many actions to address the Auditor General's recommendations and ensure that offenders, especially low-risk women offenders, are safely released into the community at their earliest eligibility date. In fiscal year 2016-17, we had the greatest number of women offenders released on day parole and saw the highest number of women offenders reaching the end of their sentence successfully while on release in the community. Although we are pleased with the advancements CSC has made in the area of women's corrections, we are always pursuing improvements to our policies, processes, and outcomes.
With this in mind, we thank the Auditor General for his contribution to the evolution of women's corrections, and we look forward to completing the steps necessary to address his recommendations.
Thank you once again. We would be pleased to answer any questions that members may have.
:
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. I was wondering if your French was still improving, and I can confirm that.
[Translation]
Auditor General, ladies, welcome to your House of Commons.
I want to begin by congratulating you, Ms. Kelly, on your 35 years of service with the same organization. I did not know that 10-year-olds were being hired at the time, but so much the better. Welcome.
Through you, I want to recognize and congratulate the thousands of Canadians working in the prison system. If there is a difficult sector, be it in terms of daily life or family life, it is that of prisons. We have to pay a great deal of respect to those thousands of Canadians who ensure the safety of our cities and communities. I thank those people. Allow me also to recognize a deceased childhood friend, Michel Gagnon, who spent nearly 20 years with Correctional Service Canada, in Cowansville. I take this opportunity to salute Michel, his widow Lucie and their daughter, Marie-Pierre.
Mr. Ferguson, your document highlights the fact that 36% of female inmates are indigenous. That phenomenon is drawing a great deal of interest. We won't talk about the reasons why those people end up in prison, since that lies upstream of Correctional Service's mandate. That said, I would like to know what goes on inside. Things are not just black or white, but some issues are deserving of our attention. Earlier, you said the following:
However, we found that CSC increased the use of section 84 release plans for indigenous women offenders, under which indigenous organizations or communities are part of the reintegration process. Indigenous offenders with these release plans are more likely to be granted parole than other indigenous offenders.
As I understand your analysis, for the system to work, the correctional centre must be located close to an aboriginal community. Is that so?
:
I think what you're talking about is a healing lodge. We have one for women, and that is a culturally appropriate environment where they can practise their culture and their teachings, and where there are ceremonies. It is steeped in aboriginal culture.
Aboriginal intervention centres are a little different. We've implemented them at seven of the men's sites, and now we will be implementing one at the women's site. Basically, we're going to have a group of staff and provide them with specialized training in aboriginal social history, in section 84 releases, in how to translate elder services and participation in pathways into the report that they prepare. Aboriginal intervention centres are going to be mostly for women offenders serving relatively short sentences. At intake, we're going to ask them whether or not they want to follow an aboriginal stream. If they agree to it, then we're going to provide them, right at intake, with aboriginal-specific programming.
The other thing is that at these aboriginal intervention centres we're going to have aboriginal community development officers who basically work with the women and the community if the women want to go back to their aboriginal communities. Instead of starting the release process six months prior to their release, we're going to start right at intake, which is going to give us a couple of years to work with the aboriginal community.
With the aboriginal intervention centres, something we have put in policy is that once an offender has successfully completed a program, we will immediately, or within 30 days, reassess their security classification. So far, with our men's sites, preliminary findings are good. We find that once they've completed a program and we reassess their security classification, either they're going to minimum—if they're not quite ready, we place them into a pathways unit so they can continue to work with the elder—or their case is prepared for presentation to the Parole Board of Canada. We're hoping to see similar results for the women, especially aboriginal women.
:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to thank the Auditor General and the folks from Correctional Services for being here today. I also echo the comments of my colleague to congratulate you, Interim Commissioner Kelly, on your post.
You described for us, in general, who the women are. You said that they are likely to be younger, experience poverty and unemployment, have a history of physical and sexual violence and abuse, and be disproportionately aboriginal women. It was a very stark picture that you painted. My reaction was that these women are vulnerable at best, victims at worst.
What the Auditor General said a number of times today really hit home, with respect to timely access to rehabilitation programs and services that are culturally relevant and specific to the needs of these women. Ultimately, the goal is not to keep them there; it is to ensure that they can reintegrate back into society and perhaps have a better shot at success.
The Auditor General talked about an assessment tool that is used when the women first arrive to determine their level of security risk, and sometimes the women are placed in higher security than necessary or given programs they do not require.
I appreciate your comments, Commissioner Kelly, with respect to agreeing with the Auditor General's report and recommendations, but I'm going to pick out the one sentence that bothered me out of all the great things you said: “This will determine what revisions to our initial security reclassification tool, if any, may be required to increase its validity for women offenders.”
I found that a bit contradictory. On the one hand, you agree with the Auditor General's findings and recommendations. On the other hand, you're saying “if any”—if any changes to the tool are needed. Perhaps you can shed some light on what you mean by that. Do you agree that the tool needs to be re-examined and changes need to be made, as the Auditor General has pointed out?
:
I'll start with the answer and then turn it over to Dr. Blanchette.
There are two things. For the initial security classification, to classify a woman as maximum, medium, or minimum, we use the custody rating scale, which, if I am not mistaken, was validated for women offenders. Based on the Auditor General's report, we're willing to look at it again to see if we need to change it. There is a security reclassification scale specifically for women that was developed in 2005. It was based on a sample of women offenders.
In terms of the right programs, that's something different. Up to now we were using the custody rating scale, which is really a security classification tool, to assign women to a certain intensity of program, because there are moderate and high-intensity programs. For both men and women, the Auditor General has said that the custody rating scale is not the appropriate tool. It's a security classification tool, and we need a program tool.
That is why we've developed what we call the criminal risk index, which has been validated for both men and women, to ensure that we assign the right intensity program to both men and women.
:
I'll start, and then I'll ask Ms. McCalla to fill in any details.
Perhaps one of the reasons that we have 10 recommendations in this report is that Correctional Service Canada has been the happy recipient of two other audits in similar areas recently.
We did one on offenders in general, then we did one on indigenous offenders, and then this one on women offenders. We've gotten to know their processes very well, how they assess people when they come in, so, going in, we knew where some of the recommendations were going to be, because they are the same issues we've identified before. Then, on top of that, we've added recommendations that are specific to women offenders.
For example, I would draw your attention to paragraph 5.21, where we talk about CSC essentially needing to make sure that it is getting access to the information about an offender at the time the offender comes into the institution. In the previous two audits, we found that this was not happening all the time. Offenders would come in, and CSC wouldn't have all the information. The information existed. It was sentencing reports or judges' comments, those types of things. Even in this one, we still saw situations where Correctional Service Canada was not getting all of that information when people were coming in.
We've seen improvements, but I think there are parts of this process that need to be improved. I am encouraged by some of the things they've been talking about, in terms of what they're doing with women offenders with mental health issues. I understand the challenge they have with indigenous offenders when there are very small populations of indigenous offenders. However, it is still important that indigenous offenders have the ability to maintain their culture, because if they are put into an institution away from their community, away from their culture, we can't expect them to move down the road of rehabilitation if they are also struggling with a whole new culture. I think that's important.
It was also mentioned earlier that Correctional Service Canada has put in place a new electronic medical record system. I think that's a prime flag for us for a future potential audit. We would certainly hope to see that they are maintaining data integrity in that system, and that the system is being used in the way it should be, so that it will give them the output they expect to come from it. We've seen many times departments putting in place new systems but not making sure they're used in the way they're supposed to be used. I think that would be important.
Again, I want to make sure the committee understands that the reason why it's important to reduce the amount of time an offender has within the institution is that this increases the amount of time the offender will have under supervision as he or she moves to reintegration.
The worst types of situations are when people spend a lot of time in the institution and then have a very short period of time under supervision trying to get reintegrated. If a person is prepared as quickly as possible for parole, and that person meets all the conditions for parole, then they will tend to have a longer period of time under supervision and their reintegration is more likely to be successful.
I've said a lot of things. I don't know whether Ms. McCalla—