BackThe 2023-24 Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) was tabled in Parliament on October 29, 2024. The Office’s latest Annual Report breaks new ground in two national-level investigations examining conditions of confinement in male stand-alone maximum-security penitentiaries and on the experience of persons serving a life (or indeterminate) sentence in Canada, a sentence that has no end date.
“My findings in these two areas cut to the very core of correctional intent and purpose,” stated the Correctional Investigator, Dr. Ivan Zinger. “These two investigations raise tough public policy questions that go to the costs and consequences of sentences that are, by any measure, exceedingly long (as with Lifers), costly and excessively harsh (as with maximum-security prisoners). To different degrees, life-sentenced and maximum-security prisoners experience an unacceptable amount of wasted or idled time in conditions of confinement that serve no rehabilitative or reintegrative purpose,” said the Correctional Investigator.
In Hope Behind Bars: Managing Life Sentences in Federal Custody, the Office reports that there are approximately 3,600 persons serving indeterminate sentences in Canada. Lifers now represent just over one-quarter of the total federal in-custody population. The investigation noted that these individuals often find themselves languishing in medium-security facilities long after completing their required correctional programs and their parole eligibility dates have expired. The report found that those serving a life sentence are expected to comply with unreasonable behavioural standards, with non-compliance often being interpreted as indicative of higher risk. The investigation also revealed serious deficiencies and biases in security reclassification scales, reviews and criteria that significantly disadvantage Lifers, including restrictions on temporary absences and unreasonable delays in conducting Correctional Plan updates, or transfers to minimum-security. The effect of these shortcomings in policy and practice is that life-sentenced individuals are often kept at higher security levels and for longer periods than necessary.
With respect to the investigation of stand-alone male maximum-security prisons, the report notes that use of force incidents in these facilities now account for just under half of all uses of force nationwide, even though they house just 10% of the overall incarcerated population in Canada. The emphasis on security, control and confinement limits dynamic security and restricts participation in meaningful work, recreation, and programming opportunities. The report notes that the “mini” yards relegated for unit-based fresh air exercise are inherently depriving and dehumanizing spaces. The Correctional Investigator pointed out that long and harsh sentences have been found to result in an increase in offending upon release. “Excessive cellular confinement in repressive conditions all too predictably leads to tension and violence,” stated Dr. Zinger.
“The conclusion that I draw from these two quite different investigations is that imprisonment without purpose or end is cruel, arbitrary, and unlawful. In both investigations I found that the legislated goals of imprisonment in Canada were not being adequately met. We must remember that the nature and gravity of the offence are considered and applied at sentencing. The law directs that our correctional system must offer more than incapacitation or punishment for these two classes of prisoners,” said Dr. Zinger.
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Source: Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI), Canada
