Adult correctional services

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In 2008/2009, almost 371,800 adults were admitted to some form of correctional service program in Canada, virtually unchanged from the previous year.

About 41%, or slightly more than 152,800 admissions, were to remand, which is detention while awaiting trial or sentencing. An additional 23% were put on probation and 22% were admitted to provincial or territorial sentenced custody. The remainder were admitted to other temporary detention, conditional sentences, provincial parole boards (available in Ontario and Quebec), or to a federal correction program.

Of total admissions, the vast majority, roughly 355,400 or 96%, were admitted to provincial or territorial programs.

Just over 8,300 adults were admitted to federal sentenced custody in 2008/2009, down from about 8,600 the year before. An additional 8,000 adults were placed on federal conditional releases into the community. Offenders sentenced to two years or more are the responsibility of federal corrections.

Beginning in the 1980s, there was a shift in the composition of adults held in provincial and territorial custody. The number of adults admitted to remand started to increase, while those admitted to sentenced custody began to fall. In 2008/2009, 6 in 10 admissions to provincial and territorial custody were to remand.

In 2008/2009, operating costs of providing correctional services in Canada totalled almost $3.9 billion, up 7% from the previous year after taking inflation into account. These costs covered provision of correctional services, which includes custodial services, community supervision, headquarters and central services, as well as provincial parole boards and the National Parole Board.

Operating costs rose 6% in the provincial and territorial system and 8% in the federal system. Costs increased in all jurisdictions except Yukon and Northwest Territories (data are not available for Nunavut).

On average, in 2008/2009, it cost $323 a day (or about $117,700 a year) to house a federal inmate, up 6% from the previous year. In the provincial and territorial system, the average cost was $162 a day (or about $59,100 a year), up 2%.

Federal costs were higher than provincial and territorial costs because of higher levels of security as well as longer-term specialized programming.

Available on CANSIM: tables 251-0001 to 251-0003 and 251-0007.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3306.

The Juristat article "Adult correctional services in Canada, 2008/2009", Vol. 30, no. 3 (85-002-X, free), is now available. From the Key resource module of our website under Publications, choose All subjects, then Crime and Justice, and Juristat.

For more information, or to enquire about the 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.