NCJ Number
177238
Date Published
1998
Length
39 pages
Annotation
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this report recounts 13 significant events in Canadian corrections over these 50 years that show increasing compliance with the Declaration.
Abstract
Over the past half-century, Canada's correctional system has made significant progress in humanizing the incarceration experience for offenders and providing a representative and diverse correctional workforce in an environment respectful of employees' human rights. When Canada signed the Declaration on December 10, 1948, prisoners were still subject to corporal punishment, to the death penalty, and to bread and water diets. Corporal punishment was not abolished until 1972, and capital punishment was not abolished until 1976. Other significant events in Canadian corrections were the passing of the Parole Act and the creation of the National Parole Board in 1959; the passage of the Canadian Bill of Rights in 1960; permission for Aboriginal Elders to enter Federal penitentiaries to conduct traditional ceremonies in 1972; the creation in 1973 of the Office of the Correctional Investigator to investigate complaints of offenders and seek resolution; and commitment to full compliance with the international Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners in 1975. Other significant correctional events reviewed are the Independent Chairperson for Adjudicating Disciplinary Matters, women correctional officers in male institutions, courts' involvement in correctional authorities' management of offenders, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, and regional facilities for women offenders. 154 references