How Are Temporary Absences and Work Releases Being Used With Canadian Federal Offenders?

ABSTRACT

Temporary absences (TAs) and work releases (WRs) allow inmates to leave the institution for short periods of time and are generally a first step in the process of gradual community reintegration. To better understand how TAs and WRs are being used with Canadian federal inmates, this study examined patterns in type, length, success rates, frequency, and timing throughout the inmates’ sentences. Using all 355,223 absences granted between 2005 and 2013, study 1 examined common descriptive information for absences over time, including analyses by reasons, group absences, and failure rates. Study 2 used two data sets. The first consisted of 27,098 inmates released between 2005 and 2011. The second included 7,341 inmates who began their sentences between April 1, 2005, and March 31, 2013, and participated in a TA or WR. Of all TAs granted during the study period, more than 90% were escorted. Escorted absences tend to be granted earlier in an inmate’s sentence than unescorted absences or WRs. Inmates participating in more than one absence type were likely to have more absences overall. Almost all inmates on absences returned to the institution without incident, indicating that they are safe initiatives for the community. Findings are compared to patterns of use from the 1990s and implications regarding granting decisions are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• temporary absences
• work releases
• community reintegration
• inmates

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Chris Hill for his feedback around the research questions and Mike Hayden for his advice around data issues. We also would like to thank Shanna Farrell MacDonald for her feedback on the data pull. Finally, we would like to thank Sara Johnson for her overall guidance and advice on this project.

Since the completion of this research study, Marguerite Ternes has changed affiliations and now works at Saint Mary’s University, L. Maaike Helmus now works at Simon Fraser University, and Trina Forreseter now works at Indigenous Services Canada.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Only individual absences were considered for these analyses because group absences did not have associated inmate information.

² Inmates with certain types of releases (death, deportation, court order) were removed from the data set. We also removed inmates who were deported or who had died during follow-up because this data set was taken from an ongoing study requiring follow-up information.

³ A small number of inmates served only a short period of time in CSC custody before their release date. For 1.8% of the population, there were fewer than four months between admission and release. Common reasons for this short time served include serving a portion of their sentence in a provincial correctional facility, remand center, or in a foreign country. Additionally, some inmates may have received accelerated parole review.

⁴ Medical and administrative TAs were removed because there is less discretion in granting practices.