Ontario Correctional Services provides custody, treatment and rehabilitation programs for adult offenders who are sentenced to imprisonment for up to two years less one day. It also provides probation and parole services and supervises persons awaiting trial, sentencing, transfer, deportation and other judicial proceedings.
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Mandate
"The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services is committed to ensuring that Ontario's communities are supported and protected by law enforcement and public safety systems that are safe, secure, effective, efficient and accountable"
Mission
"The Correctional Services Division contributes to the protection of public safety through effective supervision of adults in community and institutional settings."
Ontario Correctional Adult Offender Facilities
The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services operated the following adult facilities:
Correctional Centre Correctional Centres house sentenced offenders typically serving periods of incarceration to a maximum of 2 years less a day. Offenders serving their sentences in correctional centre are eligible for education, counselling and work experience programs.
Jails and Detention Centres Jails are older, usually smaller, institutions originally established by counties or other municipalities. Detention centres are larger, more modern facilities built to serve the needs of several regions.
Jails and Detention Centres serve as the point of entry into the institutional system. They hold:
Both types of facilities are maximum security.
Treatment Centres Treatment Centres provide specialized and intensive treatment for motivated offenders with clearly identified problems relating to substance abuse, sexual misconduct, impulse control and anger management.
These facilities are staffed by professional clinical personal employed by, or under contract to, the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services.
Employees
Most personnel with a provincial institution are correctional staff charged with the care, custody and control of offenders remanded in provincial jails and detention centres. Other employees including: Parole officers, program facilitators, psychologists,doctors, registered nurses, classification officers, etc.
Correctional staff working at provincial institutions are designated as Peace Officers under Section 10 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act[1] and the Criminal Code of Canada.
Uniformed officers
All provincial correctional officers are uniformed.
The rank structure in Ontario Correctional Services begins at entry as a Correctional Officer. These officers are responsible for security functions at the institution including:
Once officers move into a supervisory role, which starts at the rank of Sergeant, the uniform shirt colour is changed from light blue to white.
The institutional Deputy Superintendent is the first rank in the administration. There can be multiple Deputy Superintendents at each institution depending on the size of the facility.
The Superintendent is the head of the institution.
Rank Structure
The new Ontario Corrections rank structure was revised and implemented in 2011 to include official ranking designations:
Sergeant (Operational Manager. Older Managers retain the rank of Lieutenant or Captain depending on their institution.)
Staff Sergeant (Shift Manager at the TSDC and SWDC)
Deputy Superintendent
Superintendent
Deputy Chief Superintendent (Deputy Regional Director)
Chief Superintendent (Regional Director)
Institutional Crisis Intervention Team
Similar function to those of Canadian police forces and the Correctional Service of Canada, Ontario Correctional Services has formed Emergency Response Teams to support existing security functions. The I.C.I.T. will respond to situations that require or may require a use of force or a special tactical response. These teams are usually established within a single institution, depending on the size.