Imprisonment and after ...

• Author: Davison, Charles B.
• Position: SPECIAL REPORT--after the courtroom door closes

A Federal Court judge once observed that prisoners in Canadian penitentiaries and prisons are "as long as they remain inside the walls, to our national disgrace, almost universally unseen and unthought of." For various reasons there is in Canada a significant amount of ignorance about what happens to individuals who are sentenced to imprisonment as a result of criminal offences. Partly because of the overwhelming amount of American news, movies, and television shows broadcast in Canada, Canadians seem to believe that our system works the same way as various prison systems in the United States. Partly because it sometimes seems that only bad news gets reported, the general public is often left with the impression that our correctional system is a badly leaking sieve, which fails completely to address the main causes for criminal conduct in those whom it houses. Partly because of the comments and arguments made by those with particular political agendas, some of these misconceptions and misunderstandings are given far more credence than is appropriate.

I hope, by way of this article, to explain and describe briefly and in impartial terms at least some of the goals, approaches, and methods of our federal correctional system. (Space does not permit a detailed analysis of whether the system is successful in what it does; in fact, it would take a paper two or three times this length just to try to determine how success might be measured and determined!) It is of course for the reader to decide what is right and what is wrong in how the system functions and operates.

In Canada, for reasons which go back to pre-Confederation times, sentences of imprisonment of less than two years duration are enforced and administered by provincial authorities. Any sentence of imprisonment up to and including "two-years-less-one-day" is served in a provincial correctional institution (often called in law a "prison" and sometimes known by the more traditional term "reformatory"). The individual will be subject to the general rules and requirements of such facilities as they exist in each jurisdiction.

A sentence of imprisonment of two years or more is usually served in a federal correctional institution (also known more traditionally as a "penitentiary"). It is often said that in Canada people are sent to the penitentiary (or to a prison) as punishment, and not for punishment. In other words, it is the loss of liberty itself which is considered to be the punishment. While imprisonment in a correctional facility necessarily involves limitations upon, and sometimes the loss of, certain rights and privileges enjoyed by all members of society, the treatment received and conditions endured while serving a sentence are not considered or intended to be punitive in and of themselves.

The general approach followed by the federal correctional authorities (the Correctional Service of Canada) recognizes that the vast majority of inmates held within the system will ultimately be released back into society...