Hamilton, Ontario, December 5, 2014 – Today David Sweet, Member of Parliament for Ancaster – Dundas – Flamborough – Westdale, on behalf of the Honourable Steven Blaney, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, announced the closure of the Hamilton Community Correctional Centre (CCC). The Centre will permanently close its doors as a Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) facility on December 31, 2014.
CSC has been working with other communities to move offenders to similar facilities elsewhere.
The Hamilton CCC opened in 1992 and has been providing offender supervision in the Hamilton area for over two decades. CCCs are community-based residential facilities operated by CSC that provide 24-hour supervision, programs, and interventions. These facilities ensure the safety of communities when overseeing offenders during their supervised transition into the community.
The protection of communities is the paramount consideration in all decisions relating to the release of federal offenders. CSC is managing offenders and contributing to public safety.
For more information on community corrections, please visit www.csc-scc.gc.ca.
Community corrections by the numbers:
- 32 area parole offices
- 92 parole offices
- 16 Community Correctional Centres (15 once the Hamilton CCC closes)
- Approximately 200 contracts with community residential facilities (CRFs), hostels, private home placements (PHPs), alternative community beds (ACBs), with roughly 2,000 available beds. CRFs are operated by non-governmental organizations or private aftercare agencies that provide a structured living environment with 24-hour supervision, programs and interventions to assist the offender with a gradual and structured transition to the community.
"This is a day that I have anticipated, and Hamilton has anticipated, for a long time. Important rehabilitation work was done here, however the location was not ideal. I am grateful to successive Public Safety Ministers, particularly Minister Steven Blaney, for recognizing this issue and working with me to ensure this work could be moved to a more suitable jurisdiction and carried out with great effect there.”
David Sweet
Member of Parliament, Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale
“Our Government is making improvements to the criminal justice system that will better protect Canadian communities. We are taking necessary steps to ensure that our communities remain safe and that dangerous criminals are kept behind bars.”
The Honorable Steven Blaney
Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
“The Correctional Service of Canada is pleased to honour its commitment made to the municipality of Hamilton to close the Community Correctional Centre, while upholding public safety and providing offender reintegration opportunities.”
Don Head
Commissioner, Correctional Service Canada
Jason Tamming
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
613-991-2924
Media Relations
Correctional Service Canada
613-992-7711
