Public Safety committee  I don't know what the devices' success rate is.

Public Safety committee  We are still in the process of comparing various models.

Public Safety committee  Yes. We've been talking to the provinces that are already using them to find out how it's going and what their success rates are. That being said, we are currently comparing different models.

Public Safety committee  The bill refers to offenders, visitors and staff.

Public Safety committee  It's important to remember first and foremost that it's a sanitation program meant to reduce the incidence of infectious diseases. In terms of drugs, yes, there is a drone problem, as you mentioned. Drones are dropping packages for prisoners. The practice is becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Public Safety committee  The danger posed by needles is evaluated based on a threat and risk assessment. It's important to remember that our penitentiaries already allow the use of EpiPens and insulin syringes.

Public Safety committee  No.

Public Safety committee  I'll ask my colleague to respond to that.

Public Safety committee  As part of the structured intervention units, there will also be teachers who are available to work with the offenders, so the offenders who are upgrading their education will be able to pursue that course and finish upgrading their education.

Public Safety committee  As I mentioned earlier, in current segregation the offenders are each in their cell. With the structured intervention units, we're going to look at whether it's possible that certain groups of offenders can associate together, and if they can, then we'll be able to offer programming to that group of offenders.

Public Safety committee  To be admitted to a structured intervention unit, offenders have to meet certain criteria. Inmates may be moved for reasons related to the security of the penitentiary or of other inmates. That is how it's done now, and that will continue to be the case. Inmates can be segregated.

Public Safety committee  No, I haven't.

Public Safety committee  You're quite right, we do have a certain percentage of offenders who, for example, are currently in segregation and want to be there—it's at their own request. We're likely going to have the same in the structured intervention units. What's going to be different about it is that we will have targeted interventions and programming.

Public Safety committee  Actually, of the offenders we have in our current segregation, we have a percentage who are there voluntarily. Work is under way right now to see how we can work with them to find alternatives to current segregation. In some of our institutions in which we have ranges or units that currently are not full, we're trying to see whether we can take some of these offenders and place them in those ranges.

Public Safety committee  I believe in the SIUs because of the targeted programming and interventions that are going to be provided.... Our goal is to ensure that we address the underlying behaviour, the reasons that offenders are placed in SIUs in the first place, and then ensure that when they are returned to the mainstream population, they don't come back to an SIU.