Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Rathgeber. In fact, it's an overstatement to say that it's “automatic”. The National Parole Board can either direct to release or not direct to release under the current legislation. If the release is directed as a result of the APR system, then that direction for

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  Very quickly, first of all, the Office of the Correctional Investigator is independent of the Correctional Service of Canada. I'm not here representing the Correctional Service of Canada. Secondly, there will be two impacts. One impact will be on the hearings that have to happen

Public Safety committee  Yes. The 1,000 was just for those who were released on full parole, not on day parole. About 1,500 a year who are eligible are processed for day parole.

Public Safety committee  The Correctional Service of Canada is adding cell capacity. They have projected their capacity out over the next five years to, I believe--and I could be corrected on this--another 2,700 cells, and that was based on their estimates of what the legislation to that point would requ

Public Safety committee  You were, of course, correct that people will still be eligible under the law for some form of conditional release at some point in their sentence. The difference is when and how it's processed and considered. So the impacts are on both the Correctional Service, in terms of more

Public Safety committee  Permit me. If we look for a moment at just the roughly 1,000 a year who currently access full parole as a result of directed parole releases through the APR process, those 1,000 cases a year, give or take, would have to go to hearings. But what we see right now in terms of the

Public Safety committee  There have been some new reinvestments, particularly in the area of mental health services. But overall the capacity of the service has not expanded, from a program and intervention standpoint, at the same rate it's projected to expand in terms of bricks and mortar. Many of the

Public Safety committee  I think that represents a challenge for Parliament, for all members. From my perspective as correctional investigator for Canada, I'm not in a position to comment specifically on the financial impact, but I can tell you that there's a system shock that's beginning to set in. I

Public Safety committee  Mr. Chairman, Bill C-59 needs to be carefully understood and evaluated, as proposed changes in conjunction with other legislative proposals may have significant effects on the rate, cost, and distribution of incarceration in Canada. We know that the majority of offenders do not

Public Safety committee  Thank you for that provocation, Mr. Chair. Actually, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before your committee, Mr. Chair, and your sensitivity to the role of my office. This is an unusual presentation for us. In terms of the notice, it also was an opportunity for our office

Justice committee  Thank you. I'll take the question first and then address some of the comments. I have to apologize to the committee. I don't have any statistics for India at my fingertips, but I will do what I can to get this information for you. But I can tell you a bit about the United S

Justice committee  It is for those who have been sentenced to life. In the States, there is not always the same distinction that we have in our Criminal Code. We make a distinction in murder—first and second degree. That distinction is not carried across all jurisdictions the States.

Justice committee  I have that information and will share it with you. The numbers that I was sent from the United States are for individuals who are sentenced to life, so they are people who received a life sentence. As far as the distribution of offenders is concerned, those serving for first-d

Justice committee  Sure.