For Students

This information is designed to help students learn more about the needs of women in conflict with the law and the correctional responses in Ontario. Other pages on our web site will also be helpful, including the pages on Facts and Figures, links, statistics about women on probation from the Shaw study. Our Publications page has links to newsletters, policy briefs, and our 2003 research report on the children of women in prison.

Provincial Prison System

Women remanded in custody pending trial and serving sentences of less than two years are housed in institutions operated by the provincial Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. A list of provincial facilities which house women can be found here. There are approximately 20 detention centres or jails in Ontario housing women on remand or serving short sentences. Women serving longer provincial sentences will probably be transferred to the Vanier Centre for Women at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton. It has the capacity to hold 350 women.

Some statistics:

less than 10% of adults in provincial custody are women
in Ontario, the average prison sentence for women is 49.8 days (2000/01), less than male average of 72.6 days
according to Statistics Canada, about half of adults housed in provincial facilities are there on remand, and they spend an average of just over six months
in Ontario, it costs $138 to house an adult in prison for one day
it cost $465 million to operate adult institutions in Ontario in 2001/02

Our research report, Waiting for Mommy, has more detailed statistics. Statistics on federally sentenced women are listed below.

Since 1995, there are no half-way house facilities for men or women in Ontario because they were all closed by the provincial government. The absence of “half-way back” residences for women (and men) is a key problem in Ontario right now.

Release of women from provincial custody occurs via...

time-served sentences after remand in custody (nationally, 6% of all sentences for both sexes)
temporary absences (sometimes with electronic monitoring) as per the Ontario Parole and Earned Release Board (OPERB)
parole (involving parole supervision until the end of the sentence, with probation to follow if so-ordered by the sentencing judge) also decided by the OPERB
reaching two-thirds of the sentence (discharge possible date) with no parole supervision but probation to follow if so-ordered by the sentencing judge

For men and women combined, the grant rate for provincial parole is 28% of all applications and only 491 inmates were paroled in 2001/2002 representing a tiny fraction of the inmate population. However, women are more likely to be granted parole than men. For women as a group, for fiscal year 2002/03, 59% of parole applications were granted and 64% of temporary absences were approved.

Federal Prison System

The small number of women sentenced to two years or more will enter the domain of federal corrections serving sentences administered by the Correctional Service of Canada. Some basic facts on federally sentenced women....

the cost of incarcerating a women in the federal system is $110, 473 per year (for men it is $66,381)
supervising a federal offender on parole costs $16,800 per year
in 2001, there were 385 women (and 12,430) men in federal institutions across Canada
among the women, 83 were Aboriginal (or 22%, higher than for men)
82% of federally sentenced women are serving their first federal term
19% are serving life or indeterminate terms
63% are serving six years or less
someone with a six year sentence will be eligible for day parole after one year
19% of incarcerated women were convicted of murder
in addition, there are 447 women on conditional release across Canada, most on full parole (328) and less commonly on day parole (77) and statutory release (51)

An institution for women can be found in each of the five CSC regions plus the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge in Saskatchewan. In Ontario, the Grand Valley Institution for Women, in Kitchener, was opened in 1997 with a capacity for 72 women. It is categorized as a medium/minimum security facility. A maximum security unit will open soon on the grounds. In Kingston, the 13-bed minimum security Isabel McNeil House is slated to close shortly. CSC has contracts with Elizabeth Fry Societies in several parts of Ontario (e.g., Kingston, Toronto, Ottawa, Barrie, Brampton) for half-way houses, officially called community-based residential facilities (CRFs). Also, the Salvation Army operates Osler House near Hamilton.

In the federal system, women can be conditionally released on various types of temporary absences, day parole (eligibility after one-sixth is served), full parole (at one third), statutory release (two thirds), and very rarely at warrant expiry, if detained during the period of statutory release. The National Parole Board determines the timing and conditions of most but not all releases. In 2001/02, 89% of day parole applications from women were granted (compared with 71% from men). For full parole, 75% of women’s applications were granted compared with 41% for men.

Those released prior to warrant expiry will be on parole under the supervision of a local area parole office. Individuals on conditional release are subject to suspension/revocation of parole for violation of conditions.

For more information...

Correctional Service of Canada has a number of publications on women which can be downloaded from here

Also see the 1996 Arbour Report from the Commission of Inquiry into Certain Events at the Kingston Prison for Women.

More general statistics on federal corrections can be found on the web site of Solicitor General Canada

Information on how sentences are administered can be found in Sentence Calculation (1999)

The Needs of Women

Compared with men, women in conflict with the law have a lower offence severity and a lower probability of recidivism. It is often said that women pose little risk but have great need. We have little research available in Canada about the needs of women, owing in great measure to a seemingly unshakable belief in some correctional circles that men and women are the same. However, we do know that

women rarely constitute a risk to the community
women are usually custodial parents of young children
current "risk assessments" are not designed for women and over-classify and over-predict the "risk" they pose
current "need assessments" are not designed for women and ignore need areas such as victimization history and homelessness
incarceration is often used for enforcement of probation conditions, fine default, and other offences against the administration of justice

Incarceration destabilizes their sometimes fragile connection to support networks, employment and housing; and, incarceration unfairly impacts children, who are the invisible victims.

We need to work instead to ensure that incarceration is not mis-used in place of more appropriate interventions. Women need services for

housing / income support
violence against women (sexual and physical, childhood and past/current relationships)
addictions
mental health
health
educational / vocational
parenting

Systemic problems of our correctional systems, true for both men and women, include...

less than stellar continuity between institution and community
too much resources ($$) devoted to institutions while outside is starved for resources
reliance on research “evidence” that is based on agendas (e.g., profit)
therefore, current use of “risk/need” paradigm that explains (at best) 9% of variance in recidivism FOR MEN (and virtually none for women)
overcrowding, especially in detention environments
disproportionate confinement of minorities especially Aboriginal peoples
incarceration of the mentally ill instead of hospitalization

Release and Reintegration

For anyone who has been incarcerated, planning for release should be the most important component of the sentence. The period after release is the most challenging to navigate, even for those who have good family support and employability skills. Yet, these two components of the system – release planing and post-release programming – are given short shrift in a system where the bulk of money and attention is focused on the institutional side. Contextual factors which compromise the current system of reintegration include:

declining grant rates for provincial parole meaning that most inmates are released at the discharge possible date (with no support unless there is probation to follow)
the paucity of half-way house beds for people released from provincial sentences (after their closure in 1995)
rising use of urinalysis as static surveillance and the decline of dynamic supervision
high case loads for probation/parole officers, compromising their abilities to be effective supports
absence of research on the challenges faced by reintegrating inmates
the paucity of available vocational programs suitable for this population
under-funding of programs that do offer post-release support

Youth in Conflict with the Law

Young women between 12 and 17 who are accused or convicted of breaking a criminal law are dealt with under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. If sentenced, depending on their ages, they are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Safety and Correctional Services or the Ministry of Community and Social Services (ages 12 to 15). Responsibility for youth will soon be combined and transferred to the newly-created Children's Ministry.