My Speeches

Second Reading, Bill 58: Corrections Amendment Act

Posted on Nov 03, 2009

Bill 58
Corrections Amendment Act, 2009

The Speaker: The hon. Member for Battle River-Wainwright.

Mr. Griffiths: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to move
second reading of Bill 58, the Corrections Amendment Act.
This legislation will expand the monitoring and recording of
inmate communications and will also allow offenders of provincial
statutes and municipal bylaws to earn remission for their sentences.
Earned remission, Mr. Speaker, allows the offender to earn reduced
time through good behaviour, compliance with facility rules, and
program participation. It’s an incentive for them to behave well and
to participate in programs while they’re in custody.
Currently earned remission is available onlyto individuals serving
sentences for offences under federal laws or where the offender’s
sentence includes convictions for both provincial and federal
offences. Individuals serving sentences solely for provincial
offences or municipal bylaw offences, which are generally less
serious and nonviolent offences, do not currently have the opportunity
to earn any remission. Examples of these types of offences, Mr.
Speaker, include driving without insurance, gaming and liquor
offences such as public intoxication, and petty trespass.
In fact, there have been situations where individuals convicted of
much more serious Criminal Code offences have spent less time in
jail than provincial statute offenders. In 2007-2008 individuals
convicted of provincial statute offences spent an average of 9.9 days
in jail. With one-third remission that would decrease to seven days.
Now, I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, Mr. Speaker, but this
decrease in time spent in custody is expected to reduce the number
of offenders in our provincial facilities by 40 people per day. Based
on that estimate, we’re looking at $175,000 in savings per year.
Apart from Yukon, Alberta is the only jurisdiction that does not
allow earned remission for provincial statute or municipal bylaw
offences. These changes provide several benefits, including
encouraging good inmate behaviour, reducing the offender population
in our facilities, and making our legislation consistent with other
jurisdictions.The other amendments for the Corrections Act are about
inmate communications. Currently recording and electronic monitoring of
offender phone calls is permitted. In fact, Mr. Speaker, many legal
decisions have recognized that inmates of a correctional facility have
a reduced expectation of privacy. That’s not going to change. This
bill, however, would allow for recording and monitoring of all
inmate communications rather than just phone calls.
Rather than labelling specific items, we use “inmate communication”
to expand the scope of the communications that can be
monitored and recorded to include written, oral, and electronic forms
of communication among inmates and between inmates and the
public. British Columbia uses the term “inmate communication” in
its Correction Act, and making this change will prevent the need to
list individual forms of communication. New forms always arise,
and we won’t have to change it in the act.
Electronic communications would be passively recorded. This
means that conversations would be recorded directly into a database
with no one monitoring them, no one listening to them. These
recordings would be listened to only if there are reasonable grounds
to do so, as set out by the act. Communications between an inmate
and his or her lawyer or any other privileged communications that
an inmate is entitled to would not be recorded or monitored. The
practice being proposed is used in British Columbia and by Correctional
Service Canada.
These amendments will provide us with greater opportunities to
intercept and report active or planned criminal activity, which will
make our communities safer, Mr. Speaker. This legislation allows
us to address communication technology as it evolves and gives law
enforcement another tool to help prevent crime. It also gives
offenders an incentive to participate in programs, follow the rules of
our facilities, and get back out to be productive members of society
faster. Mr. Speaker, with that, I conclude my comments, and I would
move to adjourn debate.