Five Year Review of the
Corrections and Conditional Release Act: I. Background The Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) is a federation of twenty-three autonomous societies. All local societies are community-based groups dedicated to the provision of programs and services with and for women and girls involved in the criminal justice system. In addition to our networking function, CAEFS provides a forum for public participation in and education about the criminal justice system. Our educational activities tend to concentrate on the inequities of women's experiences in and with the justice system. CAEFS' submissions with respect to the review of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) are based on our experience with women's corrections both prior to and since the enactment of the CCRA. Since November 2, 1992, there have been significant developments in the area of women's corrections which signal the need for a legislative response. For example, most recently, federally sentenced women who have significant mental health issues and those classified as maximum security prisoners have been precluded from the new regional prisons for women and the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge. Instead, they are housed in segregated maximum security units in men's prisons. In addition, there have continued to be serious violations of human and Charter rights of women prisoners beyond more well known 1994 incidents at the Kingston Prison for Women, which resulted in the Commission of Inquiry into Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston. Indeed, the findings and recommendations of the Arbour Commission, in which CAEFS participated fully, both as a party and witness to the proceedings, inform many of the recommendations made by CAEFS to the Standing Committee. References to the Report of the Commission of Inquiry Into Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston are made throughout these submissions. Underlying CAEFS' recommendations are two main interests and areas of concern. These are:
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