Public Safety committee  They are but only in the most general way. When we report our roll-up statistics, you'll see staff misconduct and harassment, discrimination complaints. You'll also--

Public Safety committee  Not specifically in regard to searches. However, I will draw your attention to a recent public interest report we issued that had to do with a lockdown and series of searches at a maximum security penitentiary in British Columbia over 10 days, where there were hundreds of incid

Public Safety committee  A visitor can certainly bring a complaint to the Correctional Service. Typically, as far as my office is concerned, it's the inmate who would raise the issue with us on behalf of the visitor.

Public Safety committee  It's my view that there has to be a balance. It's actually more like a tripod than a two-legged stool. It's a combination of supply reduction, demand reduction, and harm reduction brings the best return.

Public Safety committee  I don't have a magic figure. I can tell you that my general concern is that we see, roughly speaking, 2% of the Correctional Service of Canada's overall budget being spent on core correctional programs. We don't think that's enough, and we base that on the participation rate of o

Public Safety committee  I'll go right through it, Mr. Chairman. The CSC's transformation agenda has set a very ambitious goal to eliminate illicit drugs from its institutions, but drugs are still getting through the front gate and over the wall. The office’s analysis suggests that CSC's current anti-dr

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  We'll get about 20,000 contacts. We'll receive another 1,000 to 1,200 use-of-force reviews. We'll conduct a few thousand of what we call “investigations”. The number one area of concern in these investigations usually pertains to access to, and quality of, health care.

Public Safety committee  Those 20,000 contacts are through our toll-free number. We also receive a number of letters, and have open visits in institutions where my staff will spend days interviewing inmates. So our actual involvement with or responses to calls for service exceeds 20,000.

Public Safety committee  I don't have that number with me. The number is relatively few. But the complaints that do come in fall into two categories: complaints brought to us by the inmates about inappropriate searches of them, and complaints brought to us about inappropriate searches of family members o

Public Safety committee  I can go back and get the numbers, and I'll make sure to inform the committee.

Public Safety committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. It's a pleasure to be back. I'm happy to be involved in this study. Mr. Chair, I realize that committee members have received a written copy of our comments in advance. I'm wondering if you would like to just consider them read into the record and

Public Safety committee  It would be better to go through them.

Public Safety committee  Thank you, I'll proceed quickly then. There is little doubt that the presence of illicit drugs and alcohol in federal prisons is a major safety and security challenge. The smuggling and trafficking of illicit substances and the diversion of legal drugs inside federal penitentiar

Public Safety committee  Within the correctional system, drug suppression activities of course have to be consistent with an environment that is conducive to rehabilitation and, eventually, to safe and timely reintegration back into the community. Eliminating drugs and alcohol from prison appears decep