SIU authorizations: April 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024 (Quarterly Report Q1)

Research in brief highlights: National SIU authorization counts increased in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 to 2025.

Note: Quarterly Report Q1 is from April 1 to June 30, 2024.

Number: RIB-24-11

Date: 2025

Alternate format:

Background

Structured Intervention Units (SIUs) were incorporated into the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) on November 30th, 2019. Such units are intended to provide intervention-focused accommodations to offenders who cannot be safely managed in the mainstream offender population. As part of a quarterly series highlighting trends in SIUs, the current analysis examines SIU data drawn from CSC’s data warehouse for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 to 2025 (that is, April 1st, 2024, to June 30th, 2024).

Overview of Authorizations

In Q1 of fiscal year 2024 to 2025:

• There were 745 new authorizations to an SIU, an increase from the past three quarters (the average number of quarterly authorizations in fiscal year 2023 to 2024 was 722).
• The average number of new monthly authorizations in Q1 was 248, representing around 1.8% of the in-custody population.
• Most (95%) authorizations occurred at men’s institutions.

Regional trends

Average monthly SIU authorizations in Q1 represented 2.1% of the in-custody population in the Atlantic region, 3.0% in the Quebec region, 1.7% in the Ontario region, 1.1% in the Prairie region, and 1.2% in the Pacific region. Most SIU authorizations in all regions except Ontario commenced at an SIU site rather than a Restricted Movement (RM) site.^{Footnote 1} In the Ontario region, 72% of authorizations commenced at a RM site.

Authorization reason

In Q1, 53% of authorizations were justified under 34.1 A (security) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), while 45% were justified under 34.1 B (safety). Authorizations justified under 34.1 C (investigation) remained relatively uncommon.

Consistent with prior periods, there was regional variation in regards to authorization reason trends (for example, 34.1 A authorizations were most common in Quebec; See Table 1).

Table 1: SIU Authorization count per month by region, fiscal year 2024 to 2025 Q1

Table 2: SIU Authorization reason by region, fiscal year 2024 to 2025 Q1

^{*Most incidents occurred at Collins Bay Institution (an RM site) and did not result in transfer to an SIU site.}

Discussion

SIU authorization counts increased in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 to 2025; trends remained marked by regional variation. Authorizations remained highest in the Quebec region, with the majority justified under 34.1 A (security) of the CCRA.

Prepared by: The Special Projects and Data Management (SPDM) Team of the CSC Research Branch.