Corrections and Conditional Release Act (S.C. 1992, c. 20)

Marginal note:Penitentiaries

• 7 (1) Subject to subsection (3), the Commissioner may, by order, declare any prison as defined in the Prisons and Reformatories Act, or any hospital, to be a penitentiary in respect of any person or class of persons.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Subject to subsection (3), the Governor in Council may, by order, declare any place to be a penitentiary.

• Marginal note:Provincial approval

  (3) No prison, hospital or place administered or supervised under the authority of an Act of the legislature of a province may be declared a penitentiary under subsection (1) or (2) without the approval of an officer designated by the lieutenant governor of that province.

Marginal note:Lands constituting penitentiary

8 In any proceedings before a court in Canada in which a question arises concerning the location or description of lands alleged to constitute a penitentiary, a certificate purporting to be signed by the Commissioner, setting out the location or description of those lands as constituting a penitentiary, is admissible in evidence and, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, is proof that the lands as located or described in the certificate constitute a penitentiary.

Marginal note:Lawful custody

9 For greater certainty, a person who is an inmate by virtue of subparagraph (b)(ii) of the definition “inmate” in section 2 shall be deemed to be in the lawful custody of the Service.

Marginal note:Peace officer status

10 The Commissioner may in writing designate any staff member, either by name or by class, to be a peace officer, and a staff member so designated has all the powers, authority, protection and privileges that a peace officer has by law in respect of

• (a) an offender subject to a warrant or to an order for long-term supervision; and

• (b) any person, while the person is in a penitentiary.

Reception of Inmates

Marginal note:General

11 A person who is sentenced, committed or transferred to penitentiary may be received into any penitentiary, and any designation of a particular penitentiary in the warrant of committal is of no force or effect.

Marginal note:Recommitment to custody

11.1 Where a person who is sentenced, committed or transferred to penitentiary is at large without lawful authority before the expiration of the sentence according to law and where no alternative means of arrest are available, the institutional head may, by warrant, authorize the apprehension and recommitment of the person to custody in a penitentiary.

Marginal note:Fifteen day delay

12 In order to better enable a person who has been sentenced to penitentiary or who is required by law to be transferred to penitentiary to file an appeal or attend to personal affairs, such a person shall not be received in penitentiary until the expiration of fifteen days after the day on which the person was sentenced, unless the person agrees to be transferred to a penitentiary before the expiration of those fifteen days.

Marginal note:Medical certificate

13 The institutional head may refuse to receive a person referred to in section 12 into the penitentiary if there is not a certificate signed by a registered health care professional setting out available health information and stating whether or not the person appears to be suffering from a dangerous, infectious or contagious disease.

Marginal note:Confinement in provincial facility

• 14 (1) A person who, by virtue of section 12 or 13, is not received into a penitentiary shall be confined in a provincial correctional facility.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) The person in charge of the provincial correctional facility to whom a person referred to in subsection (1) is delivered shall, on being presented with

  • (a) the warrant of committal to penitentiary, or

  • (b) a copy of the warrant of committal certified by any judge of a superior or provincial court, by any justice of the peace, or by the clerk of the court in which the person was convicted,

  confine the person in the provincial correctional facility until the person is transferred to penitentiary or released from custody in accordance with law.

Marginal note:Newfoundland and Labrador

• 15 (1) Notwithstanding any requirement in the Criminal Code or under the Youth Criminal Justice Act that a person be sentenced, committed or transferred to penitentiary, such a person in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador shall not be received in a penitentiary without the approval of an officer designated by the Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) A person who, pursuant to subsection (1), is not received in a penitentiary shall be confined in the provincial correctional facility in Newfoundland and Labrador known as Her Majesty’s Penitentiary, and is subject to all the statutes, regulations and rules applicable in that facility.

• Marginal note:Agreement re cost

  (3) The Minister may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, enter into an agreement with the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador providing for the payment to the Province of the cost of maintaining persons who are confined pursuant to subsection (2).

Correctional Plans

Marginal note:Objectives for offender’s behaviour

• 15.1 (1) The institutional head shall cause a correctional plan to be developed in consultation with the offender as soon as practicable after their reception in a penitentiary. The plan is to contain, among others, the following:

  • (a) the level of intervention in respect of the offender’s needs; and

  • (b) objectives for

    • (i) the offender’s behaviour, including

      • (A) to conduct themselves in a manner that demonstrates respect for other persons and property,

      • (B) to obey penitentiary rules and respect the conditions governing their conditional release, if any,

    • (ii) their participation in programs, and

    • (iii) the meeting of their court-ordered obligations, including restitution to victims or child support.

• Marginal note:Maintenance of plan

  (2) The plan is to be maintained in consultation with the offender in order to ensure that they receive the most effective programs at the appropriate time in their sentence to rehabilitate them and prepare them for reintegration into the community, on release, as a law-abiding citizen.

• Marginal note:Mental health assessment

  (2.01) In order to ensure that the plan can be developed in a manner that takes any mental health needs of the offender into consideration, the institutional head shall, as soon as practicable after the day on which the offender is received but not later than the 30th day after that day, refer the offender’s case to the portion of the Service that administers health care for the purpose of conducting a mental health assessment of the offender.

• Marginal note:Update of plan — structured intervention unit

  (2.1) If an offender is in a structured intervention unit and a determination is made under subsection 29.01(2), paragraph 37.3(1)(b) or section 37.4 or 37.8 that the offender should remain in the structured intervention unit, the institutional head shall, as soon as practicable after the determination, cause the offender’s correctional plan to be updated, in consultation with the offender, in order to ensure that they receive the most effective programs at the appropriate time during their confinement in the structured intervention unit and to prepare them for reintegration into the mainstream inmate population as soon as possible.

• Marginal note:Progress towards meeting objectives

  (3) In making decisions on program selection for — or the transfer or conditional release of — an inmate, the Service shall take into account the offender’s progress towards meeting the objectives of their correctional plan.

Marginal note:Incentive measures

15.2 The Commissioner may provide offenders with incentives to encourage them to make progress towards meeting the objectives of their correctional plans.

Exchange of Service Agreements

Marginal note:Agreements with provinces

• 16 (1) The Minister may, with the approval of the Governor in Council, enter into an agreement with the government of a province for

  • (a) the confinement in provincial correctional facilities or hospitals in that province of persons sentenced, committed or transferred to penitentiary; and

  • (b) the confinement in penitentiary of persons sentenced or committed to imprisonment for less than two years for offences under any Act of Parliament or any regulations made thereunder.

• Marginal note:Effect of confinement

  (2) Subject to subsection (3), a person who is confined in a penitentiary pursuant to an agreement entered into under paragraph (1)(b) is, despite section 743.1 of the Criminal Code, subject to all the statutes, regulations and rules applicable in the penitentiary in which the person is confined.

• Marginal note:Release date

  (3) The release date of an offender who is transferred to penitentiary pursuant to an agreement entered into under paragraph (1)(b) shall be determined by crediting against the sentence

  • (a) any remission, statutory or earned, standing to the offender’s credit on the day of the transfer; and

  • (b) the maximum remission that could have been earned on the balance of the sentence pursuant to the Prisons and Reformatories Act.

Escorted Temporary Absences

Marginal note:Temporary absences may be authorized

• 17 (1) The institutional head may, subject to section 746.1 of the Criminal Code, subsection 140.3(2) of the National Defence Act and subsection 15(2) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, authorize the temporary absence of an inmate, other than an inmate described in subsection 17.1(1), if the inmate is escorted by a staff member or other person authorized by the institutional head and, in the opinion of the institutional head,

  • (a) the inmate will not, by reoffending, present an undue risk to society during an absence authorized under this section;

  • (b) it is desirable for the inmate to be absent from the penitentiary for medical or administrative reasons, community service, family contact, including parental responsibilities, personal development for rehabilitative purposes or compassionate reasons;

  • (c) the inmate’s behaviour while under sentence does not preclude authorizing the absence; and

  • (d) a structured plan for the absence has been prepared.

  The temporary absence may be for an unlimited period if it is authorized for medical reasons or for a period of not more than five days or, with the Commissioner’s approval, for a period of more than five days but not more than 15 days if it is authorized for reasons other than medical reasons.

• Marginal note:Conditions

  (2) The institutional head may impose, in relation to a temporary absence, any conditions that the institutional head considers reasonable and necessary in order to protect society.

• Marginal note:Cancellation

  (3) The institutional head may cancel a temporary absence either before or after its commencement.

• Marginal note:Reasons to be given

  (4) The institutional head shall give the inmate written reasons for the authorizing, refusal or cancellation of a temporary absence.

• Marginal note:Travel time

  (5) In addition to the period authorized for the purposes of a temporary absence, an inmate may be granted the time necessary to travel to and from the place where the absence is authorized to be spent.

• Marginal note:Delegation to provincial hospital

  (6) Where, pursuant to an agreement under paragraph 16(1)(a), an inmate has been admitted to a hospital operated by a provincial government in which the liberty of patients is normally subject to restrictions, the institutional head may confer on the person in charge of the hospital, for such period and subject to such conditions as the institutional head specifies, any of the institutional head’s powers under this section in relation to that inmate.

Marginal note:Temporary absences may be approved — exception

• 17.1 (1) The Parole Board of Canada may authorize the temporary absence of an inmate who is serving a sentence of imprisonment for life imposed as a minimum punishment and is eligible for day parole if the inmate is escorted by a staff member or other person authorized by the institutional head and the Parole Board of Canada is of the opinion that

  • (a) the inmate will not, by reoffending, present an undue risk to society during an absence authorized under this section;

  • (b) it is desirable for the inmate to be absent from the penitentiary for administrative reasons, community service, family contact, including parental responsibilities, personal development for rehabilitative purposes or compassionate reasons;

  • (c) the inmate’s behaviour while under sentence does not preclude authorizing the absence; and

  • (d) a structured plan for the absence has been prepared.

  The temporary absence may be for a period of not more than 15 days.

• Marginal note:Subsequent temporary absence

  (2) If the Parole Board of Canada authorizes the temporary absence of an inmate under subsection (1) for community service, family contact, including parental responsibilities, or personal development for rehabilitative purposes and the temporary absence is not cancelled because the inmate has breached a condition, the institutional head may authorize that inmate’s subsequent temporary absences with escort if the institutional head is of the opinion that the criteria set out in paragraphs (1)(a) to (d) are met.

• Marginal note:Subsequent temporary absence — Parole Board

  (3) If a temporary absence authorized by the institutional head is cancelled because the inmate breached a condition in relation to it, the inmate’s subsequent temporary absence may be authorized only by the Parole Board of Canada.

• Marginal note:Conditions

  (4) The Parole Board of Canada or the institutional head, as the case may be, may impose, in relation to a temporary absence that it authorizes, any condition that it considers reasonable and necessary in order to protect society.

• Marginal note:Cancellation and reasons

  (5) The institutional head may cancel a temporary absence that is authorized under this section either before or after its commencement and shall give the inmate written reasons for doing so.

• Marginal note:Authorization or refusal and reasons

  (6) The Parole Board of Canada or the institutional head, as the case may be, shall give the inmate written reasons for authorizing or refusing a temporary absence.