Report to Parliament Through the Solicitor General

The Sub-Committee on the Penitentiary System in Canada Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs Mark MacGuigan Chairman Second Session of the Thirtieth Parliament, 1976-77 © Minister of Supply and Services Canada 1977 Available by mail from Printing and Publishing Supply and Services Canada Ottawa, Canada K1A 059 or through your bookseller. Catalogue No. XC33-302/2-45-1 Canada: $3.50 ISBN 0-660-01096-8 Other countries: $4.20 Price subject to change without notice. SUB-COMMITTEE ON THE PENITENTIARY SYSTEM IN CANADA Chairman. Mark MacGuigan Vice-Chairman.: Yvon Pinard Members of the Sub-Committee Leonel Beaudoin Arthur Lee Bruce Halliday Stuart Leggatt Maurice Harquail Erik Nielsen Simms Holt John Reynolds Claude-Andre Lachance W. Kenneth Robinson Jacques Lavoie Staff Denis Beaudoin Jean-Marie Mercier Dr. B. A. Boyd John Moloney Wayne Cameron Robert Normand George Fife Moe Royer Hugh Finsten Edward F. Ryan Virginia Kuash Rick Steele Louanne Labelle Sharon Vance Robert Vaive Mary Anne Griffith Clerk of the Sub-Committee 1; 1 To carry out an extensive—and intensive—study of the Canadian penitentiary system from coast to coast and to put together a Report of this magnitude in the short space of seven months is a task that could have been carried out only by a committee that acted with one mind, and then only with the aid of a staff of exceptional talent and industry. Six members of the research staff of twelve were loaned to the Sub-Committee by the research bureaus of the four political parties, four more were made available by the Research Branch of the Library of Parliament, and one was supplied by the Law Reform Commission. We are grateful to our benefactors, especially since their designates were so effective. The Report itself had more than a dozen authors. To our mind the differences in style are not so significant as the unity in spirit. Even at the risk of seeming unappreciative of all the other help we have received, we must single out four persons for their special contributions: first, Mary Anne Griffith, our Committee Clerk, on whom fell the total burden of organizing the Sub-Committee's hearings, travels and business—Mrs. Griffith's capacity for work, her organizing talents, her careful attention to detail and the exceptional foresight which enabled her to anticipate and forestall problems of all kinds made her ideally suited to our intensive schedule; next, Hugh Finsten, Head of the Law and Government Division of the Research Branch of the Library of Parliament, carried the burden of co-ordinating all of our research and writing as well as of contributing substantially to both; then, Louanne Labelle, a lawyer with the Research Branch of the Library of Parliament, who, in addition to her research and writing for us, assumed the heavy responsibility of overseeing the French version of the Report; and finally, Edward F. Ryan, consultant to the Law Reform Commission of Canada and legal advisor to the Sub-Committee, who as the principal writer on the staff side, tackled the vast subject matter with audacity and verbal dexterity. The original order of reference on the penitentiary system in Canada was given to our parent committee, the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs, which, in turn, created this Sub-Committee and referred the subject matter to it. In strict terms, the Sub-Committee Report is made to the Standing Committee, which in turn reports as it will to the House. However, in this instance, the Standing Committee has graciously agreed to pass through the Report of the Sub-Committee, exactly as received, so that the Report remains both in effect and in fact the work of the Sub-Committee alone. It goes almost without saying that the views of the Sub-Committee as expressed in the Report, should therefore in no way be attributed to the Standing Committee. Our thanks must also go to all who appeared before us or wrote us or otherwise assisted us, including the Commissioner and officials and staff of the Canadian Penitentiary Service, officers of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, and prison officials in the States of California and Washington. References (30:12) are to be found throughout the Report. They refer to the Sub-Committee's Minutes of Proceedings and Evidence. The first number refers to the issue number of the Proceedings and the second to the page in that issue. Other members of the House of Commons who served on the Sub-Committee from time to time but who did not participate in its deliberations and Report are as follows: Messrs. Alkenbrack Friesen Lumley Whiteway Coates Gilbert Masniuk Woolliams Flynn Kaplan Mclsaac We are grateful for their attendance. We also wish to thank the interpreters and translators of the Department of the Secretary of State, and the technicians, console operators and other staff personnel from the Committees' Branch who served us so faithfully both in Ottawa and on the road. The Report must stand on its merits, but it already is a symbol of inter-party cooperation by members who were prepared to place the importance of the problem before all other considerations. That also indicates our collective judgement as to the plight of the penitentiaries. PRINCIPLES and RECOMMENDATIONS ARE COLLECTED TOGETHER FOLLOWING THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE REPORT CONTENTS Paragraph No. Preface Chapter I INTRODUCTION ......_...... ._.. ..___.... __... _ .... 12 Chapter II BACKGROUND OF CORRECTIONS IN CANADA Introduction............................................ _ ................. 29 History to 1900 ......... .. ._._ 39 History 1900 to 1960 ........... ._ _ ........ .. ... ........... _. 47 History since 1960._...... __ ....................................._.. 64 Effect of the Changes .................. ................ ..._...... 69 The Public's Role .._ ............................ __................_.. 74 Chapter III THE MAXIMUM SECURITY INSTITUTIONS Dorchester Penitentiary .................. _ ...... .._. _._ . 82 Saskatchewan Penitentiary.................. ... ... _ ......... 90 Archambault Institution ...._.........._ ......................_..... 101 Correctional Development Centre .............._.. _............... 110 British Columbia Penitentiary .........................._....... _ . 128 Laval Institution ........._ ......................... ..._ _ . _ .... 149 Millhaven Institution ...._ .......................__.............. 164 Millhaven Today ... _........... _..... _........ _ ..................... 177 Chapter IV THE PURPOSES OF IMPRISONMENT Alternatives to Incarceration ............. _......._. .. ... 189 Imprisonment ..._........._ .......................... _ 198 Punishment by Law....... _ ... ......... _ ..........._ 203 Essential Conditions during Incarceration .._ ................ _ 207 The Scope of the Fededal System ......_._....._ ................ 209 Paragraph No. Chapter V THE CORRECTIONAL STAFF Staff Attitudes ...................................................................... 215 Selection As It Is ................................................................ 245 Selection As It Should Be .................................................... 252 Retirement Benefits ............................................................ 257 Training ............................................................................... 262 Continuing Professional Development.... ............................ 274 Training Positions as Part of Penitentiary Complements 276 Promotion from within the Service .................................... 277 Probationary Period for New Employees .......................... 286 Staff Remuneration .............................................................. 288 Exchange Programs with Other Countries ....................... 290 Uniting Security and Program Personnel .......................... 291 Identification and Accountability ...................................... 297 Hostage-Taking and other Serious Incidents .................... 301 Women Employees .............................................................. 316 Removal of Unsuitable Staff ...................._ ............._..... 317 Chapter VI ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PENITENTIARY SERVICE Staff-Inmate Ratios ............................................................ 318 The Present Organization .................................................... 347 Decentralization of Decision-Making ................................ 364 Institutions ............................................ 371 Regional Responsibilities .................................................... 375 Security ......................................... _.. _............................... 377 Policy Formulation .............................................................. 378 Public Visibility ......................._.............._..................._.... 386 An Independent Professional Penitentiary Service .......... 387 Union Activities ........................._.................._................ _.. 398 An Inspector-General for Penitentiaries ................_........_ 408 Chapter VII JUSTICE WITHIN THE WALLS The Rule of Law ..........................................................._..... 411 Justice an Essential Condition of Corrections .................. 416 Commissioner's Directives Should be Legally Binding .... 419 Independent Chairpersons .................................................. 424 Administrative Dissociation .................. _.... _............ _....... 429 TheUse of Gas .................................................................... 438 Transfers .........._

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