Public Accounts committee  A big part of that was the changeover in uniforms for the correctional officers, a new style of uniform, new materials that were more respective of the kinds of materials appropriate for work in that environment, plus all the accoutrements that we buy. We're in the process of buy

Public Accounts committee  We're always open to looking at new ideas around stopping the flow of contraband into our institutions. We've been talking with various manufacturers of different pieces of equipment out in the private sector to help us with some of the specific problems. As we've become better a

Public Accounts committee  I agree that we shouldn't be an exception. I think the onus is on us to get smarter and better at the way we manage overtime, to make this a priority for all our senior managers, and to make sure we've got the right tools in place to not only monitor it but also to look at ways o

Public Accounts committee  I'm really not sure what the question is. We have standards for offenders in terms of their classification, such as minimum, medium, and maximum security. I'm not quite sure of the question.

Public Accounts committee  Okay, I understand now. A lot of that depends on the physical design of our institutions. We have institutions ranging from the oldest in the country--Kingston Penitentiary is 165 years old--to a few facilities that are just over 10-plus years. Most of our institutions average 4

Public Accounts committee  It varies.

Public Accounts committee  That's right.

Public Accounts committee  No. We have periods of time when the population goes up and when it goes down. We have been running around 13,000 inmates inside for the last couple of years. At times it goes a little higher than that; at times it's a little lower. We have around 14,000 cells that are available

Public Accounts committee  Yes. Again, it varies with the design of the institution. We have institutions, such as our healing lodges, which are relatively small, that can have about 100 inmates. Then there are the institutions that have 500 and 600 inmates.

Public Accounts committee  That's right, and depending on the design, the level of openness, and the best way to provide supervision, surveillance, and management of the inmates, our new deployment standards are used to make the determination as to how best to provide the right level of security.

Public Accounts committee  Yes. Some of that is driven by design, but our new deployment standards that we're putting in place will alleviate a significant part of that. We had standards before and duty rosters, schedules for the staff, that did not provide the right coverage; therefore, there was overtime

Public Accounts committee  Again, as we go through this review and analysis of our food needs and the best way of being economical and efficient in procuring those goods, there will be times when we'll identify certain goods as better procured, and more efficiently and more cheaply procured via local purch

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question. There are several things we've been doing as a result of our overall transformation agenda. One of them is opening up better lines of communication with all our staff across the country. As we've been going forward with various aspects of our transform

Public Accounts committee  Very much so. Just within the last couple of months I put the challenge out to my executive committee members, to our assistant deputy commissioners out in the regions, to the wardens and the district directors, asking them each to find two or three things we've been doing that d

Public Accounts committee  We had that assurance, when the independent review panel was going on, from the government. The minister of the day—Minister Day—assured Canadians that this was the case. It is something that was of significant concern not only to us but to our unions. We had that assurance. Ther