Public Safety committee  If need be, we have treatment centres, and if the offender needs to be in a treatment centre to get the proper care, that's where the offender would be transferred.

Public Safety committee  Yes, we do.

Public Safety committee  Yes, absolutely there is, because the health care professional is making a recommendation to the institutional head. The institutional head has all of the information at his or her disposal and can balance the risks and make a decision.

Public Safety committee  Yes. The health care professional can make a recommendation to the institutional head. I think your concern is about what happens if the institutional head doesn't follow that advice. Obviously, a health care professional who felt strongly that the conditions of confinement should be changed or that an offender should be removed from the SIU would in all likelihood consult with the region through health services, and then the question would get to our assistant commissioner of health services and would be dealt with.

Public Safety committee  Yes. Right now, in current segregation the offenders are not able to associate. With the structured intervention units, if certain offenders can associate—they're not incompatibles—they will be able to do so, and we will be able to offer programming to that group of offenders, which is different from administrative segregation.

Public Safety committee  Yes. What the bill says is that, first of all, there is going to be a daily visit by a health care professional, and that health care professional can actually recommend to the institutional head that conditions of confinement be modified or can even recommend removal from the SIU, if the SIU is aggravating the person's mental health condition.

Public Safety committee  Yes, the body scanners would be for use with the offenders and the visitors. It would be used the same way as other methods that we now use at entrances. If there is a hit, we do a threat risk assessment.

Public Safety committee  That's a good question. It's something we've been talking about for many, many years, and it's so crucial to offenders. I know we've reached out to the remand centres to ensure that they keep the ID if the offender has it and that it's transferred to CSC. We're also discussing it with our heads of corrections to see how we can work together.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. Thank you.

Public Safety committee  Thank you very much.

Public Safety committee  Certainly for us, drugs are an issue. We don't want drugs in our institution. The fact is that there are drugs. The prison needle exchange program is a harm reduction measure. As you know, in CSC we've been providing condoms, dental dams, and bleach for a number of years. With regard to the prison needle exchange, I want to mention that in terms of safely managing needles, we have had success with the threat risk assessment model, which is the model we use for EpiPens and insulin needles that we have right now in our institutions.

Public Safety committee  Okay. First of all, if they are serving a sentence of life, the authority for granting unescorted temporary absence—the first one—is the Parole Board of Canada. As you know, even people serving a life sentence have eligibility dates for temporary absences. Once they reach those eligibility dates, again depending on the progress they've made in prison, they are eligible to request such a temporary absence.

Public Safety committee  That said, if children are present, they are under the supervision of their parent or guardian.

Public Safety committee  No, I would not make that comparison. The inmates in our establishments certainly do not have the freedom that people in the community enjoy. They have to follow rules and routines. They are told when they can do certain things, where they can be, and so forth. So the answer is no.

Public Safety committee  For society, yes, absolutely. For maximum security institutions, there are certain criteria. If you have an offender for whom institutional adjustment is a problem, or if the offender is a high escape risk or a high public safety risk, they might start their sentence at maximum security.