Public Safety committee  It's been a long time since I have applied any kind of a critical or analytical eye to provincial jails. I've certainly spent a lot of time in provincial jails over the years. I'll be moving into that realm in the new year. At this point, I don't have any particular lessons learned from the provincial sphere that I would bring.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. There are good practices around the world, and many south of the border. As much as we like to demonize U.S. corrections, there are some very good practices. There's the way that U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, for example, deals with compassionate release for elderly and ill offenders.

Public Safety committee  There are a number of challenges, but there is a tremendous willingness, frankly, on the part of many health operators at the provincial level to engage in discussions about how to meet those challenges. They're often dealing with the same people. Many women who are federally incarcerated have a previous history of psychiatric hospitalization.

Public Safety committee  Certainly. It depends at what point in the criminal justice process we're talking about. Talking about post-sentence only, for somebody who has received a sentence of more than two years, then you can begin your discharge planning immediately, and you can begin to prepare people for transfer to a provincial resource at the earliest safe opportunity, which means that you have to address, perhaps, conditional release policies and legislation as well so that you can make that transfer.

Public Safety committee  Yes, absolutely. My role is not really to issue a pass or fail with Correctional Service Canada. We're not an inspectorate, as they say. We respond primarily to complaints and maladministration. Often what you hear from me is commentary about negative findings. I think it's also appropriate to point out that Correctional Service Canada is a highly competent organization, and the men and women who work for CSC work hard every day to deliver programs and interventions that are safe, timely, and appropriate.

Public Safety committee  No.

Public Safety committee  Well, as I say, before it was finalized. I think it's safe to say that people were encouraged and then were surprised when it was cancelled.

Public Safety committee  Yes, the early evidence was very encouraging in terms of a decrease both in blood-borne transmission of diseases and in the cost of treatment of those diseases, particularly hepatitis C, but there are also concerns about HIV/AIDS. The safer tattoo practices pilot project was very encouraging, but the program was cancelled before the evaluation was finalized.

Public Safety committee  I know this is a time-worn analogy, so forgive me, but think of the corrections system as a great big balloon that is squeezed in one place but pops up someplace else. We can transfer funds. The more we rely on incarceration, the more expensive things become, particularly the more we rely on incarceration with the particular demographics we have, which are those of an increasingly aging population and a significantly ill population.

Public Safety committee  Now you're asking me to get into politics. If I were to comment, I'd say no.

Public Safety committee  Yes, I believe it would. I believe there's evidence to support that position.

Public Safety committee  Correctional Service Canada currently operates five regional psychiatric centres. The one in Saskatoon is the only national resource that Correctional Service operates that has capacity for women. That capacity is now standing at 20 beds. In addition to that capacity provided and operated by Correctional Service Canada, the CSC does contract with some service providers, notably the Royal Ottawa hospital and the Philippe-Pinel institute in Montreal, for additional resources for women.

Public Safety committee  Frequently, when they're caught. There are throwovers. There are all kinds of examples of very clever ways that people try to introduce contraband into federal penitentiaries. We know there's no such thing as a drug-free prison, so it's always a matter of having a balance of approaches.

Public Safety committee  I don't know of any prison anywhere that is contraband-free.

Public Safety committee  I wouldn't know how to do that, and the Correctional Service of Canada wouldn't know how to do that either.