In Saskatchewan, at least theoretically, persons accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
You wouldn’t know it if you looked at Saskatchewan prisons, however. According to statistics, there are now more people on remand than in sentenced custody. This is a big problem for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is it is self-perpetuating.
Overcrowding in prisons means less rehabilitative programming because resources have to be diverted to simply housing the prisoners. Less rehabilitative programming leads to higher rates of recidivism and offences against the administration of justice (breaches), which leads to more remand, more overcrowding etc.
It’s a vicious cycle.
And it is really evident in court where one of the main reasons why prosecutors oppose release and why judges go along with prosecutors is because people breach conditions.
There can be all kinds of reasons why people breach. One report, by Jason Demers for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, notes underlying factors such as homelessness, addictions and cognitive challenges.
“These aren’t really people that are flight risks, but they’re being treated as flight risks by a system that doesn’t spend enough time looking at root causes,” Demers wrote.
And the best way to build higher risk criminals, is to keep them in jail.
The thing is, unless we are going to lock people up and throw away the key, they are going to be back in the community sooner or later. It makes intuitive sense that if that is the case, sooner is better.
In fact, only 13 per cent of people who are remanded are ever sentenced to longer term custody. The rest are found innocent; given credit for time served; or receive a community, conditional or intermittent sentence.
The good thing is Saskatchewan knows it has a problem. In 2015, the Province established a provincial remand steering committee that identified five broad areas for review: external consultant interviews; a validated police risk assessment tool; administrative practices and processes; data analysis; and community alternatives to remand.
Ultimately it is all about managing risk. This is addressed in the Ministry of Justice plan for this fiscal year which seeks to: develop a validated remand risk assessment tool for police; implement interventions to reduce the use of short-term remand, including short-term residential placements, early case resolution on weekends, and weekend case management for those who can be effectively managed in the community; and implement processes and practices to reduce time to trial and sentencing for accused individuals who are spending significant time on remand.
For part of that Saskatchewan is looking east for inspiration. Four years ago, Manitoba developed a remand diversion program. Run by the John Howard Society, the program places medium- to high-risk inmates awaiting trial in a residence where they participate in programming.
If they prove trustworthy, they are released into the community until their case is heard in court.
It has been proven time and again that a high rate of incarceration does not reduce crime.
Furthermore, it is way too costly. Last year the daily prison population grew by 160 inmates over 2015 at a cost of $10 million.
