Good morning. My name is Pierre Mallette. I am national president of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.
We want to thank committee members for inviting us here today. We will be taking advantage of this opportunity to indicate to you the various aspects of Bill C-10 that are of concern to us.
The first aspect is the possibility of introducing measures that take into account an inmate's engagement. Paragraph (4)(c) proposed under clause 54 of Bill C-10, which concerns the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, eliminates the reference to the least restrictive measure and replaces it with the terms "necessary and proportionate". Paragraph (4)(d) proposed under clause 54 of the bill concerns elimination of the notion of privileges. Clause 61 concerns elimination of the notion of privileges in segregation. Clause 55 of the bill enables the commissioner to introduce incentives based on the inmate's level of engagement.
Taken together, these measures should permit a form of management of the inmate population more consistent with the objectives of the protection of society, staff members and inmates.
While these proposed amendments are welcome, they must nevertheless be introduced together with the necessary resources. A very small percentage of the inmate population currently has access to programs.
As for the incentives proposed under clause 55, we will have to see what they look like before offering an opinion on their effectiveness. However, we are prepared to work on this file with the commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada because we feel this is an opportunity to better carry out the mandate the public has given us.
The second aspect concerns staff who are victims of crime and whose immediate families have been victims of crime. Clause 57 of the bill introduces new protections for crime victims.
However, staff who are victims of crime committed by inmates are excluded from the reasoning underlying these new provisions. Allow me to explain. There is currently nothing preventing an inmate from being incarcerated at the institution where his victim works. The bill also does not provide for staff members to be forewarned of the transfer of their attackers to their place of work. In actual fact, they often learn of such transfers when they come face to face with their attackers.
Consequently, we ask that the bill be amended so that inmates who have attacked staff members are automatically and immediately transferred to another penitentiary and are never transferred to the institution where their victims work, unless the latter consent to such a transfer. In addition, to really reflect the situation of correctional system staff, we would like these amendments to be extended to include staff whose immediate families have been victims of crime committed by CSC's clientele. For these situations, we believe it would be appropriate to ensure the protection of staff members.
The third aspect concerns the taking of blood samples. We welcome the proposed addition to section 40 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, which concerns disciplinary offences, of a paragraph concerning the throwing of bodily substances toward another person. However, we would have liked the bill to include an obligation for an inmate who does such a thing to provide a blood sample. It should be recalled that this was the gist of recommendation 11 of the Sampson Report.
The fourth aspect concerns an inmate's malicious accusation of a staff member. With regard to the proposed amendments to section 40 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers proposes that false accusations against staff members be added to the list of disciplinary offences. This addition could help deter an inmate wishing to intimidate a staff member or take revenge on that staff member by undermining his reputation through malicious accusations.
Lastly, the fifth aspect concerns the double-bunking situation that already prevails at a number of our penitentiaries. CSC plans to add 3,700 inmates by 2014, in addition to the increase resulting from the proposed legislation. If one believes that forecast, there will be a shortage of approximately 1,400 cells. Despite the planned construction, it seems clear to us that the correctional system is headed toward an acute double-bunking situation.
However, in our view, double-bunking results in increased risk. Higher tension leads to greater risk of assault and suicide. There will be an increase in the victimization of certain inmates who are at the mercy of predatory cellmates. It will be more difficult to identify an offender who is making brew or moonshine or stocking drugs, weapons and contraband, and the result will be a decline in the efficiency of the disciplinary system.
The rise in the number of inmates that may result from passage of this bill is a serious concern for us. On this potentially tough issue, we believe it is essential to emphasize that it will be important to put the necessary resources in place in advance. Those measures may be sufficient programs, disciplinary systems, tight population management and the addition of necessary staff and infrastructure.
Thank you.