Structured Intervention Units
Correctional Service Canada (CSC) is responsible for keeping Canadians safe and assisting in rehabilitating offenders so most can eventually return to the community and be contributing, productive members of society.
The health and safety of our employees and those in our care and custody is our top priority. CSC transfers offenders to Structured Intervention Units (SIUs) only when they cannot be safely managed in the mainstream federal prison population because of risks to their own safety or the risk they pose to others.
In 2019, CSC abolished administrative segregation. Since then, SIUs have been implemented at 14 correctional institutions across the country. They help offenders adopt more positive behaviours through targeted interventions and programs.
What's on this page
Read
Read our articles to learn more about SIUs:
Meet Kwame Osei: CSC's Fit Life program helps inmates in SIU
Fit Life is a physical fitness program developed by Kwame Osei, a CSC educator with a physical education and coaching background. The program is seeing healthy outcomes with inmates at the Structured Intervention Unit (SIU) at Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security penitentiary near Kingston, Ontario.
Legend: Indigenous mural with the words "honesty", "wisdom" and "courage" painted above a turtle. The mural symbolizes Indigenous culture within the Structured Intervention Unit at Kent Institution.
Finding successful ways to engage inmates in the Kent SIU
When Kent Institution Correctional Officer Alice Zador learned how big of a shift in institutional operations the new Structured Intervention Unit (SIU) was, she immediately volunteered to be part of the team working in it.
Watch
Watch our videos to learn more about SIUs:
Tunde, Correctional Officer
Meet Tunde, a Correctional Officer who works in the Structured Intervention Units (SIUs) at Correctional Service Canada who talks about the human side to his work and the importance of CSC’s programs. Correctional Officers help keep our institutions healthy and safe, and like Tunde, also play an important role in helping to change the lives of individuals within our care.
Kwame Osei, Structured Intervention Unit Teacher
Kwame, a teacher in a structured intervention unit, shares his personal experience working with offenders and how academic and physical education can lead to personal growth and meaningful relationships.
Doree, Dad Hero Program
Doree, a first-time father, shares how he’s trying to become a better dad through the Dad Hero program at CSC which is giving him the tools to help build a foundation for when he returns to the community.
Laws
The Corrections and Conditional Release Act and Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations guide CSC’s policies on Structured Intervention Units.
Policy
- CD 711: Structured Intervention Units
- GL 711-1: Transfer of Inmates to a Structured Intervention Unit
- GL 711-2: Management of Structured Intervention Unit Inmates and Inmates Subject to Restricted Movement
- GL 711-3: Transfer of Inmates Out of a Structured Intervention Unit
- GL 711-4: Correctional Interventions and Services in Structured Intervention Units
- GL 711-5: Health Services in Structured Intervention Units
- GL 711-6: Referrals to and Information Sharing with Independent External Decision Makers (IEDMs)
Statistics
Related links
- General Information about Structured Intervention Units
- Overview: Structured Intervention Units
- Solitary Confinement and the Structured Intervention Units in Canada’s Penitentiaries: The Final Report of the SIU IAP
- Structured Intervention Unit Implementation Advisory Panel: 2023 to 2024 Annual Report
- Structured Intervention Unit Implementation Advisory Panel: 2022 to 2023 Annual Report
- Structured Intervention Unit Implementation Advisory Panel 2021 to 2022 Annual Report
- Public Safety Responses to Recommendations in the Structured Intervention Unit Implementation Advisory Panel Annual Report 2021 to 2022
- Correctional Service of Canada: Responses to the Implementation Advisory Panel’s First Annual Report 2021 to 2022 on the Implementation of the Structured Intervention Units
- News release: Government of Canada appoints Chair of Renewed Structured Intervention Unit Implementation Advisory Panel - Public Safety Canada
- Media statement: Commissioner of Correctional Service Canada on Structured Intervention Units
- Media statement: Correctional Service of Canada opens Structured Intervention Units and enhances health services for inmates