Canada

Canada has two separate penal systems at the federal and provincial/territorial levels. The federal system imprisons individuals who commit the most serious offenses and are sentenced to two years or more, as outlined in Section 731(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada. All federally sentenced persons fall under the jurisdiction of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). In contrast, provincial and territorial correctional facilities incarcerate people who receive a sentence of less than two years. They also hold accused persons on remand awaiting trial, those who fail to pay a fine, federally sentenced individuals appealing their conviction and/or sentence and individuals who apply to serve their provincial time in a federal institution under the Exchange of Services Agreement.

Although there are considerable differences between the federal and provincial/territorial systems, there are also some striking operational similarities between them. For example, CSC's total operational expenditure in 2000–2001 was $1.3 billion, while at the provincial/territorial level it was $1.2 billion. Of these totals, $879.3 million or 80% of the total federal operating expenditure was directed toward custodial services, and in comparison $948 million or 69% of the total provincial/territorial operating funds were allocated to custodial services. These figures translate into an average daily inmate cost of $189.21 at the federal level and $137.44 at the provincial/territorial level. Furthermore, in 2000–2001 the two systems employed a similar number of full-time equivalent staff: 12,572 federal staff and 13,084 provincial/territorial staff.

On average, Canada's rate of incarceration is much lower than in the United States, but substantially higher than in many Western European countries. Each year, the federal system processes a much smaller number of persons than the provincial/territorial systems. For example, 7,723 individuals were admitted to federal custody in 2000–2001 as compared to 227, 279 who were sent to provincial/territorial institutions. Nonetheless, the average number of persons incarcerated at any given time was much more comparable between the two systems, with 12,732 individuals in 68 federal prisons and 18,815 in 143 provincial/territorial institutions. Nationally, in 2000–2001 there was a federal incarceration rate of 54 persons per 100,000 Canadian adults, and a provincial/territorial rate of 80 per 100,000 adults. In the provinces and territories, the rate varied extensively from 684 per 100,000 adults in the Northwest Territories, to 150 in Saskatchewan, and 47 in Nova Scotia. Due to the variations within the provincial/territorial systems, this entry will focus mainly on the federal institutions and the policies of the CSC.