MANDATE, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Correctional Investigator
is mandated by Part III of the Corrections and Conditional
Release Act as an Ombudsman
for federal offenders. The primary function of the Office is
to investigate and bring resolution to individual offender
complaints. The Office as well, has a responsibility to review
and make recommendations on the Correctional Service's policies and
procedures associated with the areas of individual complaints to
ensure that systemic areas of concern are identified and
appropriately addressed.
The notion of righting a wrong is central to the
Ombudsman concept. This involves measurably more than simply
responding to specific legal, policy or technical elements
associated with the area of concern under review. It requires
the provision of independent, informed and objective opinions on the
fairness of the action taken so as to counter balance the relative
strength of public institutions against the individual. It as
well requires responsiveness on the part of public institutions
which is seen to be fair, open and accountable.
The "function" of the Correctional Investigator, as
defined by the Legislation, is purposefully broad:
"to conduct investigations into the problems of
offenders related to decisions, recommendations, acts or omissions
of the Commissioner (of Corrections) or any person under the control
and management of, or performing services for, or on behalf of, the
Commissioner, that affect offenders either individually or as a
group".
Inquiries can be initiated on the basis of a
complaint or at the initiative of the Correctional Investigator with
full discretion resting with the Office in deciding whether to
conduct an investigation and how that investigation will be carried
out.
In the course of an
investigation, the Office is afforded significant authority to
require the production of information up to, and including, a formal
hearing involving examination under oath. This authority is
tempered, and the integrity of our function protected, by the strict
obligation that we limit the disclosure of information acquired in
the course of our duties to that which is necessary to the progress
of the investigation and to the establishing of grounds for our
conclusions and recommendations. Our disclosure of
information, to all parties, is further governed by safety and
security considerations and the provisions of the Privacy
Act and Access to Information Act.
The provisions above, which limit our disclosure of
information, are complemented by other provisions within Part III of
the Act which prevent our being summoned in legal proceedings and
which underline that our process exists without affecting, or being
affected by, appeals or remedies before the Courts or under any
other Act. The purpose of these measures is to prevent us from
being compromised by our implication, either as a "discovery"
mechanism or as a procedural prerequisite, within our processes - an
eventuality which could potentially undermine the Office's Ombudsman
function.
The Office's observations and findings, subsequent
to an investigation, are not limited to a determination that a
decision, recommendation, act or omission was contrary to existing
law or established policy. In keeping with the purposefully
broad nature of our Ombudsman function, the Correctional
Investigator can determine that a decision, recommendation, act or
omission was: "unreasonable, unjust, oppressive and improperly
discriminatory; or based wholly or partly on a mistake of law or
fact" or that a discretionary power has been exercised, "for an
improper purpose, on irrelevant grounds, on the taking into account
of irrelevant considerations, or without reasons having been given".
The Act at Section 178 requires that where in the
opinion of the Correctional Investigator a problem exists, the
Commissioner of Corrections shall be informed of that opinion and
the reasons therefore. The practice of the Office has been to
attempt to resolve problems through consultation at the
institutional and regional levels in advance of referring matters to
the attention of the Commissioner. While we continue to ensure
that appropriate levels of management within the Service are
approached with respect to complaints and investigations, this
provision clearly indicates that the unresolved "problems" of
offenders are to be referred to the Commissioner in a timely
fashion.
The legislation as well provides that the
Correctional Investigator, when informing the Commissioner of the
existence of a problem, may make any recommendation relevant to the
resolution of the problem that the Correctional Investigator
considers appropriate. Although these recommendations are not
binding, consistent with the Ombudsman function, the authority of
the Office lies in it's ability to thoroughly and objectively
investigate a wide spectrum of administrative actions and present
its findings and recommendations to an equally broad spectrum of
decision makers, inclusive of Parliament, which can cause reasonable
corrective action to be taken if earlier attempts at resolutions
have failed.
A significant step in this resolution process is
the provision at Section 180 of the Act which requires the
Correctional Investigator to give notice and report to the Minister
if, within a reasonable time, no action is taken by the Commissioner
that seems to the Correctional Investigator to be adequate and
appropriate. Sections 192 and 193 of the legislation continue
this process by requiring the Minister to table in both Houses of
Parliament, within a prescribed time period, the Annual Report and
any Special Report Issues by the Correctional Investigator.
The vast majority of the concerns raised on
complaints by inmates are addressed by this Office at the
institutional level through discussion and negotiation. In
those cases where a resolution is not reached at the institution,
the matter is referred to regional or national headquarters,
depending upon the area of concern, with a specific recommendation
for further review and corrective action. If at this level the
Service, in the opinion of the Correctional Investigator fails to
address the matter in a reasonable and timely fashion, it will be
referred to the Minister and eventually may be detailed within an
Annual or Special Report.
The Office, over the course of the reporting year,
received 7,993 complaints. The investigative staff spent 344
days in federal penitentiaries and conducted in excess of 2,800
interviews with inmates and half again that number of interviews
with institutional and regional staff. In addition to
responding to individual complaints, the Office meets regularly with
inmate committees and other offender organizations and makes
announced visits bi-annually at each institution during which the
investigator will meet with any inmate, or group of inmates, upon
request. We had, over the course of this reporting year, in
excess of three hundred meetings with various offender
organizations, including inmate committees, lifer groups, black
inmate associations, native brotherhoods and sisterhoods.
The areas of complaint continue to focus on those
long-standing issues which have been detailed in past Annual
Reports. A specific breakdown of the areas of complaint,
dispositions, institutional visits and interviews are provided in
the statistics section of the Report.
Among Areas of Concern identified in this year's
Annual Report are:
- Aboriginal Offenders
- Institutional Violence
- Women Offenders
- Inmate Programs
- Conditional Release
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