What information will I be asked to provide?
You will be asked for a lot of information. Your initial assessment is made up of a wide array of forms and reports, which are to be completed by different people. For example, you will be asked to undergo a medical assessment. A medical certificate will be prepared, which may be required for entry into the penitentiary.²⁰ Referrals to appropriate medical specialists may also be made at this time as required and depending upon availability.²¹

You will also have a community parole officer²² assigned to you. Her report (the “Post-Sentence Community Assessment”) is supposed to evaluate the community’s ability to support your reintegration,²³ and it will be used in your “correctional” planning. Work on this report involves checking out the personal contacts you have named, as well as information from “official sources.”²⁴ (The CSC does not define what “official sources” are, but they usually include police and court records, as well as any prison records on you developed with or without your participation.)

There are various other reports included in your initial assessment, including the “Criminal Profile Report” and those based on the “Immediate Needs Interview” and the “Admission Interview.” In addition, there are various “Supplementary Assessments” you will be asked to undergo if the CSC believes they are needed in your particular case. These, especially the “Psychological Assessment” and others conducted by mental health care professionals, can have very serious implications (some negative, some positive) for how you will live your life over the course of your sentence.

It is important that you be aware that when mental health professionals see you to make assessments (as opposed to seeing you to provide treatment) the information they have about you is not considered confidential. (Go to the section on health care for more information concerning your rights as a patient in prison). Under some circumstances, this information can legally be distributed to certain people far beyond the prison walls against your wish.