Corrections Administration

Table of Contents

1. Federal expenditures on corrections have leveled
2. CSC employees are concentrated in custody centres
3. The cost of keeping an inmate in penitentiary has increased
4. The number of National Parole Board employees
5. The number of employees in the Office of the Correctional Investigator.
6. Health care and transfers are the most common complaints made by federal offenders to the Office of the Correctional Investigator

Federal expenditures on corrections have leveled

Figure B1

Source: Correctional Service Canada; National Parole Board; Statistics Canada Consumer Price Index.

• In 2003-04, expenditures on federal corrections in Canada totaled about $1.56 billion.
• Federal expenditures on corrections, in current dollars, increased 12.5% from 1999-00 to 2003-04, while in constant dollars the increase over this time period was 2%.
• The per capita cost adjusted for inflation was slightly lower in 2003-04 than in 1999-00.
• Federal correctional expenditures represent less than 1% of the total federal government budget.
• Provincial/territorial expenditures totaled just over $1.27 billion in 2003-04 (see Adult Correctional Services Survey, Statistics Canada).

Note:
Federal expenditures on corrections include the spending by the Correctional Service Canada (CSC), the National Parole Board (NPB) and the Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI). The expenditures for the CSC include both operating and capital costs. CSC expenditures exclude CORCAN (a Special Operating Agency that conducts industrial operations within penitentiaries).
Constant dollars represent dollar amounts calculated on a one-year base that adjusts for inflation allowing the yearly amounts to be directly comparable. The Consumer Price Index (1999-00 = 100) was used to calculate constant dollars using annual fiscally adjusted Consumer Price Index values.

Table B1

Year

Current Dollars

Constant 1999-00 Dollars

Operating

Capital

Total

Per capita

Operating

Capital

Total

Per capita

$’000

$

$’000

$

1999-00

CSC

1,245,428

111,291

1,356,719

44.48

1,245,428

111,291

1,356,719

44.48

NPB

28,300

--

28,300

0.93

28,300

--

28,300

0.93

OCI

2,007

--

2,007

0.07

2,007

--

2,007

0.07

Total

1,275,735

111,291

1,387,026

45.48

1,275,735

111,291

1,387,026

45.48

2000-01

CSC

1,239,830

114,597

1,354,427

44.13

1,206,060

114,597

1,354,427

44.13

NPB

30,900

--

30,900

1.01

30,058

--

30,058

0.98

OCI

2,070

--

2,070

0.07

2,014

--

2,014

0.07

Total

1,272,800

114,597

1,387,397

45.02

1,238,132

111,476

1,349,608

43.98

2001-02

CSC

1,390,096

130,137

1,520,233

49.01

1,323,901

123,940

1,447,841

46.67

NPB

34,500

--

34,500

1.11

32,857

--

32,857

1.06

OCI

2,516

--

2,516

0.08

2,396

--

2,396

0.08

Total

1,427,112

130,137

1,557,249

50.20

1,359,154

123,940

1,483,094

47.81

2002-03

CSC

1,412,455

125,955

1,538,410

49.04

1,305,411

116,409

1,421,821

45.32

NPB

36,500

--

36,500

1.13

33,734

--

33,734

1.08

OCI

2,732

--

2,732

0.08

2,525

--

2,525

0.08

Total

1,451,687

125,955

1,577,642

49.80

1,341,670

116,409

1,458,079

46.48

2003-04

CSC

1,411,746

110,530

1,522,276

48.08

1,281,076

100,299

1,381,376

43.63

NPB

35,700

--

35,700

1.12

32,396

--

32,396

1.02

OCI

2,431

--

2,431

0.08

2,206

--

2,206

0.07

Total

1,449,877

110,530

1,560,407

49.29

1,315,678

100,299

1,415,977

44.72

Source: Correctional Service Canada; National Parole Board; Office of the Correctional Investigator; Statistics Canada Consumer Price Index.

Note:
Due to rounding, constant dollar amounts may not add to “Total”.
Per capita cost is calculated by dividing the total expenditures by the total Canadian population and thus represents the cost per Canadian for federal correctional services.
Constant dollars represent dollar amounts calculated on a one-year base that adjusts for inflation allowing the yearly amounts to be directly comparable. The Consumer Price Index (1999-00 = 100) was used to calculate constant dollars using annual fiscally adjusted Consumer Price Index values.

CSC employees are concentrated in custody centres

Figure B2

Source: Correctional Service Canada.

• The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has a total staff of about 16,000.
• Approximately 80% of CSC staff work in institutions.
• Staff employed in community supervision account for 8% of the total.

Note:
*These parole officers are situated within institutions, with the responsibility of preparing offenders for release.

Table B2.

Source: Correctional Service Canada.

Note:
*These parole officers are situated within institutions, with the responsibility of preparing offenders for release.
**The “Other” category represents job classifications such as trades and food services.
These numbers include all indeterminate, term and casual employees active as of March 31, 2005.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add to 100.

The cost of keeping an inmate in penitentiary has increased

Figure B3

Source: Public Accounts of Canada, Correctional Service Canada.

• The federal average daily inmate cost has increased from $185.44 in 1999-00 to $227.53 in 2003-04.
• In 2003-04, the annual average cost of keeping an inmate in penitentiary was $83,276 per year, up from $67,685 per year in 1999-00. In 2003-04, the annual average cost of keeping a male inmate in penitentiary was $80,209 per year, whereas the annual average cost for maintaining a woman in penitentiary was $150,867.
• It costs substantially less to maintain an offender in the community than in a penitentiary ($20,698 per year versus $83,276 per year).

Note:
The average daily inmate cost includes those costs associated with the operation of the institutions such as salaries, and employee benefit plan contributions, but excludes capital expenditures and expenditures related to CORCAN (a Special Operating Agency that conducts industrial operations within penitentiaries).

In 2001-02, the cost allocation methodology was refined to better reflect expenditures directly related to offenders. In addition, the cost of maintaining a woman in penitentiary includes the cost of maximum security units for women, co-located within institutions for men.

Table B3

Source: Public Accounts of Canada, Correctional Service Canada.

Note:
Exchange of Services Agreements are agreements that the Correctional Service of Canada has with the provinces and territories to cover costs associated with the provinces and territories providing services to federal offenders.

The Average Cost per Offender is calculated by dividing the total costs for the year by the average number of offenders in the institutions over the year. The total cost includes money received from the provinces for maintaining provincial offenders in federal facilities. The average number of offenders includes the number of provincial offenders maintained in federal facilities.

The number of National Parole Board employees

Figure B4.

Source: National Parole Board.

• The total number of full-time equivalents used by the National Parole Board increased since 1996-97.

Note:
Section 103 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act limits the National Parole Board to 45 full-time members.

Table B4

Source: National Parole Board.

Note:
Section 103 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act limits the National Parole Board to 45 full-time members.

The number of employees in the Office of the Correctional Investigator

Figure B5.

Source: Office of the Correctional Investigator.

• The total number of full-time equivalents at the Office of the Correctional Investigator increased between 1999-00 and 2002-03 but has since decreased.
• In 2003-04, close to 7,000 complaints were received by the Office of the Correctional Investigator.

Table B5

Source: Office of the Correctional Investigator.

Health care and transfers are the most common complaints made by federal offenders to the Office of the Correctional Investigator

Figure B6

• There were 6,892 complaints received at the Office of the Correctional Investigator in 2003-04 that involved 3,825 federal offenders.
• Almost 20% of these complaints involved health care (10.9%) or institutional transfers (8.9%).

Note:

* The Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) may commence an investigation on receipt of a complaint by or on behalf of an offender or on its own initiative. Complaints are made by telephone, letter and during interviews with the OCI's investigative staff at federal correctional facilities. The dispositions in response to complaints involve a combination of internal responses (where the information or assistance sought by the offender can generally be provided by the OCI's investigative staff) and investigations (where, further to a review/analysis of law, policies, and documentation, OCI investigative staff make an inquiry or several interventions with Correctional Service and submit recommendations to address the complaint). Investigations vary considerably in terms of scope, complexity, duration and resources required.

Table B6

Source: Office of the Correctional Investigator.

Note:
* The Office of the Correctional Investigator (OCI) may commence an investigation on receipt of a complaint by or on behalf of an offender or on its own initiative. Complaints are made by telephone, letter and during interviews with the OCI's investigative staff at federal correctional facilities. The dispositions in response to complaints involve a combination of internal responses (where the information or assistance sought by the offender can generally be provided by the OCI's investigative staff) and investigations (where, further to a review/analysis of law, policies, and documentation, OCI investigative staff make an inquiry or several interventions with Correctional Service and submit recommendations to address the complaint). Investigations vary considerably in terms of scope, complexity, duration and resources required.

**Other refers to other types of complaints not specified in the table and includes Claims Against the Crown, Community Programs/Supervision, Correspondence, Death or Serious Injury, General Decision/Implementation, Diet, Discipline, Discrimination, Food Services, Health and Safety/Worksite, Ion Scan, Mental Health, Methadone, Official Languages, Operation/Decisions of the OCI, Penitentiary Placement, Release Procedures, Search and Seizure, Sentence Administration/Calculation, Temporary Absence Decision, Urinalysis, and Use of Force.