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COMMISSIONER'S DIRECTIVE
Number - Numéro: |
Date: |
INTAKE ASSESSMENT PROCESS
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Issued under the authority of the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada |
POLICY OBJECTIVES
1. To provide clear and concise direction regarding the intake assessment process of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC).
2. To place offenders to the most appropriate institution and to contribute to their timely preparation for safe reintegration while protecting society.
AUTHORITIES
3. Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA):
s. 4 - Principles
s. 11 - Reception of Inmates
s. 28 and 29 - Placement and Transfer
s. 30 - Security Classification
s. 40 - Disciplinary Offences
s. 76 and 77 - Programs for Offenders
s. 80 - Programs for Aboriginal Offenders
s. 81 to 84 - Aboriginal Corrections
s. 85 - Health Care
s. 87 - Service to consider health factors
s. 119 - Eligibility for Parole
Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations (CCRR):
s. 11 and 12 - Placement and Transfers
s 17 and 18 - Security Classification
s. 102 - Correctional Plans
s. 114 - Aboriginal Offenders
CROSS-REFERENCES
4. CD 006 - Classification of Institutions
CD 540 - Transfer of Offenders
CD 581 - Violations of the Law by Inmates
CD 702 - Aboriginal Programming
CD 720 - Education of Offenders
CD 730 - Inmate Program Assignment and Payments
CD 800 - Health Service
CD 840 - Psychological Services
CD 843 - Prevention, Management and Response to Suicide and Self-Injuries
National Correctional Program Guidelines: Making Referrals and Managing Correctional Plans
CD 703 - Sentence Management
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
5. The Institutional Head may refuse to accept a person into the penitentiary who does not have a medical certificate.
6. The accepting officer will satisfy himself/herself that the person being delivered to the institution is the person referred to in the committal documents.
7. The Sentence Manager will verify the Warrant of Committal at the time of admission both at intake and placement institutions.
8. Institutional Heads will establish procedures to ensure that within two working days of initial reception, including a warrant of suspension, every offender will undergo a nursing assessment and a referral to an appropriate clinician, if necessary, in accordance with CD 800 - Health Services.
9. Institutional Heads will ensure that all new inmates identified as co-convicted and under current sentence for an offence resulting in death or serious harm, will not be accommodated in the same cell. Whenever possible, they will not be accommodated on the same range or in the same unit.
10. Institutional Heads will ensure that an appropriate process is in place to ensure that each offender is assigned to a Parole Officer/Primary Worker.
11. The Institutional Head of each Offender Intake Assessment Unit will ensure that review of all offenders is completed within seven days following admission to the institution in order to identify those eligible for accelerated review. CSC is required to bring to the attention of the National Parole Board (NPB) any offender who is subject to the Accelerated Review Provisions of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA).
12. Institutional Heads will ensure that referrals for supplementary assessments will be completed during the first two weeks of an offender's admission and that systems are in place to ensure that assessments are completed on time.
INTAKE ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK
13. The intake assessment process provides a smooth and effective introduction of offenders to the federal correctional system.
14. Intake assessment processes will be established in each region to ensure that all offenders admitted to the federal correctional system:
- undergo a full assessment and referral process addressing their program and security needs, which may include medical, psychological, psychiatric, employment and educational assessments;
- are provided with information and counselling as required about the federal correctional system, including:
- rights and responsibilities;
- Mission Statement of CSC;
- adaptation to the penitentiary environment;
- educational and vocational counselling;
- availability of spiritual and cultural services;
- program opportunities;
- rules and regulations governing the conduct of offenders;
- security levels of institutions;
- policy and procedures on temporary absences, work releases and conditional release;
- offender grievance process (CD 081);
- function of the Correctional Investigator's Office;
- Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
- role of Elders, Aboriginal Liaison Officers, Aboriginal Community Development Officers, Pathways Units (if relevant);
- sections 81 and 84 of the CCRA;
- access to information procedures; and
- CCRA.
15. The intake assessment process, beginning with the preliminary assessment, will begin within five days of notification of sentencing when the Service establishes contact with the offender while in provincial custody.
INFORMATION COLLECTION
16. Information collection starts as soon as the offender has been sentenced and continues throughout an offender's sentence.
17. Complete, accurate, timely, accessible quality information related to the offender is essential to effective administration of the sentence and management of the offender.
18. All relevant and accurate information is obtained to assist in the assessment, placement, and administration of the sentence.
PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT
19. The Preliminary Assessment is used to collect basic data on the offender, assess his or her immediate needs, initiate the collection of the critical documents and orient the offender to the CSC.POST SENTENCE COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT
20. A Post-Sentence Community Assessment will be requested and completed as soon as possible after receiving notification of the imposition of a federal sentence.ADMISSION INTERVIEW
21. Every offender will be interviewed within 24 hours of arrival at the institution to identify areas of need that require immediate attentionORIENTATION
22. Every offender placed or transferred to a penitentiary will receive an orientation to the institution.CORRECTIONAL PLANNING PROCESS
23. The Correctional Plan is the principal document that provides a comprehensive initial assessment of the offender and an identification of proposed interventions. It is the base document against which all progress is measured. The Correctional Plan provides a succinct description of the critical information that is required to understand how the offender's sentence is to be managed from beginning to end.SUPPLEMENTARY ASSESSMENTS
24. Supplementary assessments are designed to provide information about the nature and severity of the specific dynamic factor and are used in decision making for appropriate program (including intensity level) referrals. See National Correctional Program Guidelines: Making Referrals and Managing Correctional Plans.INITIAL SECURITY CLASSIFICATION AND PENITENTIARY PLACEMENT
25. Security classification procedures will be implemented to assign to each offender a minimum, medium or maximum security classification based on an assessment of the offender's static and dynamic factors
26. Security needs, programming, cultural and linguistic needs, proximity to home community and family, along with institutional adjustment, escape risk and public safety ratings will be considered in all placement decisions.
PROGRAM PARTICIPATION DURING INTAKE ASSESSMENT AND CORRECTIONAL PLANNING
27. Intake units must involve offenders in programming during the intake process to support their preparation for NPB decision-making, but will not unduly prolong their stay at the intake unit. This applies in particular to those offenders serving sentences of four years or less, where the offender's specific program needs are apparent relatively early in the process.
28. Pre-treatment or awareness programs such as Inmate Suicide Awareness and Prevention Workshop should be made available to as many new offender admissions as possible.
OFFENDER READMISSIONS / OFFENDERS WITH NEW OFFENCES PRE OR POST RELEASE
29. Offenders who are readmitted without having committed a new offence do not normally require a comprehensive re-assessment. In these cases, the Parole Officer/Primary Worker will review the Correctional Plan and the most recent Correctional Plan Progress Report (CPPR) and make any required revisions to reflect the offender's current situation.
30. A full intake assessment and new Correctional Plan is required (where there is no existing full intake assessment) for offenders whose sentence started prior to January 1st, 1994, whose conditional release has been revoked.
31. For offenders who are readmitted with one or more new offences, or following an escape, the Criminal Profile will be updated, and the Correctional Plan will be reviewed to determine if the current Correctional Plan remains appropriate, or if a comprehensive reassessment is required.
32. The operational unit/Parole Officer/Primary Worker of the offender at the time of re-admission will ensure the above reviews take place. In the case of an escaped offender, the Region in which the offender has been re-captured becomes responsible for completing all reviews and updates to the Criminal Profile/Correctional Plan.
33. A decision to refer an offender readmitted with new offences to the Intake Assessment Unit for a more comprehensive re-evaluation of the offender's static and dynamic factors could be made under the following circumstances:
- the offender's criminal behaviour has taken a significant shift (i.e. a property offender has committed violent offence(s), an offender previously not identified as a sex offender has committed a sexual offence) and there is no information in the offender's previous assessment or in the file that would assist in the development of a strategy to deal with that shift;
- there is no comprehensive Correctional Plan on the offender;
- the Correctional Plan does not provide the level or quality of information necessary to plan an adequate strategy for dealing with the offender;
- the offender has been on conditional release or at large for five years or more, and the new offence(s) or other relevant information lead staff to consider that a review of the offender's previous assessment is necessary to determine an appropriate strategy.
Even if the offender meets one or more of the above criteria, but he or she is within one year of his or her Warrant Expiry Date or Statutory Release Date, consideration must be given as to whether there is an advantage gained in referring the offender to the Intake Assessment Unit for a comprehensive re-assessment.
34. If it is determined that there is no advantage in these cases, the Criminal Profile will be updated, and the Correctional Plan reviewed to determine if there are any changes in dynamic factors and develop the appropriate responses.
35. For offenders who commit new offences while incarcerated, use the same criteria found in the previous paragraphs to determine whether to refer the offender to the Intake Assessment Unit for re-assessment.
36. If an offender is returned to the Intake Assessment Unit for re-assessment, staff should review the previous assessment on the offender and only change or re-assess those areas where the offender's situation has changed.
37. Where a Criminal Profile or Correctional Plan does not exist, the head of the Intake Assessment Unit will provide advice on the above criteria regarding the need for a comprehensive assessment. If it is decided to proceed with referral to the Intake Assessment Unit, the normal transfer process should be used, if necessary, to complete the intake assessment.
38. A decision to transfer should take place within 30 calendar days of re-admission or within 30 calendar days from the date the offender is convicted of a new offence committed while incarcerated.
Commissioner,
Original signed by
Keith Coulter
