News Releases

OPENING CEREMONY OF THE NEW SECURE UNIT AT JOLIETTE INSTITUTION

Joliette (Quebec) - The Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada, Ms. Lucie McClung, will preside today over the opening ceremony of the new Secure Unit for women offenders at Joliette Institution.

Joliette Institution, which opened in 1997, is a multi-level security institution for federally sentenced women. Joliette is the third of the four federal institutions for women designed to address the needs of women offenders requiring a more secure structure. The Nova Institution for Women, in Truro, Nova Scotia, opened its Secure Unit on January 16, 2003, followed by the Edmonton Institution for Women on February 26, 2003. The unit at Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, Ontario, is scheduled to open in mid-May this year.

"Women offenders have unique needs and we have developed approaches to respond to those needs," stated Solicitor General Wayne Easter. "The opening of this third unit in the country demonstrates our commitment to an effective and humanitarian correctional system that enhances public safety, which is our primary objective."

Secure Units are designed in order to consider security risks and to address the needs of offenders through intensive intervention, supervision and treatment in a more secure environment.

"These units were specifically created for women offenders requiring increased structure, supervision and attention. I am delighted with the tremendous strides we have made in creating an environment that is more responsive to the needs of these offenders," noted Commissioner Lucie McClung. "We will continue to work to develop secure interventions that will help these women gradually and safely reintegrate into the community."

The staff at Joliette Institution have received specialized training, relating specifically to mental health and behavioural management treatment. Programming will be delivered in an integrated manner by an interdisciplinary team of correctional staff, behavioural counsellors, nurses and psychologists. This ensures a focussed and consistent approach to interactions and interventions with the offenders.

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For additional information, please contact
Ms. Francine Jourdain,
Communications Division,
Regional Administration,

at (450) 967-3373.

JOLIETTE INSTITUTION

Location:
Joliette Institution is located in Joliette, Quebec, at 400 Marsolais Street.

Multiple Security Level:
With the opening of the Secure Unit, the institution will house offenders from all levels of security.

Current Capacity:
113 offenders

Cost:
The construction cost for the Secure Unit is estimated at $3, 925 million.

Completed:
April 2003.

Current Population:
62 offenders on March 31, 2003

Background:

Joliette Institution is a correctional facility for federally sentenced women. Federal offenders are those who have been sentenced by the courts to terms of two years or more. There are ten living units at Joliette Institution that accommodate minimum and medium security women. Up to ten (10) offenders live together in each house. In addition, Joliette has an eight bed Structured Living Environment House for offenders with mental health needs which was inaugurated in August 2001. The new Secure Unit can house up to 10 women offenders who require increased structure, supervision and attention. With the opening of the Secure Unit, the total capacity of the institution will be 113 offenders.

Programs:

Joliette Institution provides several types of programs including: Substance Abuse; Social Skills Acquisition, Program for Survivors of Abuse as well as Psychiatric and Psychological Services and Elder and Chaplain Programs. In the Structured Living Environment House and in the Secure Unit, there exists the Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Psychosocial Rehabilitation, which address more specifically cognitive and mental health difficulties.

Also available at Joliette are a health care centre and two houses for private family visiting programs and one mother-child area where mothers can have their children visit for the day. In addition, certain offenders can live with their children on a full-time or part-time basis. One house has been adapted for this specific purpose at Joliette Institution. In addition to the above-mentioned programs, offenders can also work in the sewing workshop, in the food area or accomplish maintenance tasks.

Community Involvement:

Joliette enjoys the support of about twenty dedicated and active volunteers who help reintegrate female offenders back into the community through various activities. In addition, an active Citizens' Advisory Committee provides input into the operation of the facility.

Security

Joliette Institution employs both dynamic and static security measures to ensure public safety and the safety of staff and inmates. Dynamic security refers to any activity that promotes or contributes to a safe and secure correctional environment by encouraging constructive relationships between offenders and staff. Static security measures are incorporated at Joliette to complement dynamic security. They include: an 8-foot perimeter fence topped with rolled razor-ribbon wire; a perimeter fence detection system; infra red lights for night-time camera observation; door, window and roof-top alarm systems on offender housing units. The Secure Unit also has its own alarmed fence and cameras to observe offenders when they are in the outdoor exercise yard.

For more information, contact:

Joliette Institution
400 Marsolais Street
Joliette, Quebec
J6E 8V4

Thérèse Lemieux
Team Leader

Téléphone: (450) 752-5257, poste 3003
Fax: (450) 752-2823