A key element of independence is learning best practices from around the world (and learning from mistakes too), so it’s worth taking a look at the current situation surrounding prisoners and rehabilitation in different countries.
I’ve opted for a range of different administrative arrangements including control by the central government, devolved/federal state control, shared responsibilities and others.
I’ll start with a summary of how things are in Wales to set a marker for comparison.
For clarity, the “reoffending rate” generally means the proportion of convicted criminals (custodial and non-custodial) who are re-convicted within 6 months to 3 years of release/conviction – though some nations may count this differently.
The most appropriate comparisons in this exercise are perhaps Scotland and Ireland – which have been covered in a bit more detail than the others.
Canada is a federation and as such responsibilities around imprisonment and criminal justice are divided between the federal and provincial/territorial governments.
In general, the provinces and territories are responsible for the management of low-level and summary offenders, while the federal government deals with more serious offenders.
Canada may be seen as a more progressive, less gung-ho version of the United States, but when it comes to penal policy the two share some things in common.
Conditions in the Canadian federal prison system are generally regarded to be better than in the US, but security and punishment are the priority in Canada (much as it is here to an extent) – particularly at the maximum and medium-security levels. Inmates’ lives are highly regulated and most inmates spend large periods in their cells when they’re not working.
One particular area of criticism of the Canadian prison system is poor prisoner education programmes, which rarely go beyond basic adult education.
At the provincial and territorial levels, the conditions in prisons may vary but there’s a general problem with overcrowding.
Indigenous Canadians (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) are also over-represented amongst the prison population (pdf), though “healing centres/healing lodges” have been established in some provinces and territories to provide a culturally-appropriate means of rehabilitation even if they remain prisons in all but name.
Conservative-led Canadian governments pursued mandatory minimum sentencing which resulted in an increased imprisonment rate. The current Liberal-led administration has sought to cut the number of offences with minimum sentences – particularly for drug and lower-level firearms offences.
