Adult Correctional Services in Canada

• NCJ Number: 162344
• Author(s): L Goetz; M Reed; T Foran
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 107 pages
• Sale Source: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: French; English
• Country: Canada
• Note: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, International Crime Statistics Program

Annotation

The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics (CCJS) regularly collects information on the delivery of correctional services in Canada that pertains to services provided by government agencies responsible for adult corrections in provincial, territorial, and federal sectors.

Abstract

Summary descriptive information is provided in the CCJS report, but the report primarily includes statistical data on caseload characteristics and resource expenditures related to both custodial and community supervision services. Data show operating expenditures for corrections totaled approximately $1.89 billion in 1994-1995, including $913.3 million federally and $980 million provincially. The average provincial inmate population increased by 2.3 percent over 1993-1994 and by 11.1 percent since 1990-1991. The average federal inmate population in 1994-1995 totaled 13,948, an increase of 4.7 percent over the 1993-1994 figure and 23.6 percent since 1990-1991. Provincial admissions increased from 207,946 in 1990-1991 to 238,912 in 1994-1995, a 14.9 percent increase. Federal admissions reached 8,849 in 1994-1995, representing a 4.4 percent decrease over the previous year. While 77 percent of the total correctional caseload was under some form of community supervision, only 12 percent of total correctional operating expenditures were for the provision of these services. The median sentence length on admission to provincial facilities in 1994-1995 was 33 days. The corresponding sentence length for inmates admitted to federal penitentiaries was 44 months. The average age of sentenced inmates admitted to provincial custody was 31 years while the average age for federal inmates was 32 years. The average provincial probationer was 39 years old and serving a probation order of 12 months in length. Female offenders comprised 9 percent of all provincial sentenced admissions to custody and 17 percent of all admissions to provincial probation. A total of 145 inmate deaths occurred in 1994-1995, 57 within the provincial inmate population and 88 within the federal inmate population; suicides accounted for 30 percent of all deaths, murders 6 percent, and other deaths 64 percent. Footnotes, tables, and figures