Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has completed a procedural review of the Manitoba correctional system. The review follows incidents involving inmate assaults last summer. The province asked CSC to complete the review -- not about the incidents themselves, but about the procedures within the system which may have contributed to the incidents.

The finished report and its recommendations were shared with senior management, who then developed their own document from these findings. Some of these recommendations were system-wide, while others were intended to address issues specifically at the Winnipeg Remand Centre.

In a recent health and safety committee meeting, management reviewed some of these recommendations with MGEU representatives, including Component Director Brian Parley.

The union has requested (but hasn’t been granted) access to the CSC report and its findings. But the Province did share their own following recommendations for the Winnipeg Remand Centre as well as the three province-wide recommendations for Manitoba’s corrections system:

Province-wide Recommendations for the Manitoba Corrections System

1. Implement a committee review of the recruitment process to ensure potential staff are fully aware of the type of work environment they are applying to work in and ensure that assessment tools used in the recruitment process are appropriate. A committee has been established for this purpose.

2. Implement a committee review of the Core Competencies program. This process began before the CSC review. They have completed a report which was discussed with the Provincial Labour Management Committee (PLMC) and the new processes will soon be released. The main focus surrounds time lines.

The PLMC committee also expressed concerns about the inconsistent expectations held by different supervisors throughout the system. A request was made to include some direction as to how much content is expected from members when completing each portion of the core competencies program.

3. Implement a working group review of supervisory positions in order to maximize the number of supervisors on duty, ensure they are appropriately trained and effective support mechanisms are in place. The working group has already met once to start examining the use, deployment, training, competencies, selection process and mentoring of CO3s.

Recommendations for the Winnipeg Remand Centre

1. Review job descriptions to ensure they properly describe roles and accountability. Performance markers for each rank will be established and reviewed with staff. This has already begun, the CO1 and CO5 classification reviews remain.

2. Work towards creating an environment where managers are supported to perform the full scope of their duties and management roles. In this instance, the employer shared one finding from the CSC report, saying that employees were not functioning at the level they should be according to their rank

3. Review the internal investigation process for staff and inmate concerns. The staff delegated to conduct any investigation should be provided with appropriate training and the process should be shared with all stakeholders. This review ties in with WRC Recommendation #1. The employer is unsure if they have the capacity to do this. They must determine the proper level for who is to conduct these investigations and are planning for more CO4s to do this. Management has drafted an investigation tracking tool. 

4. Review the functions of the Duty Officer on evenings and weekends. Focus on increasing visibility when unit managers are not at work and providing more support to supervisors. This review has begun.

5. Address the issues created by the absence of supervisors from 7am -11 am. This has begun, but no changes have taken effect. The employer sites operational impacts which must be sorted out before this can be done.

6. Stabilize mental health in female unit profiles, placing high-risk clients nearest health services. The employer didn’t feel the CSC review fully comprehended the challenges of doing this given the other constraints (i.e. overcrowding and inmate turnover) within the WRC. The employer says they will be providing more training to address the mental health needs of specific units.

7. Create a more consistent Senior Management approach with regards to policy and procedure enforcement. No further information provided on when or how this will be done.

8. Create strong written direction in the form of Unit and Post orders. The employer is trying to ensure all are up to date, but admits it’s a long process.  They are currently getting approval for additional resources to assist with this.

9. Management should be more visible at WRC. No further information provided on when or how this will be done.

10. Explore training options with CSC. No further information provided on when or how this will be done.

11. Visibly promote professionalism. No further information provided on when or how this will be done.

12. Develop short and medium term plans of concrete action and communicate these plans with staff. No further information provided on when or how this will be done.