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This document is archival in nature and is intended Le présent document a une valeur archivistique et for those who wish to consult archival documents fait partie des documents d’archives rendus made available from the collection of Public Safety disponibles par Sécurité publique Canada à ceux Canada. qui souhaitent consulter ces documents issus de sa collection. Some of these documents are available in only one official language. Translation, to be provided Certains de ces documents ne sont disponibles by Public Safety Canada, is available upon que dans une langue officielle. Sécurité publique request. Canada fournira une traduction sur demande. ________ Research Report _________ Community Services for Women 1 under Supervision Ce rapport est également disponible en français. Pour en obtenir un exemplaire, veuillez vous adresser à la Direction de la recherche, Service correctionnel du Canada, 340, avenue Laurier Ouest, Ottawa (Ontario) K1A 0P9. This report is also available in French. Should additional copies be required, they can be obtained from the Research Branch, Correctional Service of Canada, 340 Laurier Ave. West, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0P9. 1 For ease of understanding this report should be printed in colour. 2014 Nº R-311 Community Services for Women under Supervision Jennie Thompson Anne Trinneer Ashley McConnell Dena Derkzen & Sara Rubenfeld Correctional Service of Canada May 2014 Acknowledgements We would like to thank Kelly Taylor for all of her guidance and support throughout the development of the project. The help provided by Jaya Patni (Women Offender Sector, Correctional Service Canada) was invaluable in the gathering of the community services from internal informants. We are also grateful to Ashley Maloney and Chris Vandyk from Facilities Branch, Real Properties Division, Correctional Service of Canada for their careful and patient development of the Maps that appear in this report. These visual aids would not have been possible without their effort. The authors would also like to thank Yvonne Stys for her review and resulting feedback. Her efforts are greatly appreciated. ii Executive Summary Key words: women offenders, community supervision, community services Most federally sentenced women are supervised in the community by Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) to assist in the re-adjustment to life in the community, while maintaining public safety. This period of transition is crucial to reducing rates of recidivism and return to federal custody (CSC, 2010). Given the importance of successful reintegration, CSC recently revised the National Strategy for Women Offenders, highlighting the need for development and maintenance of community partnerships with external stakeholders who provide additional community support to women offenders in order to ensure continued reintegration success. In addition to this reintegration focus, CSC recognises the importance of productive relationships with increasingly diverse partners, stakeholders, and other involved in public safety through its sixth priority. The current project focused on the community organizations to which women offenders were actively referred and those with which CSC had an active partnership to allow an understanding of the following: 1) the types of additional community support services available; 2) the location of these services; and, 3) the relationship between the number of available services and women supervised in an area. To summarize the regional community service information, density maps and ratio comparisons were developed using the following information: 1) the number and location of women in the community; 2) the number and location of federal institutions for women, parole offices, Community Based Residential Facilities (CBRFs), and Women’s Supervision Units across Canada; and, 3) a listing of community organizations offering services, as reported by community stakeholders internal to CSC. This geographical examination of community services may highlight any existing gaps in the community support of supervised women and could be used as an indication of where to further develop partnerships. Overall, it was found that most women offenders in the community were supervised in major urban centres. The majority of organizations were also located in major urban centres. Generally, regions with the most supervised women also reported the greatest number of services; however, this was not found in all locations. There was a substantially lower ratio of services to women in the Québec Region, compared to other regions. Moreover, across the country, not all areas in which women were supervised reported community organizations. The most common categories of offered services were mental health and/or addiction services, housing and/or basic needs, and education and/or employment related services. At least one-third of the reported organizations offered at least one of these types of service. Regional differences in the availability of services were observed. Given the positive role played by community organizations in the reintegration process, understanding the availability of organizations can guide CSC’s development and maintenance of community partnerships in order to ensure successful reintegration of women across Canada. Future research could examine whether the identified regional disparities in the availability of services are related to reporting of community organizations or to the needs of the women supervised. Moreover, a focus on how parole locations are chosen for women and what role, if any, geographical factors related to services play in final parole locations could be beneficial. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... ii Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Method ............................................................................................................................................ 4 Procedure .................................................................................................................................... 4 Women under Supervision ...................................................................................................... 4 Supervision Services ............................................................................................................... 4 Community Services ............................................................................................................... 4 Results ............................................................................................................................................. 7 National Overview ...................................................................................................................... 7 Women under Supervision and Supervision Services ............................................................ 7 Community Services ............................................................................................................... 8 Ratio of Community Services to Women Supervised ............................................................ 9 Overview for the Atlantic Region ............................................................................................... 9 Women under Supervision and Supervision Services ............................................................ 9 Community Services ............................................................................................................. 10 Ratio of Community Services to Women Supervised .......................................................... 12 Overview for the Québec Region ............................................................................................. 13 Women under Supervision and Supervision Services .......................................................... 13 Community Services ............................................................................................................. 13 Ratio of Community Services to Women Supervised .........................................................