Incarceration

In Canada, the administration of corrections is shared between the federal and provincial or territorial governments. Offenders sentenced to custody for two years or longer are the responsibility of federal correctional authorities. Provincial and territorial correctional authorities are responsible for offenders receiving sentences of less than two years or conditional sentences, as well as for individuals remanded to custody while awaiting trial.

	Prison ©2003 ICN-RCI / Hemera

The proportion of convicted adult cases resulting in a sentence to prison remained stable from 1997/98 (33%) to 2001/02 (34%). The average sentence length was about four months.

Use of imprisonment in adult sentencing varies considerably across the country. In Prince Edward Island, 59% of cases with convictions resulted in a prison term in 2001/02, while prison sentences were imposed in only 23% of convicted adult cases in Saskatchewan.

The proportion of convicted youth cases receiving a sentence to secure custody increased slightly from 1995/96 to 2001/02 (from 13% of convicted cases to 15%). The average length of these sentences got shorter during the same period (from 85 days to 67 days). The use of secure custody ranged from 2% of cases with convictions in Nova Scotia to 32% in the Yukon. The proportion of cases with convictions resulting in open custody was highest in Nova Scotia (29%) and lowest in Alberta (8%).

	Prison cell ©2003 ICN-RCI / Hemera

Incarceration varies by region for a number of reasons. For example, the severity of offences being sentenced can vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, rates of recidivism can be different, and the mix of available custodial facilities can vary. Judges also use incarceration in different ways. In Prince Edward Island, for example, offenders convicted of impaired driving for the first time are frequently sent to prison, increasing the overall incarceration rate.

An average of 151,000 adult offenders were under correctional supervision in 2000/01, virtually unchanged from the previous year. Nearly 80% were on probation or some other form of conditional release or were serving a conditional sentence. Federal, provincial and territorial inmates accounted for 20% of the correctional population. By contrast, the number of young offenders on probation far exceeded the number in custody in 2000/01, ranging from 5 to 11 times higher among reporting provinces and territories.

Aboriginal offenders continue to be significantly overrepresented in Canada's correctional facilities. Though Aboriginal people made up 2% of the adult population, they made up about 19% of all inmates sentenced to provincial/territorial custody and 17% of those in federal custody in 2000/01.