Section 30 of the CCRA provides that each prisoner must be assigned a security classification in accordance with the Regulations. In assessing the security classification level of prisoners, section 17 of the Regulations requires CSC to consider the potential of escape, the level of risk to the community should the prisoner escape, and the level of supervision and control the prisoner requires while in the penitentiary. Currently, with the exception of the Ontario and Pacific regions, federally sentenced women who are classified as maximum security prisoners are incarcerated in segregated units or ranges in men's prisons. In addition to directly impacting a prisoner's institutional placement, security classification is taken into account in many other institutional and community integration decisions, particularly in respect of access to temporary absence integration passes and work releases. Most importantly, security classification is a significant consideration for conditional release decisions by the National Parole Board (NPB). In fact, NPB policy generally requires that prisoners should achieve the lowest level of security classification before being released into the community. CAEFS' has a two-fold concern with the impact on federally sentenced women of the security classification process outlined in s. 30 of the CCRA. First of all, it is CAEFS' position that all federally sentenced women who are confined in federal prisons should be in the new regional prisons. Practically speaking, the main reason for assigning a security classification to prisoners is to place them in a prison with the appropriate security level. If all women are confined in the regional prisons, it is unnecessary for them to be assigned a security level. Secondly, it has been repeatedly recognized that the current criteria used to assign a security level to prisoners results in the over classification of women. This is especially true for Aboriginal women, who are disproportionately classified as maximum security prisoners. Indeed, although CSC will occasionally reduce the percentages, most of the time, forty to fifty percent of federally sentenced women who are classified as maximum security are Aboriginal, even though Aboriginal women represent approximately 19% of the total population of federally sentenced women and only 1-2% of Canada's population overall. Indeed, during the Task Force and before the Arbour Commission, the CSC itself indicated that the current classification system, designed for men, did not apply to federally sentenced women. Moreover, and in any event, all federally sentenced women should be housed in the regional women's prisons. The Supreme Court of Canada has held in applying the equality provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, that men and women receiving the same treatment does not necessarily mean that they receive equal treatment. Rather, in some situations, same treatment can result in inequality, where the legislation which may be neutral on its face, has an adverse impact on members of disadvantaged groups. Please refer to Appendix I for additional details regarding our concerns about the discriminatory facets of CSC's current classification procedures.
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