Audit at a Glance—Corrections in Nunavut—Department of Justice

Audit at a Glance Corrections in Nunavut—Department of Justice

What we examined (see Focus of the Audit)

This audit focused on whether the Nunavut Department of Justice was meeting its key responsibilities for inmates within the corrections system. We audited whether the Department of Justice:

• adequately planned for and operated facilities to house inmates, and
• adequately managed inmates in compliance with key rehabilitation and reintegration requirements.

We did not examine court services, sentencing decisions, community corrections, the management of inmates outside the territory, or community justice programs. We also did not audit the management of youth or women in custody.

The audit covered the period between 1 April 2012 and 1 September 2014.

Why we did this audit

This audit is important because crime is a significant issue in Nunavut. Since 2001, crime rates and inmate populations have increased substantially. The corrections system plays a critical role in protecting the public by supervising offenders detained in custody, with a view to their rehabilitation.

The Department of Justice is responsible for corrections services in Nunavut, as outlined in the Corrections Act (1988) and its regulations. Within the Department, the Corrections Division is responsible for probation, parole, aftercare, and adult institutional services. It is also responsible for the custodial detention of youth as well as their supervision in the community under the federal Youth Criminal Justice Act and territorial Young Offenders Act. Its mission is to “protect society by exercising reasonable control of offenders, and by providing a range of programs to assist offenders to become law-abiding members of the community.”

Corrections is a significant issue in Nunavut. According to Statistics Canada, the territory’s 2013 crime rate was the second-highest in the country. In the 2013–14 fiscal year, the Department allocated more than $32 million (32 percent of its budget) to the Corrections Division. The allocation included almost $22 million for uses directly related to custodial sentences.

What we concluded

We concluded that the Department of Justice has not met its key responsibilities for inmates within the correctional system. We concluded that the Department of Justice did not adequately plan for and operate facilities to house inmates, and did not adequately manage inmates in compliance with key rehabilitation and reintegration requirements.

What we found

Facility management

Overall, we found that the Department of Justice has not adequately met key responsibilities for its management of correctional facilities in Nunavut. The Department has known for almost two decades that it has critical correctional facility needs and has taken some steps to address these needs through the construction of the Rankin Inlet Healing Facility and Makigiarvik, at a combined cost of approximately $53 million. While these facilities will provide some relief of overcrowding, they do not address the territory’s most critical facility needs: the lack of appropriate space (including the need for maximum-security space) and the poor condition of the Baffin Correctional Centre. Issues at this facility include holes in walls, the presence of mould, non-compliance with the National Fire Code, and the housing of inmates with medium- and maximum-security ratings in a minimum-security facility—all of which continue to put the safety and security of inmates and staff at risk.

This is important because, under the Corrections Act and regulations, the Department has a responsibility for ensuring the safe and secure operation of correctional facilities, as part of its mandate to treat inmates while protecting the community. The Department has key obligations for ensuring that inmates are appropriately placed and supervised in support of their rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.

• The Department of Justice has not addressed its most critical facility needs

• Housing inmates at the Baffin Correctional Centre compromises the security and safety of inmates and staff

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should acquire sufficient maximum-security beds and also ensure that medium-security inmates and those on remand are properly housed, either by contracting with other jurisdictions or by constructing in Nunavut.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should exercise oversight to ensure that facility management complies with its policies, directives, and operating procedures for inmate segregation and for searches of cells and rooms.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should analyze trends related to contraband, including the types of contraband and how it enters the facility.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should work with the Department of Community and Government Services to ensure that corrective action is taken on all non-compliance issues identified at the Baffin Correctional Centre in fire inspection reports and external reports.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should ensure that facility management at the Baffin Correctional Centre conducts emergency evacuation drills, as required. It should document these drills and take any corrective actions necessary.

• The Rankin Inlet Healing Facility was not fully prepared when it opened, and issues at the facility compromise the security and safety of inmates and staff

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should examine how the Rankin Inlet Healing Facility can better address the correctional facility capacity needs of the territory and ensure that facility staff are better trained to do so.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should ensure that there is a documented vision for the operation of the Rankin Inlet Healing Facility and that this guides the operation of the facility.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should provide oversight of facility management to ensure compliance with its policies, directives, and operating procedures for inmate segregation.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should ensure that facility management at the Rankin Inlet Healing Facility conducts emergency evacuation drills, as required. It should document these drills and take any corrective actions necessary.

• The Department is not adequately managing its staffing of the Baffin Correctional Centre and the Rankin Inlet Healing Facility

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should

  • conduct a comprehensive analysis of its staffing needs for the Baffin Correctional Centre and the Rankin Inlet Healing Facility;
  • fill vacant positions with the required mix of full-time, permanent, and casual staff to address facility needs; and
  • determine an acceptable level of overtime usage and, relying on available data, monitor and manage usage to achieve that goal.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should ensure that staff members receive their mandatory training through the development and use of an effective system of tracking the training received by facility staff.

Inmate case management

Overall, we found that serious case management deficiencies limit the Department’s efforts to rehabilitate inmates and prepare them for release back to the community. There are significant gaps in how inmate case management is carried out at the territory’s two largest correctional facilities: the Baffin Correctional Centre and the Rankin Inlet Healing Facility. Further, the way inmates are housed at the Baffin Correctional Centre, in part due to the pressures of overcrowding, limits the Department’s ability to conduct the case management of inmates within the facility.

In every file we examined at the two facilities, we found that plans for guiding the inmates’ rehabilitation had not been completed. Consequently, few inmates had rehabilitative programs recommended to them to help with issues such as anger management and substance abuse. In addition, plans had not been developed for their release back to their community to help them reintegrate. At both facilities, we also found that inmates had limited access to rehabilitative programs. For the inmates’ files we examined, most inmates identified as needing mental health services did not receive them. However, the smallest facility we looked at, the Uttaqivik Community Residential Centre, provided an example of good inmate case management in all of these areas.

This is important because the Department has a legislative responsibility to provide for the correction and treatment of offenders and the protection of the community through correctional programming and support services in facilities. Lack of access to these programs and services for inmates means that many are returning to their home communities without having received the support that may have assisted them in their rehabilitation and reintegration.

• Serious case management deficiencies limit the Department’s efforts to rehabilitate inmates

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should update its directives and operating procedures related to case management assessments to reflect the context in which facilities operate.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should complete assessments as soon as possible after admission to identify the programs and services required for each inmate’s rehabilitation.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should ensure that plans to guide an inmate’s rehabilitation are completed for all inmates. The Department should also ensure that plans recommend rehabilitation programs to address the inmate’s needs and include a release plan to assist in preparing the inmate for return to the community. Progress against the case plans should be documented and monitored, and adjustments should be made as necessary.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should identify the needs and risks of its inmate population. It should provide inmates with adequate access to rehabilitative programming that reflects these needs and risks.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should update its directives and operating procedures to incorporate the principles and values of Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit.

  Recommendation. The Department of Justice should

  • evaluate the way it is referring inmates for mental health services and follow up to ensure that inmates are getting the services identified and
  • review and where required, increase its capacity to ensure that inmates requiring mental health services be provided with access to sufficient counselling and psychological support.

Entity Responses to Recommendations

The Department of Justice agrees with our recommendations. The List of Recommendations provides the recommendations put forth in this report, along with the entity’s detailed responses.

Details of the audit

For more information

Media Relations
Tel.: 1-888-761-5953
E-mail: infomedia@oag-bvg.gc.ca

Twitter: OAG_BVG