Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The Office of the Correctional Investigator serves as an ombudsman for federally sentenced offenders.
The office’s mandate provides for independent monitoring and oversight of federal correctional services. On an annual basis, the Office receives approximately 6,000 offender complaints.
In 2010-11, investigators spent in excess of 370 days in federal penitentiaries and interviewed more than 2,100 offenders. In last fiscal year, the Office received 20,000 calls on its toll-free number and conducted over 1,200 uses of force reviews.
The office acknowledges that the institutional drug trade, which includes the improper use of prescription drugs, is a major source of institutional violence. The drug trade is often controlled or influenced by gang activity and the presence of organized crime. In prison as well as on the street, the drug trade is associated with predatory behaviours, such as intimidation, muscling and extortion. Within Correctional Service Canada facilities, it is estimated that gangs are involved in close to 25% of the major security incidents.
Just over half of federal offenders report being under the influence of alcohol or other intoxicants when they committed the offence that led to their incarceration. Four out of five offenders now arrive at a federal institution with a history of substance abuse. Living with addiction or managing a substance abuse problem in a prison setting creates its own laws of supply and demand.
A very high percentage of the offender population that abuses drugs is also concurrently struggling with mental health problems. As we are beginning to understand, the interplay between addiction, substance abuse and mental health functioning is complex and dynamic. Criminality adds yet another complication to an issue that defies easy solutions.