SIU Authorizations: October 1st, 2023 to December 31st, 2023 (Quarterly Report Q3)

Research Highlights: National SIU authorization counts declined slightly in Q3, largely due to a decrease in cases in the Prairie Region.

Background

Structured Intervention Units (SIUs) were incorporated into the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) on November 30th, 2019. Such units are intended to provide intervention-focused accommodations to offenders who cannot be safely managed in the mainstream offender population. As part of a quarterly series highlighting trends in SIUs, the current analysis examines SIU stay-level data drawn from CSC data warehouse for the third quarter of 2023-2024 (i.e., October 1st, 2023 to December 31st, 2023).

Overview of Authorizations

In Q3 of 2023-2024:

Regional Trends

There was a decline in new authorizations in the Prairie Region (121 in Q3, compared to 165 in Q2, and 150 in Q1). On the other hand, there was an increase in authorizations in the Quebec Region (253 in Q3) relative to Q2 (234). Overall, over one-third of authorizations occurred in the Quebec Region.

By region, new authorizations represented roughly 2.0% of the in-custody population in the Atlantic Region, 2.9% in the Quebec Region, 1.6% in the Ontario Region, 1.0% in the Prairie Region, and 1.5% in the Pacific Region.

Authorization Reason

In Q3, 55% of authorizations were justified under 34.1 A (security) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), while 42% were justified under 34.1 B (safety). Authorizations justified under 34.1 C (investigation) remained uncommon.

There was regional variation with respect to trends in reason (e.g., 34.1 A authorizations were most common in Quebec; See Table 2).

Table 1. SIU Authorization Count per Month by Region, October 1st, 2023 to December 31th, 2023

Month     Region     Total
Atlantic Quebec Ontario Prairie Pacific
Oct. 24 89 45 37 26 221
Nov. 32 68 61 45 27 233
Dec. 19 96 74 39 20 248
Total 75 253 180 121 73 702

Table 2. SIU Authorization Reason by Region, October 1st, 2023 to December 31th, 2023

Reason     Region     Total
Atlantic Quebec Ontario Prairie Pacific
34.1 A 33 172 91 60 32 388
34.1 B 39 81 79 61 38 298
34.1 C 3 no data 10 no data 3 16
Total 75 253 180 121 73 702

Discussion

SIU authorization counts declined slightly in Q3, largely due to a decrease in cases in the Prairie Region. The overall impact of this decrease was mitigated by an increase in transfers in the Quebec Region.

Prepared by: The Special Projects and Data Management (SPDM) Team of the CSC Research Branch.  

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