Audit of the management of community accommodations for offenders, 2015

The Audit of the Management of Community Accommodations was conducted as part of Correctional Service of Canada's (CSC) Internal Audit Sector's 2014-17 Risk-Based Audit Plan (RBAP).

The objectives of this audit were to provide assurance that:

• the management framework in place supports the management of community accommodations for offenders; and
• there were controls in place to ensure that CSC has appropriate accommodations available and that offender population needs are being met.

The audit was national in scope and included site visits to five districts and National Headquarters (NHQ).

The audit examined whether controls were in place to ensure that placement occurred in places where offender needs were best met and that bed availability in the community was tracked to know what was available for when an offender was released. The audit also looked at whether guidance was provided and controls were in place when negotiating per diem rates and that these rates were monitored when implemented to ensure that CSC's controls over financial payments worked as intended.

CSC is responsible for the care, custody and supervision of offenders. CSC aims to deliver the most relevant, appropriate and effective correctional interventions to address the risks and needs of the offender population while in custody or under community supervision to contribute to successful reintegration into the community while ensuring public safety. In the preparation of offenders for release, CSC staff work with inmates and partners to establish viable plans to prepare them for successful reintegration into the community. This includes pre-release case preparation, developing release plans, presenting cases to the Parole Board of Canada (PBC), and developing community strategies to ensure the safe release of inmates into the community.^{Footnote 1}

CSC's organizational priorities for 2015-16 include the "safe management of eligible offenders during their transition from the institution to the community, while on supervision," "[the] safety and security of members of the public, victims, staff, and offenders in our institutions and in the community" and "productive relationships with diverse partners, stakeholders, victims' groups, and others involved in public safety."^{Footnote 2} To achieve the final priority, it calls for strong levels of coordination and collaboration among CSC partners, stakeholders and Canadians.^{Footnote 3} In order to meet all these priorities, and based on the work of the CSC Review Panel report A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety, CSC implemented the Transformation Agenda designed to address a number of recommendations, including strengthening community corrections. Through the Transformation Agenda, CSC sought to improve how it supervises offenders serving sentences in the community. For example, programs and services such as mental health were enhanced, a Community Corrections Strategy, which focused on responding to the needs of Aboriginal offenders, women offenders and offenders with mental health issues, was developed, resources for community corrections were increased, additional measures to protect staff safety were to be implemented and CSC was to foster positive relationships with community partners to support safe communities.^{Footnote 4} These actions were to ensure that the organization continues to deliver strong public safety results for Canadians.^{Footnote 5}

With respect to the first objective on appropriateness of the management framework, we found that certain aspects of the management framework were in place to support the management of community accommodations for offenders. A policy framework exists; controls are in place and are working as intended to ensure that services paid by CSC are rendered; and high risk funding has been provided to help Community Residential Facilities (CRFs) accommodate the changed offender profile.

Overall, the governance framework requires improvement in order to better support management of community accommodation. We noted a number of areas that require further consideration by management to ensure that the risks to the organization are better managed:

• A new Commissioner's Directive (CD) and accompanying guideline on Community Correctional Centres (CCC) standards have been finalized and were promulgated July 2015. This CD and guideline should be assessed to determine if the updated CCC CD (714) and CDs from the 566 security series respectively address the areas requiring clarification such as medication management and searches;
• CSC staff responsible to negotiate with community partners need to have a strong understanding of the per diem calculation to ensure CSC receives its best value for money;
• The current national system used to report bed utilization information in the community does not always accurately reflect the current situation as there are delays in the reporting of CBRF data; and
• NHQ should finalize and implement performance indicators for the community to place CSC in a position to better monitor and report, nationally, overall program performance and therefore better understand where attention may be needed.

For the second objective on Accommodation Controls, we found aspects of controls for accommodation that support efficient and effective offender placement. Due to many factors, CSC cannot always ensure that offenders are placed in the community accommodation that would best suit their needs. However, CSC attempts, as best as possible, to accommodate offenders to ensure they are placed in the right type of bed, in the right location at the right time.

It was noted that bed utilization rates vary by region and is dependent on bed prioritization, CRF admission criteria and ebbs and flows in the offender population being released into the community. Community partners felt that CSC employees do a good job working with the CRFs to uphold population and occupancy levels to ensure viability. It is important for CSC to have the tools necessary to accurately forecast and manage its community population in order to be able to place offenders in the right type of bed, in the right location at the right time.

Recommendations have been issued in the report to address the root cause of our observations.

The key Office of Primary Interest (OPI) for this audit is the Assistant Commissioner, Correctional Operations and Programs.

ADD - Associate District Director

ASRSQ - Association des Services de Réhabilitation Sociale du Québec

CAT - Community Assessment Team

CBRF - Community-Based Residential Facilities

CCC - Community Correctional Centres

CCRA - Corrections and Conditional Release Act

CD - Commissioner's Directive

CIB – Correctional Intervention Board

CPORF - Community Parole Officer Resource Formula

CRF - Community Residential Facilities

CSC - Correctional Service Canada

DPR – Departmental Performance Report

FAA - Financial Administration Act

FTE - Full-Time Equivalent

FY - Fiscal Year

LTSO - Long-Term Supervision Orders

NCAOP - National Capital Accommodation and Operations Plan

NHQ – National Headquarters

OAG - Office of the Auditor General

OCI - Office of the Correctional Investigator

OPI – Office of Primary Interest

PAA - Program Alignment Architecture

PBC - Parole Board of Canada

PWGSC - Public Works and Government Services Canada

RBAP - Risk-Based Audit Plan

RHQ – Regional Headquarters

RPP - Report on Plans and Priorities

SR – Statutory Release

TB - Treasury Board

Correctional Service Canada (CSC) is responsible for the care, custody and supervision of offenders. CSC aims to deliver the most relevant, appropriate and effective correctional interventions to address the risks and needs of the offender population while in custody or under community supervision to contribute to successful reintegration into the community while ensuring public safety. In the preparation of offenders for release, CSC staff work with inmates and partners to establish viable plans to prepare them for successful reintegration into the community. This includes pre-release case preparation, developing release plans, presenting cases to the Parole Board of Canada (PBC), and developing community strategies to ensure the safe release of inmates into the community.^{Footnote 6}

CSC's organizational priorities for 2015-16 include the "safe management of eligible offenders during their transition from the institution to the community, while on supervision," "[the] safety and security of members of the public, victims, staff, and offenders in our institutions and in the community" and "productive relationships with diverse partners, stakeholders, victims' groups, and others involved in public safety."^{Footnote 7} To achieve the final priority, it calls for strong levels of coordination and collaboration among CSC partners, stakeholders and Canadians.^{Footnote 8} In order to meet all these priorities, and based on the work of the CSC Review Panel report A Roadmap to Strengthening Public Safety, CSC implemented the Transformation Agenda designed to address a number of recommendations, including strengthening community corrections. Through the Transformation Agenda, CSC sought to improve how it supervises offenders serving sentences in the community. For example, programs and services such as mental health were enhanced, a Community Corrections Strategy, which focused on responding to the needs of Aboriginal offenders, women offenders and offenders with mental health issues, was developed, resources for community corrections were increased, additional measures to protect staff safety were to be implemented and CSC was to foster positive relationships with community partners to support safe communities.^{Footnote 9} These actions were to ensure that the organization continues to deliver strong public safety results for Canadians.^{Footnote 10}

The primary goal of community correctional operations is the effective reintegration of offenders into the community with due regard to public safety and community correctional activities. This goal continues to be relevant and aligns with both Canadian governmental and CSC departmental priorities.^{Footnote 11}

CSC's role in contributing to a safe and secure Canada is reflected in the organization's single Strategic Outcome "the custody, correctional interventions, and supervision of offenders in communities and institutions, contribute to public safety." Three broad programs (components of the Program Alignment Architecture (PAA)) are aligned to support this Strategic Outcome: Custody, Correctional Interventions, and Community Supervision.^{Footnote 12} According to the 2013-14 Departmental Performance Report (DPR), CSC's actual spending (authorities used) in 2013-14 was $2.75 Billion.

The Community Supervision Program is material to CSC as it ensures eligible offenders are safely reintegrated into communities through the provision of housing and health services, where required, as well as staff supervision for the duration of the offender's sentence. The expected results for this program are offenders who are reintegrated into the community as law-abiding citizens while maintaining a level of supervision, which contributes to public safety.^{Footnote 13} The chart below details the Community Supervision Program's planned spending, total authorities and actual spending between 2011-12 and 2013-14.

Source: CSC Departmental Performance Reports – 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14

As shown in the table above, the Community Supervision Program accounted for 4.5 percent of CSC's actual authorities used in 2013-14 which is an increase from the previous three years (2010-11: 4.3 percent, 2011-12: 4.2 percent and 2012-13: 4.4 percent).

The Community Supervision Program consists of three sub-programs: (3.1) Community Management and Security, (3.2) Community-Based Residential Facilities (CBRFs) and (3.3) Community Health Services.^{Footnote 14} The CBRF program contributes to public safety by providing a structured and supportive environment during the gradual reintegration process. The program provides accommodation for offenders on parole, Statutory Release (SR), Temporary Absence and Long Term Supervision Orders (LTSO)^{Footnote *}.^{Footnote 15} Key activities include ensuring that community supervision, offender contact, interventions and monitoring of conditions of release address the need areas associated with the offender's risk to re-offend and those necessary to encourage safe reintegration.^{Footnote 16} Residential services are considered to be an essential component of CSC's supervision framework and are of paramount importance in enhancing the safety of Canadian communities. As further detailed below, CSC contracts with numerous non-governmental organizations to provide Community-Based Residential Facilities services, support and monitoring to offenders on release.^{Footnote 17} According to the 2013-14 DPR, actual spending for the sub-program CBRF was $98 Million;^{Footnote 18} which accounts for 79 percent of CSC's Community Supervision program.

Gradual and structured release of offenders is the safest method to contribute to public safety. CBRFs are a critical component in public safety as they provide just that; a gradual and structured release of offenders. CBRFs include both Community Residential Facilities (CRFs), managed by community agencies, and Community Correctional Centres (CCCs). CCCs are CSC operated community-based residential facilities that provide a structured living environment with 24-hour supervision, programs, and interventions for the purpose of safely reintegrating the offender into the community.^{Footnote 19} While CCCs are classified as minimum security institutions, due to their role in accommodating offenders on conditional release or on a LTSO, they are not required to conform to all minimum security standards.^{Footnote 20} There are 15 CCCs across Canada.^{Footnote 21}

Contracted CBRFs are facilities owned by non-governmental agencies who sign contracts with CSC to provide special accommodation for, counselling and programming to and supervision of offenders. The contract for each facility sets out detailed requirements regarding levels of control and assistance to be provided to offenders. CSC has contracts with approximately 200^{Footnote 22} CBRFs across Canada.

CBRFs are used to assist in rehabilitation by providing housing for those offenders released on Unescorted Temporary Absences, Work Release and Day Parole in addition to offenders on Full Parole, SR and LTSOs where the PBC has imposed a special condition for residency.

All offenders released on Day Parole, and those who have a residency condition imposed by the PBC require an available bed space within a CBRF before being released.^{Footnote 23} These facilities support public safety by acting as a bridge between incarceration and the community and actively engaging offenders in their correctional plan to assist them with reintegration into the community.

The tables below depict the daily number of available beds across the country for each type of facility.

Source: Corporate Reporting System Correctional Service Canada Institutions and Community Correctional Centres – Rated Capacity, June 2, 2015.

Source: CBRF Bed Utilization data – March 2015 – not validated by Districts (Unaudited).

CRFs provide structured living environments with 24-hour supervision as well as support, monitoring and accommodation to offenders on release. These facilities may have an enhanced programming component for residents that can include life skills, substance abuse, employment counselling and/or crisis counselling, and accommodate offenders on every type of conditional release and other legislated release (including those conditionally released with imposed residency conditions and offenders subject to LTSOs).

With regards to CRF's, the national funding framework of per diem rates was established for facilities for up to 40 beds and is based on typical costs for houses of each size. These per diem rates were established taking into consideration the elements involved in providing residential services and include, but are not limited to, personnel costs, training costs and operating costs, including insurance, food, and maintenance. For CSC to be able to negotiate with CRFs for the purchase of high quality residential services, it is important to review the demands and expectations of facilities to ensure an understanding of the real and actual costs involved. The CBRFs must in turn meet a set of defined minimum requirements as outlined in the statement of work. Statements of work have been developed to ensure high quality of services, to provide a fair distribution of the resources to the regions, to ensure that real and actual costs of service are acknowledged and to provide a consistent approach to contract negotiations. Any additional services to be provided must be agreed upon by the CRF, the Project Authority and the Contracting Authority, and must be specifically outlined in an appendix to the statement of work.

CSC is legislatively mandated through the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) to provide correctional interventions to offenders in order to rehabilitate and reintegrate them into the community.

CSC's obligation and purpose is to carry out sentences imposed by courts through the safe and humane custody and supervision of offenders as well as assisting the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community as law-abiding citizens through the provision of programs in penitentiaries and in the community.^{Footnote 25}

The PBC decides whether parole will be granted to an offender and sets the conditions of that release. The chart below depicts how offenders are eligible for release before the end of their sentence^**. There are various types of release as well as various possible timing during a sentence for release.

^** Chart is shown for a sentence of 3.5 years, the average sentence length for male offenders admitted into federal custody in the 2013–14 fiscal year (FY). Chart does not include offenders serving life sentences.

Source: 2015 Spring Reports of the Auditor General of Canada Report 6—Preparing Male Offenders for Release—Correctional Service Canada. Exhibit 6.1 – Offenders are eligible for release before the end of their sentence.