Adult correctional services

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The composition of adults in custody in provincial and territorial jails has shifted dramatically during the past decade as the number of adults held in remand or other temporary detention increased and those in sentenced custody declined.

For the first time, the number of adults held on remand or other temporary detention and the number of sentenced offenders were virtually equal. On an average day in 2004/2005, roughly 9,800 adults were being held in sentenced custody in provincial or territorial jails. At the same time, just over 9,900 were being held on remand or another form of temporary detention.

In contrast, 10 years earlier, the number of adults on remand accounted for only 28% of the total in custody. The remaining 72% were serving a custodial sentence.

The increasing trend in remand dates back to the mid-1980s. Remand counts in 2004/2005 were 30% higher than they were five years earlier and 83% higher than in 1995/1996.

In contrast, the number of sentenced offenders in provincial/territorial jails has been on the decline. The average number of sentenced offenders was nearly 11% below what it was in 2000/2001, and 31% below the level a decade earlier.

One important factor in this change in the composition of the custodial population is the increasing amount of time served in remand. In 2004/2005, more than half of all adults remanded in custody (54%) were held for less than a week, compared with 66% a decade earlier. At the same time, the proportion that served between one week and one month rose from 20% to 25%, and the proportion that spent more than a month in remand rose from 14% to 21%.

A number of other factors may also account for the shifting composition in the custodial population. For example, changes in bail practices and policies could affect the probability of bail being denied in many jurisdictions, thereby increasing the remand population.

Cases in Canada's adult criminal courts have also become more complex and are taking more time to resolve, increasing the length of stay for adults in remand while they await trial and/or sentencing.

The introduction of the conditional sentence as a sentencing option has also been a factor in the shift in composition of adult offenders. Some offenders who would have otherwise been admitted to sentenced custody served a conditional sentence in the community instead.

Slight decline in correctional system average counts

On an average day in 2004/2005, 152,600 adults were under the supervision of federal, provincial and territorial correctional service agencies, a 1% decline from the previous year.

Four out of five of these adults, about 120,500, were being supervised in the community. Of these, the vast majority (82%) were on probation, 12% were on conditional sentences and 6% were on parole or statutory release.

The remaining 20 %, about 32,100, were in a federal penitentiary or in a provincial or territorial jail. Of this total, 38%, were in federal custody while 31% were held in provincial/territorial custody. Adults in remand awaiting trial or sentencing represented 30% of Canada's incarcerated adults.

Admissions to correctional services remain stable

Overall in 2004/2005, there were just over 357,200 admissions to correctional services, unchanged from the previous year. Nearly 248,600 admissions, or 7 out of every 10, were to some form of custody, while the remainder, about 108,600, were to community supervision.

More than one-third of all admissions to correctional supervision were for remand or other temporary detention in the provincial/territorial correctional system.

Over the past decade, total admissions to remand and other temporary detention have been climbing steadily. Admissions to remand rose 14% from 1995/1996, while admissions to other temporary detention increased 21%. At the same time, the number of admissions to sentenced custody fell by about one-third.

Women represented 10% of admissions to provincial/territorial sentenced custody, 5% of admissions to federal custody, 11% of admissions to remand, and 17% of probation and conditional sentence admissions.

Aboriginal women represented nearly one-third of all women sentenced to provincial/territorial custody in 2004/2005, while Aboriginal men accounted for one-fifth of all men sentenced to custody in the provinces and territories.

Roughly 108,600, or 30% of all offenders, were admitted to correctional supervision in the community in 2004/2005, up 3% from the previous year.

Admissions to a conditional sentence increased by 2% from 2003/2004, while admissions to probation were up 4%, the first annual gain in the number of probation admissions since 2001/2002.

Conditional sentences for drug offences receive longest supervision orders

Conditional sentence admissions for drug offences received the longest conditional sentence orders in 2004/2005, according to data from five provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

More than one-third (36%) of all conditional sentence admissions for drug offences carried a conditional sentence term of 18 months or more. This was roughly twice the proportion of those admitted for a violent offence (18%) or property offence (15%).

One-third of offenders return to correctional services within two years

Nearly one in three (31%) offenders released from correctional services in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan in 2002/2003 returned to correctional services within two years of their release.

Rates of return to correctional supervision were higher for men (32%) than for women (23%), and almost half of all Aboriginal adults were re-involved in correctional services (45%) compared to less than one-third of non-Aboriginal adults (29%).

Increase in spending on correctional services

Spending on correctional services totalled $2.8 billion in 2004/2005. Taking inflation into account, total expenditures were up 2% from the previous year.

The federal system accounted for just over half (54%) of expenditures, with the remaining 46% going to provincial/territorial systems. Custodial services accounted for just over $2 billion, or 71% of total spending, while close to $382 million, or 14% of the total, went to community supervision. The remaining expenditures were for headquarters and central services and for provincial and federal parole boards.

The average daily cost of housing an inmate in a federal penitentiary in 2004/2005 was $259.05, compared with an average of $141.78 per inmate at the provincial/territorial level. This difference is the result of a number of factors, including higher levels of security and programming required in the federal system as well as higher costs associated with federally-sentenced female offenders and long-term offenders.

At the provincial/territorial level, spending on custodial services has risen 2% since 2000/2001. In contrast, the cost of delivering community corrections in the provinces and territories rose by more than 12% during the same period.

This increase can be attributed, in part, to an increase in the population of community supervision offenders with a conditional sentence who require more intensive supervision.

Available on CANSIM: tables 251-0001 to 251-0007.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3306.

The publication Juristat: Adult Correctional Services in Canada, 2004/2005, Vol. 26, no. 5 (85-002-XIE; free) is now available on our website. From the module Publications, choose Free Internet publications, then Justice. A paper version (85-002-XPE, $11/$100) is also available.

Data tables are also available. From the Summary tables module of Statistics Canada's website, choose Subject, then Justice.

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

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