There have been repeated calls for correctional accountability that have gone unheeded. These calls for accountability were reinforced by Madam Justice Louise Arbour in her 1996 report. Indeed, the Office of the Correctional Investigator, the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women and many previous reports and Commissions of Inquiry, not to mention the reports of the Auditor General and the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, have called for increased accountability within corrections and between the Correctional Service of Canada and other external bodies.
CAEFS recommends a mechanism for judicial oversight of decisions that impinge further upon the liberty interests of prisoners, and that long term segregation, in particular, be reviewable by the courts.
Along with an external governance body, CAEFS recommends the creation of an office of an Inspector General of Women's Prisons, mandated and resourced to conduct annual audits of adherence to legislation and policy within each of the regional prisons, such audits to be submitted to the Minister of Public Safety and the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
A Commissioner of Women's Corrections should be appointed to govern all matters related to federally sentenced women, including the supervision of the wardens of the regional prisons and the Kikawinaw of the Healing Lodge. The Commission office would be independent of CSC, reporting directly to the Minister of Public Safety.
A fund to allow women in prison to access legal aid services to address issues related to their conditions of imprisonment and conditional release is needed to ensure that their rights and entitlements are realized.