COMMISSIONER'S DIRECTIVE

INFORMATION COLLECTION

Policy Bulletin 202

OBJECTIVE

1. To ensure public safety by collecting all relevant and accurate information about the offender and the offence, to assist in the assessment and placement process and the overall administration of the sentence.

2. This CD is to be read in conjunction with CD 705, Intake Assessment Process.

AUTHORITY

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

4. Regional Deputy Commissioners (RDCs) will ensure that effective notification procedures are in place with the courts, jails, detention centres and Crown Attorney offices to ensure that CSC receives timely notification of new federal sentences and receives all relevant information following the sentencing of an offender.

5. The first operational unit receiving notice about the imposition of a federal sentence initiates a Case Documentation Checklist (CDC) within five days of the date of notification.

6. The Information Collection/Retrieval Units at each Intake Unit are responsible for pursuing missing information until it is either obtained or determined by written confirmation to be unavailable.

7. The Manager in charge of the Intake Assessment Unit ensures that:

1. all required information is requested and collected;
2. the received information fully meets CSC requirements with regard to accuracy, content and completeness;
3. liaison with police, courts, remand centres, provincial correctional centres and the office of the Crown Attorney is completed; and,
4. all information requests are documented.

8. Parole Officers are responsible for identifying the need for additional information and forwarding the request to the Information Collection/Retrieval Unit (based on regional practices).

9. All staff will make amendments to the CDC whenever additional information is received or requested.

INFORMATION COLLECTION

10. CSC makes every reasonable and necessary effort to obtain all critical information stipulated in s. 23 of the CCRA prior to any decision regarding release.

11. Self-reported information is verified wherever possible, especially when the information is used in decision-making.

12. The Case Documentation Checklist is a document in OMS used to initiate and monitor the information gathering process. Requests for and receipts of documents are recorded in the CDC.

13. Information gathered includes:

1. relevant information about the offence, such as, Finger Print System (FPS) sheet, CPIC information, police report(s) providing critical details of the offence;
2. relevant information about the offender's personal, social, cultural, economic, criminal and young-offender history, information from the victim, reasons and recommendations given by the Court;
3. any reasons and recommendations relating to the sentencing or committal provided by the court that convicts, sentences or commits the person, and any court that hears an appeal from the conviction, sentence or committal, including:
   1. appropriate information from the Crown Attorney, including details of the offence and the rationale for sentencing recommendations;
   2. judge's comments or recommendations;
   3. trial transcripts for offenders sentenced as Dangerous Offenders and Long-Term Supervision Orders under Criminal Code provisions;
   4. for offenders convicted of murder, the number of days in custody from the date of arrest until the date of sentencing;
   5. for Aboriginal offenders, include any available information regarding social history, such as the Gladue report (where available);
   6. reports and information from previous convictions for significant offences and all judicial processes, i.e., first and second trials, appeals, etc., where appropriate to assist CSC in the management of the offender's sentence;
4. any reports relevant to the conviction, sentence or committal that are submitted to a court, for example, psychiatric, psychological or other assessments presented to the court during the trial (where these reports are not available, request the trial transcripts to obtain information testified to by the authors of the reports);
5. all reports by psychologists, psychiatrists, criminologists and other experts presented in court for offenders sentenced as long term offenders;
6. any other information relevant to administering the sentence or committal, including existing information from the victim, the victim impact statement, information from provincial correctional authorities regarding the inmate's institutional behaviour and the transcript of any comments made by the sentencing judge regarding parole eligibility;
7. for offenders previously incarcerated in federal institutions, any CSC offender files held in Archives;
8. on a case by case basis, where an offender discloses that relevant official information exists that is not available through the courts, such as psychological and/or psychiatric reports from a provincial mental health facility, the offender will be asked to voluntarily consent to release the information to CSC by signing the relevant consent to disclosure form which will indicate the purpose of the release and use of the information;
9. where consent is not obtained, CSC staff will explore all possible legal options to obtain the information.

Commissioner,

Original signed by
Keith Coulter

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