Question Period Note: CSC Risk Assessment

Media reports indicate that Black and Indigenous offenders were between 24 and 30 per cent more likely to end up with a higher security classification compared with white offenders.

• The Correctional Service of Canada acknowledges that Indigenous people, Black Canadians and other racialized people far too often experience systemic racism and disparate outcomes within the criminal justice system.

• The Correctional Service of Canada is working to eliminate systemic barriers in our federal corrections institutions, and ensuring that all inmates have access to appropriate and effective programming and assessments.

• To ensure that risk assessment decisions of offenders are effective and appropriate, the Service is consulting on its assessment tools to determine if they need revisions.

• Currently, to assess the inmate security levels of each individual offender, staff receive comprehensive training on how to consider their ethnic, cultural, religious, and/or linguistic needs.

• Mandatory staff training includes learning about unconscious bias and cultural-sensitivity, and resources are provided to ensure assessments are contextualised as well as reflective of the offender profile.

• The Service is working close its National Indigenous Advisory Committee discuss ideas and actions relevant to Indigenous offenders.

• Ethnocultural site coordinators are in place at all institutions to provide assistance to ethnocultural offenders, including Black inmates.

• Community partners and experts provide advice through the National and Regional Ethnocultural Committees on services, interventions and community engagement activities for the successful reintegration of offenders.

• The Committee is examining the barriers faced by diverse communities in the broader criminal justice system, within our areas of authority, to look at ways we can make positive change.

• The Correctional Service of Canada is conducting research, in collaboration with universities and other academic partners, to better understand the experience of ethnocultural offenders.

• The Correctional Service of Canada also recently established a joint Committee on Diversity and Systemic Racism with the Parole Board of Canada.

• The Correctional Service of Canada is committed to doing more to create an environment that is conducive to inclusion, equity and diversity – and one that is committed to self-reflection, action and continuous improvement.

Background: Since 2018, as a response to the 2014 Office of the Auditor General’s report – Preparing Indigenous Offenders for Release, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has implemented in its policy that a Security Classification Review will be completed within thirty days of an inmate’s successful completion of a main program for inmates classified at maximum or medium security level. In the past years, CSC has conducted several studies, and is currently undertaking additional research on some of its central classification tools. For example, CSC is working with academic partners to conduct consultations with Indigenous communities in the development of risk assessment tools for Indigenous offenders.

All offenders who enter a federal institution undergo an assessment to ensure they are placed at the appropriate security level and receive the programs and services required to address their specific needs. An offender’s security classification is regularly reassessed during their sentence, including after the completion of programs to ensure they continue to be placed at the appropriate security level. In addition, intake assessments for Indigenous offenders include a Healing Plan completed by an Elder or Indigenous Liaison Officer.

Staff Training

Given the importance of carefully assessing the unique needs of each individual offender, including social and cultural factors that may impact how they respond throughout the correctional process, staff who are responsible to assess an inmate’s security level receive comprehensive training on how to consider their ethnic, cultural, religious, and/or linguistic needs. Mandatory training that includes learning about unconscious bias and cultural-sensitivity is provided to CSC employees as well as ongoing professional development opportunities and resources to ensure the assessment is contextualised and reflective of the offender profile. The training includes curriculum specific to working with certain offender populations (e.g. Indigenous and ethnocultural offenders) and is supported by an online toolkit that includes educational and intervention-based resources to enhance awareness and inclusivity to maximize correctional gains.

Indigenous Offenders

CSC continues to observe an increase in the number of federally sentenced Indigenous offenders. At the end of Fiscal year 2019-2020, Indigenous offenders represented 30% of the total in custody population and Indigenous women offenders represented 44% of the total in custody women population.

CSC is working to respond to the disproportionate representation of Indigenous peoples in custody, through a variety of programs such as:
• The National Indigenous Plan which includes streamlining existing Indigenous resources and services to ensure that those offenders choosing to access the Indigenous Continuum of Care interventions are prioritized for placement at specific sites.
• Indigenous Interventions Centres (IICs) are a key component of regional Indigenous action plans. The IICs integrate intake, programs and interventions, and engage Indigenous communities at the start of an Indigenous offender’s sentence, or at least two years before their first eligibility date.
• CSC has implemented the Pathways Initiative for offenders who are committed to following an intensive traditional path of healing which includes the active involvement of Elders. The Indigenous Women’s Pathways Continuum provides opportunities for Indigenous women to engage in intensive healing interventions supported by Elders through specific activities.
• The Indigenous Women Offender Correctional Programs, which includes program continuum unique to Indigenous women offenders.

Decisions with respect to sentencing are outside of CSC’s control. CSC does, however, influence the time Indigenous offenders spend in custody by providing culturally responsive programs and interventions to address an Indigenous offender’s risk, provide effective rehabilitation and foster successful community reintegration. There has been a significant increase in the percentage of discretionary releases for Indigenous offenders, from 23.5% in Fiscal year 2013-2014 to 40.1% in Fiscal year 2019-2020. Additionally, CSC makes targeted efforts to recruit and retain Indigenous employees. CSC is one of the largest employers of Indigenous peoples in the core public administration.

Black Offenders

8.8% of incarcerated offenders were Black at the end of 2019-20, while 7.1% of offenders supervised in the community were Black. From 2015-2016 to 2019-2020, the proportional decrease of incarcerated Caucasian offenders was 17.0%, and incarcerated Black offenders showed a decrease of 3.2% during the same period.

CSC is conducting research to better understand the experience of ethnocultural offenders under its care, including Black offenders. This multi year project has already highlighted the profile and diversity of this population and Emerging Research Results were produced in 2019. CSC is presently looking at aspects of the in-custody experience, including participation in correctional programs, education, employment, etc. CSC will also be studying how ethnocultural offenders are reintegrating in the community, in terms of program participation, employment opportunities and successful completion of sentence. It is anticipated that the full research report will be available in the Fall of 2020.

CSC invested $20,000 for this project, in addition to approximately a 1.5 full time employee equivalent from CSC’s Research Branch (combination of research managers, analysts and students). CSC used a combination of internal and external resources, in collaboration with Nipissing University. In addition to professional internal research capacity, CSC maintains positive collaborations with several Canadian universities for the purpose of conducting studies, researches, and reviews. This allows CSC to maintain the highest standards of research.

Currently, Black offenders are offered a comprehensive level of varied interventions and services, aimed at supporting their reintegration. These initiatives include: addressing cultural employment and mentorship needs; culturally relevant presentations from community members to offenders and staff; community outreach with community service providers; ongoing interventions by the Project officer, Community Engagement and Ethnocultural Services; the purchase of culturally-relevant materials; and implementation of initiatives aimed at increasing the cultural competency of staff.

Although there are no specific correctional programs for Black offenders, the enrolment and completion rates of Black offenders in the Integrated Correctional Program Model and the Women Offender Correctional Programs show positive participation. Also, certain institutions benefit from the participation and activities of inmate groups composed of mostly Black offenders. Groups such as Black Inmates and Friends Assembly (BIFA), Christian groups, Rastafarian groups, and Muslim groups bring awareness, educate and develop a sense of belonging and self-esteem among the Black offender population.

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