Justice committee  You're putting a number of questions there. I guess the first thing I would say is that close to 80% of our inmate population comes to prison with some level of drug association. Close to 50%, actually, have an association directly with drug activity. In a number of circumstances, the lessons they have learned in the community at large--to extort, to intimidate, and to look at methods available to secure drugs and use drugs--continues.

Justice committee  Each case is looked at individually, of course, but we have a number of responses. The first.... Perhaps it's better to speak more slowly.

Justice committee  All right. Pardon me. I can try to answer in French, if you wish, but my—

Justice committee  Okay. Merci beaucoup. We have a security response that we would look at in terms of the management of inmates of organized crime within a correctional frame. Right now we have in Canada one extreme special handling unit that is our highest level of security, which is in the Quebec area.

Justice committee  Yes, there are certain circumstances like that. We even have the capacity, if we believe that the risk is heightened in a number of areas, to actually detain the person from the mandatory supervision date to the period of the warrant expiry date. In cases such as that, if we believe the risk to the public remains high, the likelihood of a negative recommendation on getting parole is extremely strong.

Justice committee  Yes, there always are a number of avenues to which an inmate can have recourse. Certainly we have an internal grievance system that could be used. There is a possibility for an inmate, if evidence can be provided to the contrary of what's been recorded, to make alterations to the file in terms of the case management record.

Justice committee  They are, absolutely. Every piece of information we have with inmates is shared with the National Parole Board. We actually have, in many circumstances, actually joint shared printers. Police reports are received, crown attorney reports are received, reasons for sentencing are received.

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On behalf of Correctional Service Canada, I would like to thank you and the committee members for inviting us here today. It's my understanding the committee is interested in getting an overview of organized crime and criminal gangs within the context of the federal corrections, and I therefore thought it might be appropriate for me to be accompanied here today by our national manager for the portfolio of organized crime and criminal gangs for CSC, Mr.

Justice committee  In terms of gang affiliation, I think the numbers have increased significantly: from close to 12% to close to 17% over the last five to seven years. That's those who were affiliated before they were incarcerated. We do have some factors associated with aboriginal gangs, where people come inside an institution and look to join an aboriginal gang.

Justice committee  There is a general, normal, traditional trend somewhere that hovers around 2.2% normal growth in incarcerated populations. However, everything must be cross-referenced against any new legislation, any functioning going on in the community, a responsive increase to police officers--it's a very complex formula--and then per capita population totals in the country.

Justice committee  No. There's nothing that's under way right now in terms of preparation for this particular bill. There is our ongoing, normal construction that we would do in terms of maintenance and factors on that one, but our projections, when we talk about capital cost and the operational costs, would include that.

Justice committee  I don't have that broken down by frequency, but the violent offences that we talk about are often the most violent, major assault or murder, for starters.

Justice committee  We're talking about 3% of those under release, yes. What I'm saying here is that of our current population, those who offend violently while under supervision represent 2.4%, 0.7%, and 0.6%.

Justice committee  Of those on day parole, 3.3% ended with a non-violent offence; under full parole, 3.2% ended with a non-violent offence; and under statutory release, 7.6% ended with a non-violent offence.

Justice committee  If I could, there is a difference between our security levels. Our maximum security level institutions have very restricted movement and control and surveillance in the interior of these types of establishments. Therefore, there is a continuous, ongoing, higher operational cost associated with the security factors necessary in being responsible in maximum security.