The Daily. Tuesday, June 26, 2001

Adult correctional services

The average number of adults in custody on any given day in Canada fell to an eight-year low in the fiscal year 1999/2000. At the same time, the average number on some form of community supervision, either probation or conditional release, reached its second highest level ever.

On a given day, 31,600 adults on average were in a federal penitentiary or provincial-territorial jail in 1999/2000, down 2% from 1998/99. This was the lowest average count since 1992/93, and substantially below the peak of 33,800 in 1995/96.

Of these 31,600 adults, 41% were in federal custody and 36% in provincial-territorial facilities. About 21% had been held in remand awaiting further court appearances.

Another 121,000 adults were on some form of community supervision, up 2% from 1998/99 and just below the peak in 1997/98. Almost 84% of these individuals were on supervised probation, 8% were on parole or statutory release and 7% were on conditional sentence.

Note to readers This release is based on the annual Juristat Adult correctional services in Canada, which provides data on the characteristics of the adult correctional population and the delivery of correctional services. Two basic indicators describe the use of correctional services: the average count of offenders imprisoned or serving a sentence in the community at a given point in time; and the number of annual admissions to correctional facilities or to community supervision programs. Average counts of inmates in custody or serving a sentence in the community provide a snapshot of the correctional population on any given day and are then used to calculate an annual average count. Average counts are useful operational measures for correctional managers and are reliable indicators of the utilization of bed space in institutions. Admission data are collected when the offender enters an institution or community supervision program. While admission data describe and measure the changing caseflow of correctional agencies over time, they do not indicate the number of unique individuals, since the same person can be included several times in annual admission totals.

Twice as many offenders admitted to custody than to community supervision

In addition to the average daily count of individuals in the correctional system, this release also provides data on the number of admissions annually to correctional facilities or to community supervision programs.

In 1999/2000, almost 220,600 adults were admitted to custody, of which about half were remanded to a provincial or territorial jail awaiting a court disposition, up 4% from 1998/99. Another 40%, or 84,900, were sent to prison as the result of a court sentence. This figure was almost 9% lower than in 1998/99 and 30% lower than the peak in 1992/93. Individuals being held on temporary detention, such as immigration holds, accounted for the remaining 9%.

Admissions to provincial and territorial jails have been on the decline since 1992/93, when they peaked at 245,750. They grew steadily during the 1980s and early 1990s.

A total of 7,152 adult offenders were placed in federal prisons in 1999/2000, down almost 4% from 1998/99, and 18% lower than the peak in 1993/94. Of this total, 59% were admitted to sentenced custody; the remaining offenders were admitted for reasons such as parole revocation and exchange of service agreements.

In 1999/2000, 99,326 adults began community programs, down 5% from 1998/99. Seventy-three percent of these were probationers, 16% were on a conditional sentence and another 10% were on some other form of conditional release from prison such as parole or statutory release.

Adults beginning a sentence of probation accounted for 23% of all admissions to the correctional system in 1999/2000, those on conditional sentence accounted for 5% and those on parole/statutory release, 3%.

One-fifth of provincial inmates and over one-half of federal inmates jailed for violent crime

Property crimes accounted for 23% of admissions to provincial/territorial prisons, while other federal and provincial statute offences accounted for 27%, other Criminal Code offences accounted for 21% and crimes of violence, 20%.

Fifty-two percent of admissions to federal custody were for violent offences, particularly robbery and various levels of assault, property crimes accounted for 18% and drug-related offences, 17%.

Three-quarters of all admissions to provincial/territorial custody in 1999/2000 were for three months or less. Two-thirds of all admissions to federal sentenced custody were for less than four years. Offenders admitted to federal custody on a life sentence accounted for only 3.7% of all sentenced federal admissions, almost the same as the year before (3.6%).

Costs for supervising offenders continues to rise

In 1999/2000, federal, provincial and territorial governments spent $2.4 billion operating adult correctional systems, compared with $2.2 billion in 1998/99.

Almost three-quarters was spent on custodial services; the remainder was spent on community supervision programs, headquarters and parole boards. Adjusted for inflation, total operating expenditures increased 5% from 1998/99.

Federal operating expenditures on corrections (including parole) reached $1.3 billion, up almost 9% from 1998/99 after adjusting for inflation. The provinces and territories spent $1.1 billion on correctional services, up 1% compared with 1998/99.

The average daily cost of housing an inmate in federal penitentiaries was $184 after adjusting for inflation, up 5% from 1998/99. To house provincial/territorial inmates, the average daily cost increased by the same amount, 5%, to $128.

Available on CANSIM: matrices 312, 313 and 318.

Juristat: Adult correctional services in Canada, 1999/2000, Vol. 21, no. 5 (85-002-XPE, $10/$93; 85-002-XIE, $8/$70) and Adult correctional services in Canada, data tables, 1999/2000 (85-211-XIE, $28) are now available.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Information and Client Services (1-800-387-2231; 613-951-9023; fax: 613-951-6615), Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics.

Adult admissions to remand, sentenced custody, probation and conditional sentences