SIU Authorizations: January 1st, 2024 to March 31st, 2024 (Quarterly Report Q4)

Research Highlights: National SIU authorization counts declined slightly in Q4, though shifts were subject to regional variation.

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’s data warehouse for the fourth quarter of 2023-2024 (i.e., January 1st, 2024, to March 31st, 2024).

Publication

RIB-24-06

2024

Research in Brief - PDF
SIU Authorizations: January 1st, 2024 to March 31st, 2024 (Quarterly Report Q4)[PDF - .206 MB]

Overview of Authorizations

In Q4 of 2023-2024:

Regional Trends

In Q4, there was a decline in SIU authorizations in the Atlantic, Quebec, and Pacific Regions, relative to Q3. In contrast, there was an increase in the Ontario and Prairie Regions. Across the fiscal year quarters, authorizations counts were highest in the Quebec Region.

By region, SIU authorizations in Q4 represented roughly 1.7% of the in-custody population in the Atlantic Region, 2.6% in the Quebec Region, 1.7% in the Ontario Region, 1.2% in the Prairie Region, and 1.1% in the Pacific Region.

Authorization Reason

In Q4, 54% of authorizations were justified under 34.1 A (security) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), while 41% 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 Counts by Quarter and Region, 2023-2024.

Quarter     Region     Total
Atlantic Quebec Ontario Prairie Pacific
Q1 78 269 172 150 81 750
Q2 84 234 182 165 75 740
Q3 75 253 180 121 73 702
Q4 65 229 199 144 57 694

Table 2. SIU Authorization Reason by Region, Q4, 2023-2024 (January 1st, 2024 to March 31st, 2024).

Reason     Region     Total
Atlantic Quebec Ontario Prairie Pacific
34.1 A 33 162 84 74 24 377
34.1 B 32 67 84 68 33 284
34.1 C no data no data 31* 2 no data 33
Total 65 229 199 144 57 694

*Significant increase due to two similar incidents at a single institution in the month of January, 2024.

Discussion

SIU authorization counts declined throughout 2023-2024, though shifts were subject to regional variation. Authorizations remained highest in the Quebec Region, with the majority justified under 34.1 A (security) of the CCRA.

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

Page details

2024-11-18