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COMMISSIONER'S DIRECTIVE
Incident Reports
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Issued under the authority of the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada |
Annex A - Agreement Between National Parole Board (NPB) and Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) for Joint Boards of Investigation
Annex B - Convening Authority for Initiating Reports
Annex C - Extract of the Inquiries Act
1. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) takes remedial action and ensures lessons learned from the review and analysis of incident reports are integrated into organizational practices.
2. This Commissioner's Directive applies only to reports on incidents and issues affecting the operations of the Service. Investigations into the actions of staff (e.g. disciplinary investigations and harassment investigations) are covered under separate policies and processes.
3. Investigations are conducted into incidents that affect the security and/or safety of the public or staff or an offender and/or the operations of the Service.
4. The fact that the police may be conducting a criminal investigation into a particular incident does not in and of itself preclude the need for CSC to conduct its own investigation into that incident.
5. Section 19 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) requires that the Service investigate and report when an inmate dies or suffers serious bodily injury as well as provide a copy of the report to the Correctional Investigator. The Director General, Incident Investigations or operational heads may convene investigations under section 19 and these boards shall report to the respective convening authority.
6. A person or persons may, pursuant to section 20 of the CCRA, be appointed by the Commissioner to investigate and report on any matter relating to the operations of the Service.
7. Subsection 152 (4) of the CCRA permits the Chairperson of the National Parole Board (NPB) to appoint a person or persons to investigate and report on any matter relating to the operations of the Board. On matters of joint interest and when appropriate, the Commissioner and Chairperson may jointly convene an investigation (see Annex A).
8. Sections 7 to 13 of the Inquiries Act apply to investigations and reports under section 20 and subsection 152 (4) of the CCRA (see Annex C).
9. Other than sections 19 and 20 investigations, the Director General, Incident Investigations and operational heads may convene, under this provision, incident investigations.
10. Following a major incident, the Institutional Head or District Director submits a report within two working days to the Senior Deputy Commissioner providing the facts surrounding the incident as well as any remedial action at the correctional or personal level based on their assessment of the incident. If an incident occurs on a Friday, the report would normally be due the following Monday afternoon. Copies are to be provided to the Regional Deputy Commissioner, the Assistant Commissioner, Performance Assurance, the Assistant Commissioner, Correctional Operations and Programs and the national incident investigations staff located at respective Regional Headquarters.
MANDATE AND TERMS OF REFERENCE
11. A convening order signed by the appropriate convening authority shall outline the mandate and legal authority for the investigation.
12. For incidents involving women offenders, the Assistant Commissioner, Performance Assurance will consult the Deputy Commissioner for Women on the level of convening authority, the list of issues to be analyzed and the selection of board members.
13. Where an incident in a CSC facility involves death or serious bodily injury, the Health Services Branch at National Headquarters will be consulted on the mandate and whether a health professional is required on the board.
14. Only CSC staff members trained or experienced in the conduct of investigations may be board members. Boards shall not include any CSC staff members who were directly involved in the management of the incident or the subsequent response.
15. Any CSC staff member appointed full-time on a national or local board should be relieved of his or her regular duties while conducting the investigation and writing the report.
16. All national boards shall include at least one person from outside CSC and NPB, hereafter referred to as a community member. Joint boards of investigation convened by the Commissioner under section 20 and the Chairperson of the NPB under subsection 152 (4) shall be chaired by a community member.
17. Boards shall include a psychologist registered in the province where the incident occurred, when the incident concerns the suicide of an offender.
18. The Assistant Commissioner, Performance Assurance will consult with the relevant sector, branch or region to determine the level of convening authority. Consideration will be given to such factors as: the level of violence and injuries sustained; the profile(s) of the offender(s) involved; the possible impact on the Service's capacity for program delivery and damage to assets; the public interest; or the frequency with which similar incidents have occurred in the past or the reoccurrence in a particular locale.
REQUIREMENT FOR A REPORT UNDER SECTION 19 OF THE CCRA
19. The determination of serious bodily injury is made by a health care professional.
20. The CCRA and the Inquiries Act permit the disclosure of any relevant information to members of CSC boards. Health professionals (e.g. medical practitioners, psychologists, nurses, etc.) on the board or consulted by the board will determine what medical information, if any, is relevant to a particular report. Disclosures including information in offenders' health care records are permissible under paragraph 8 (2) (b) of the Privacy Act and the rules of conduct of the respective professional governing bodies.
21. The Health Services Branch at National Headquarters will review reports into deaths, suicides and serious bodily injury incidents in CSC facilities to ensure issues relating to staff intervention and prevention are addressed appropriately and provide comments, if necessary, to Performance Assurance.
22. The Security Branch at National Headquarters will review reports into use of force incidents in CSC facilities to ensure issues relating to staff intervention and prevention are addressed appropriately and provide comments, if necessary, to Performance Assurance.
STAFF DUTY TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE
23. All CSC staff members, and individuals under contract, shall cooperate fully with a board. A board may require an employee or contractor to provide additional written and/or verbal information to a national or local board. Cooperation with a board is addressed in Commissioner's Directive 060, entitled "Code of Discipline", and in subsection 10 (1) of the Inquiries Act.
24. No statement made by a staff member during the course of investigations, as defined in this directive, shall be used for disciplinary purposes, except for the giving of contradictory evidence.
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OF THE INQUIRIES ACT
25. The board of investigation shall consider issuing a notice to an individual under section 13 of the Inquiries Act when there is a potential adverse impact upon an individual's reputation or credibility as a result of a finding of misconduct. The board of investigation shall apply the same considerations and follow the same procedures whether or not the person is a staff member.
26. Where a board is not convened under section 20 of the CCRA, the principles of the Duty to Act Fairly will apply.
INCIDENT INVESTIGATION PROCESS
27. A description of the incident investigation process may be found at the following location: http://infonet/infonet/policies/cd041_investigation_e.xls
REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF REPORTS
28. The Assistant Commissioner, Performance Assurance is responsible for all aspects of the investigation process.
PROVIDING INFORMATION AND FOLLOW-UP
29. The Institutional Head and/or District Director shall advise the local Citizens' Advisory Committee (CAC) chair of the convening of a board.
30. The Institutional Head and/or District Director shall share the findings and conclusions of incident investigations with their staff and local CAC members, as well as with members of the criminal justice system and/or victims of criminal acts, as appropriate, in a timely fashion.
31. The Assistant Commissioner, Performance Assurance will ensure that the inmate victim or a designated next-of-kin or other designated person is informed, when practical, that an investigation has been convened under section 19 of the CCRA and a report may be subsequently requested from the Access to Information and Privacy Division.
APPROVAL OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND ACTION PLANS
32. The Executive Committee members will approve recommendations and action plans developed in response to observations and recommendations from all national reports.
33. The Regional Deputy Commissioners will review and analyze all local investigation reports and will approve recommendations and action plans developed in response to observations and recommendations resulting from them. They will also look for trends and patterns. The Regional Deputy Commissioners will formally close all local investigations.
34. National investigation reports will be submitted to the Executive Committee by the Assistant Commissioner, Performance Assurance who will recommend when the investigation should be closed.
35. The Assistant Commissioner, Performance Assurance shall ensure that records of national and local reports underway are maintained and monitored.
Original signed by
Lucie McClung, Commissioner
