Once you have been sentenced to a period of time to serve either in “jail” (provincial) or the “penitentiary” (federal), it can be very overwhelming and stressful to figure out what the next step is or what being inside a prison will be like.
Anxiety about being inside also increases when you add COVID-19 protocols into the mix.
The purpose of this post is to tell you about 5 important things you need to know before you go to jail.
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Covid-19 related quarantine protocols for provincial and federal institutions
You will face a 2-week quarantine in a unit designated for that purpose within the prison when you are first placed.
You will face quarantine again if you are suspected of being in contact with someone infected with COVID-19 or if you have been identified as someone infected with COVID-19.
Quarantine, in effect, means lockdown conditions. You will have limited time outside of your cell, and your contact will also be limited to other individuals residing in the quarantine unit.
This also means you will be limited in your access to yard/recreation, showers, canteen, religious services, school, legal and non-legal visits, programming, and the telephone when you are in quarantine.
All federal offenders will be placed in a provincial institution for a maximum of 15 days before being transferred to a federal penitentiary (they may be transferred again to their “home-penitentiary” from there after assessing their security level takes place).
*Federal offenders can be transferred directly to federal prison instead of spending 15 days in a provincial facility.
You should be provided access to personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks and sanitizers. All staff are to wear masks at all times and observe physical distancing where possible.
If you are not provided necessary PPE or note that the jail or prison is not following protocols, you may wish to address your concerns with staff. If this is not resolved promptly, you may wish to contact a lawyer to assist you further with this.
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The minimum standards for your custody in provincial jail or the federal penitentiary
The superintendent of the jail must ensure that you are provided with the following:
- Regular meals
- The opportunity for at least 2.5 hours a day outside your cell, including at least one hour for exercise (this is subject to weather for yard time and security considerations)
- Clothing, mattress, and bedding
- Access to reading material
- Reasonable access to mail and the telephone
- Postage for privileged communication and up to 7 letters a week for other communication made by an inmate by mail
- Access to personal visits
- Access to health care
- Access to personal washing or shower facilities at least once a day, and
- Access to toilet articles that are necessary for the inmate’s health and cleanliness
BUT what many prisoners don’t know is that all of the above standards are called “privileges,” and, therefore, they can also be limited or withheld because of two reasons:
- The Superintendent believes on reasonable grounds that providing you with one or more of the privileges may endanger you or another person;
- You are confined separately from other inmates or in a segregation unit, making it unreasonable for the staff to accommodate you with one or more of the above privileges.
The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is responsible for individuals in federal penitentiaries. It is mandated to take all reasonable steps to ensure the safety of every person in their custody and make sure that every person is:
- Adequately clothed and fed;
- Provided with adequate bedding;
- Provided with toilet articles and all other articles necessary for personal health and cleanliness;
- Given the opportunity to exercise for at least one hour every day, outdoors if the weather allows for it;
- Provided with reasonable opportunity to meet with a visitor without a physical barrier to personal contact (subject to concerns about security and safety and where no less restrictive measure is available to address these concerns);
- Provided with reasonable opportunity to retain and instruct legal counsel concerning internal matters (involuntary transfers to different institutions, an authorization to detain an individual in a dry-cell) and reasonable access to legal reading materials, non-legal materials (such as certain policy directives and standing orders created by the correctional service)
- Provided access to essential health care, including mental health interventions and reasonable access to non-essential health care.
- Provided access to rehabilitative programming designed to address the needs and risk factors of the offender;
- Provided access to religious and cultural services, including access to indigenous programming, cultural ceremonies and Elders
*Please note that the above is not an exhaustive list of the CSC’s legal obligations towards federally incarcerated persons.
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How do I complain about a concern or dispute a decision being made about me?
Provincial (BC)
You can also bring up a concern, including a concern about the loss of privileges, to a staff member in writing, and that person will forward it to the person in charge. According to BC’s Correction Act Regulation, the person in charge must make reasonable attempts to address that concern.
Specifically, the person in charge must investigate and advise the inmate in writing the investigation results within 7 days of receiving the complaint.
If staff mistreat you or do not address your concern properly, you may wish to contact a lawyer to assist you in ensuring the Superintendent and staff at the jail are acting in accordance with the law.
Examples of concerns that come up in provincial facilities:
- I’m not being given access to the showers
- I have only one set of clothes, and they are telling me to wash them every day instead of providing me with another set
- I need health care/mental health treatment, and I’m not being seen about it and/or not being offered treatment.
- A staff person said or did something to me that was racist and/or discriminatory
- A staff person used excessive force against me
- I want to apply for parole, but I don’t know what to do, and nobody will talk to me about it at the jail
- The jail is not letting my family visit me, and I don’t know why
- The jail is not giving me personal protective equipment like masks or cleaning supplies to reduce my risk of exposure to COVID-19
- I have a disability, and the jail is not doing anything to accommodate my disability
- I have health complications that place me at high risk for harm or death from contracting COVID-19
- I was placed in a segregation unit for longer than 15 days
- I came in with some money, but how do I get it back on release?
Federal
You can also bring up a concern or dispute a decision made about you by the CSC in the form of a Complaint or Grievance submitted in writing to the Institutional Grievance Coordinator. There are three levels in the inmate grievance process:
Complaint – addressed by a staff person or their direct supervisor
Initial Grievance – addressed by the Warden or Institutional Head
Final-level Grievance – addressed by a delegate of the CSC Commissioner at National Headquarters
If your Final-Level Grievance is denied, you may apply for a judicial review of that decision.
If staff mistreat you or do not address your concern properly, you may wish to contact a lawyer to assist you in ensuring the Warden and staff at the penitentiary are acting in accordance with the law.
Examples of concerns that come up:
- I have a disciplinary court charge and a corresponding criminal charge – which do I deal with first, and how?
- I have a disability, and the prison is not doing anything to accommodate my disability
- I identify as transgender and/or non-binary, and I am facing discrimination from prison staff
- I need health care treatment, and I’m not being seen about it and/or not being offered treatment
- I am on a waitlist for substance abuse treatment (methadone or suboxone) and need access now
- My parole officer said I waived my parole, but I don’t think I did that
- My CSC paperwork contains a lot of factual errors that were lifted up from the incident reports but not reflecting what happened in criminal court – how do I correct them?
- A staff person said or did something to me that was racist and/or discriminatory
- A staff person used excessive force against me
- I need a special medical diet, according to the doctor, but the dietician is blocking my request
- I want to apply for parole, but I don’t know what to do and I haven’t seen my parole officer because of COVID-19
- CSC says I am associated with a gang, but this is not true, and I want this association removed from my file
- I have health complications that place me at high risk for harm or death from contracting COVID-19
- The prison is not giving me personal protective equipment like masks or cleaning supplies to reduce my risk of exposure to COVID-19
- I was placed in a “structured intervention unit”/segregation for more than 15 days and did not get the required 4 hours of meaningful contact
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How do I show good behaviour/what does it mean to follow your correctional plan?
Both in the provincial and federal system, it is very important for individuals to follow the institution’s rules, remain good behaviour overall, work towards a release plan, and maintain a positive relationship with their Case Management Teams and Parole Officers to gain support for the release.
Good behaviour means: not breaking institutional rules, not incurring inside disciplinary charges, engaging in all interventions offered and available (for example, rehabilitative programming, employment opportunities, and educational opportunities).
This will increase your likelihood of gaining support for a community release. Having the institution’s support for a release also increases your chances that the Board will release you.
In the federal system, there is a document generated at the beginning of the offender’s sentence called the Correctional Plan, which is updated as necessary. Your institutional Parole Officer prepares the Correctional Plan. It involves a review of your level of risk, your level of responsibility and remorse, factors in your case you will need to address to lower your security level, and specific recommendations for rehabilitative programming. According to the CSC, the Correctional Plan is a guide used to determine whether you are meeting the objectives of your sentence.
The Board takes the CSC’s opinion seriously when determining if you can be managed safely in the community and will rely on the paperwork prepared by the CSC (unless there is information in dispute and you have identified that you are waiting for a decision about the information in dispute).
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What kinds of releases can I apply for?
You may be eligible for early release, or you may need to fight a recommendation that you stay imprisoned until your sentence ends.
In both systems, you will be applying for a release and the decision about whether to grant you that release will come from the Parole Board of Canada.
*In some other provinces, a provincial parole board makes the release decision for provincially incarcerated persons.
BC Provincial Parole Hearings before the Parole Board of Canada
Some common terms that are only used within the provincial prison system:
Earned release date (ERD): the earliest possible date a provincial/territorial offender may be released from custody, taking into account all earned remission (also known as institutional release date, release due date, possible discharge date)
Earned remission: in accordance with subsection 6(1) of the Prisons and Reformatories Act, prisoners must earn remission through good behaviour. Every sentenced prisoner may be credited with 15 days of remission for each month served.
*only applicable to provincial/territorial offenders
Provincial/territorial offender: an offender serving a non-intermittent sentence of fewer than 2 years in a provincial/territorial correctional facility.
If you are serving a sentence of fewer than 6 months, the Parole Board of Canada does not have to review your case even if you apply for release.
In the provincial system, you can apply for Day and/or Full Parole.
If you are granted Day Parole, you will be supervised in the community until your ERD.
If you are granted Full Parole, you will be supervised in the community until your sentence (or warrant) expires.
If you are not granted parole, you will be released on your ERD without any supervision. The only time you will be supervised past your ERD is if you are also subject to a long-term supervision order.
Standard conditions for release are outlined in s. 161(1) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, and apply to both federal and provincial/territorial incarcerated persons.
Special conditions can also be imposed on your release by the Parole Board, including following a specific treatment plan, abstaining from alcohol and drugs, avoiding certain persons, to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet on release (not an exhaustive list).
If you forfeit remission due to a release revocation, you can apply for recredit of remission to the Board. Where the Board decides to recredit remission, the reasons and number of days recredited should be clearly documented in the reasons for the decision.
You should receive your own copy of any decision the Parole Board of Canada makes about you. All decisions are made in writing, though not all of them require a Hearing before the Board. You can also choose to waive your Hearing and have a paper review instead, but this means the Board will only review the prison’s paperwork about you and any written submissions you or your lawyer may send.
Typically, the chances for release increase when you appear in front of a Board and show them who you are as a person versus having them review paperwork about you.
Federal Hearings before the Parole Board of Canada
Day and Full Parole
Federally incarcerated persons become eligible on their day parole, and full parole eligibility dates are considered for that type of release.
The Parole Board of Canada’s “paramount consideration” is the protection of society when determining whether to grant release in your case. The Board also assesses whether your risk is manageable and whether your release plan addresses your risk and is viable.
The actual criteria for granting day and full parole is set out in s. 102 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act:
- The offender will not, by reoffending, present an undue risk to society before the expiration according to the law of the sentence the offender is serving; and
- The release of the offender will contribute to the protection of society by facilitating the reintegration of the offender into society as a law-abiding citizen.
The Board relies on a variety of information about you to arrive at their decision: including police reports, criminal record notes about withdrawn offences and stayed offences, victim impact statements, community support letters, whether you have a stable residence to stay at for full parole, whether you’ve secured community employment, and correctional paperwork which shows your progress towards your sentence.
Detention Review Hearings:
Statutory Release Date (SRD) is the date on which offenders who have served 2/3rds of their fixed-length sentence are entitled to be automatically released, with some exceptions.
Being released on SRD does not mean you are in the community without conditions or supervision; all standard conditions of release apply to you when you are released on SRD.
The Parole Board of Canada will also order some individuals released on SRD to reside in a community residential facility (CRF) run by the Correctional Service of Canada. This is a special condition called a “residency condition” and is typically recommended by the institutional parole officer.
The Parole Board of Canada can also impose other special conditions on an SRD depending on the Board’s assessment of your risk to re-offend.
CAN THE PRISON HOLD ME IN PRISON PAST MY STATUTORY RELEASE DATE?
YES, IF:
You are recommended for Detention on your SRD by your Case Management Team (CMT), specifically your Parole Officer [s. 129 of the CCRA], and the Parole Board orders the detention.
If you wish to dispute the recommendation for detention, you will be able to plead your case before the Board at a “Detention Review Hearing.”
After this hearing, the Board will decide whether or not to order your detention on your SRD, and you will receive a written decision.
You can also appeal the decision within 90 days of the decision date to the Parole Board’s Appeal Division.
If your appeal is denied, your next step is a judicial review of the Board’s decision in the BC Supreme Court.
Depending on the circumstances of your case, you may also want to apply for a habeas corpus application (which, if granted, would mean you would be released right away).
*I have health complications that place me at high risk for covid-19: how can I apply for early release if I have been denied parole/not eligible for parole?
- Parole by exception application for medical vulnerability to covid-19; and
- Application for unescorted temporary absence for medical reasons related to covid-19.
Derrick Snow was a federal prisoner with less than 4 months to go on his federal sentence. He had terminal cancer and was at especially high risk of significant harm, including death if he contracted COVID-19 inside the prison.
He was granted release on an unescorted temporary absence (made indefinite) for medical reasons after an argument was made that the Correctional Service of Canada was violating Mr. Snow’s rights under s. 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms – right to life, liberty and security of the person – and s. 12 – the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
You can read more about his specific case here:
If you are suffering from a serious medical condition and you have exhausted other forms of release, you may be eligible for the two types of applications above and may wish to seek out a lawyer for assistance with this.
Post-suspension Review Hearings: Your release (of any type) has been suspended by the community parole office, and you are now waiting for your case to appear before the Parole Board of Canada.
This recommendation to revoke your release can be made for various reasons: breaking simple rules at the halfway house (for example, being late for curfew several times), breaching your conditions (for example, associating with individuals involved in criminal activity), and incurring a new offence.
Upon review of your case (you can choose to have a hearing or have your review done by paperwork and written submissions only), the Board will decide whether:
- to cancel the suspension of your release and return you to the community, or
- to revoke your release and return you to the penitentiary (until either your next calculated SRD for federal prisoners or until your sentence expires).
What is the legislation and policy that relates to prisoners?
Corrections and Conditional Release Act
Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations
Commissioner’s Directives (Correctional Service of Canada policy statements)
Correction Act [SBC 2004] Chapter 46
Correction Act regulation B.C. Reg 58/2005