Episode 1: Good work

Episode 1: Good work

You know, when you talk to people outside of this, the world of corrections, who really often have very little idea of what we do here, it's not an uncommon response is oh, that must be really brutal, that must be terrible, or that must be so hard. And, you know, my response is always surprisingly, you know, so much of what we do here is actually positive, right?

We're here to support people in their journey of reintegration into the community. I don't spend my days thinking about the people that, that where a warrant was issued and they were returned to custody and they went to the Parole Board, and the Parole Board revoked that release and returned them to custody. I mean, those things certainly happen. Those are tough moments for everybody.

And sometimes they're important moments in terms of the protection of the community. But largely what I reflect on and what I think of most often in this work is the successes. And we have those cases where people maybe they're under supervision for a very protracted period of time and in the early years of their release, they struggled a lot.

They were back in prison. They were out again. They were back in prison. They came out again. And then something, the switch flips for that person. And they're just, for whatever reason, that person is ready.

They have the right kind of support at the right time, and they're just ready for change, for genuine change. And when you see that, that's very gratifying.

For most offenders, prison only represents part of their sentence. At some point, most will serve a good portion of their sentence under supervision in the community. While Correctional Officers supervise inside institutions, Parole Officers take on that role for offenders in the community.

 

GOOD WORK

Today, we're following Jordan, a Parole Officer in Sault Ste. Marie, and Ian, a Parole Officer Supervisor in Thunder Bay, on their shift supervising offenders.

It's 8:00 a.m., and Jordan and Ian are ready to start their day. Their job? Make sure the offenders they supervise are following the rules and are on the right track to being productive members of the community. Parole offices in rural areas have unique challenges compared to more urban settings. In Sault Ste. Marie, Parole Officers manage a geographic area covering 64,000 km².

That means Parole Officers are responsible for any offender released in this area. The Thunder Bay Parole Office has an even larger region. As the Parole Officer Supervisor, Ian and his team supervise the entire area. Supervising offenders in remote areas requires careful planning, especially during the harsh winters.

Today, Jordan and Ian have five offenders to check in on. Ian's offenders live in the Thunder Bay area, whereas Jordan is driving about 2.5 hours east to the small town of Elliot Lake, where some of his offenders live.

So, I do have some individuals on parole in Elliot Lake that I need to see today, so we're going to be driving out to meet with them and complete some home visit check‑ins. So, I have three visits scheduled today.

As Jordan and Ian drive to their first check-ins, let's look at how and why offenders are released in the first place. Most of the offenders they're checking in with today are on full parole. When offenders are on full parole, they're usually allowed to live on their own or with a friend or family member. They get checked in on by a Parole Officer. How often depends on what level of supervision they’re assigned.

Yeah, various key ratings are looked at to figure out what the level of supervision is going to be. Our highest level of supervision that we get is level ISP, which is eight times a month. So, typically twice per week. But the next one down is level A, which is once per week or four times a month. And then under that, you’ve got level B, which is twice a month. Level C, which is once a month. Level D, which is once every two months. And level E, which is once every three months. As individuals on parole progress in their sentence, even while they're on parole, they may be reassessed and have their level decreased based on their behavior and their progress.

Jordan's first stop will be with Jared, an offender who's at level A. He was just released from a medium-security prison a few weeks ago and has been living with a family member since.

They're coming from a medium prison.

They were in custody for quite some time. This individual in particular was in provincial custody for quite some time prior to their sentencing. So, the offences were violent in nature and they involved the loss of life of the victim.

Jared wasn't granted parole. Instead, he was released on what's called a statutory release. When offenders have reached two thirds of their sentence, they automatically get to serve the last one third of their sentence in the community.

Hey, man, how's it going?

Long time no see.

Long time no see.

It's an opportunity to determine if everything is going well, and to get a sense of any challenges they're facing in adjusting to life outside of an institution. After having gone through the correctional system, Jared's looking forward to getting his life back on track.

And I'm not so naive as to think that there won't be challenges that come about. I know I'm in a good headspace right now, but there's obviously going to be things that happen that you don't expect that can affect these things. So, I was at a position where I was like, okay, it's time to turn things around and really make a difference.

And so, I think that adds to my positive mindset and success as well, right?

100 per cent

It's one thing I really learned in there is life's very short, man. And you never know when your time's up or when your loved ones are, their time's up, right.

It’s only been a couple of weeks now. Yeah, my foster mom picked me up with my sister. We drove back up, stopped in Sudbury, did a parole check-in there. We got back here late in the night, and then my weekly check-ins with Jordan began, so. I think it's overwhelming a little bit, but it's a good overwhelming.

But there's also a lot of things, stressors that I realized I had, and maybe even triggers that I didn't know I had or didn't know to expect. And of course, coming back home, I worried a lot about old associates or running into people that might spark unwanted conversations. But honestly, being on parole kind of gives you the perfect out of those situations.

So, being able to just kind of tell people, listen, man, I'm at a sensitive point in my life. I'm on parole, I'm trying to structure my life, so I can't be getting into this, conversations and hangouts. So, it's a good excuse to get away from people, right? So, Jordan's, he's patient, you know, and he's very encouraging, and I can see that he's consistent with doing the right thing.

And he does want to help me, right? So, I know that any advice or anything he gives me is to point me in the right direction.

Jordan calls ahead to his next offender to let them know he's on his way.

Hey, I'm about five minutes away. You home?

Yeah, the side door is unlocked. Just come on in.

Okay, sounds good. I'll be there shortly. Bye.

As he heads over, Jordan reflects on his conversation with Jared.

So, we had our frequency of contact community visit.

I checked in to see where he's at, how he's been doing over the past week since our last meeting, as well as just discussed his goals at this point in time. Yeah, overall, he seems to be doing well. He seems to be motivated. Risk remains manageable, and hopefully, he stays on a positive path from here.

Meanwhile, Ian's heading to his first visit.

Ian

And we're heading over to Port Arthur now. It's about 15 minutes to get over there. Heading over to see Jack, who's been on parole here in Thunder Bay since 2018. And then after three years on day parole, he transitioned to full parole.

If you're serving a life sentence, you are under the supervision of the Correctional Service of Canada for the remainder of your life.

And so, there is no scenario under which a person would no longer be supervised. So, it doesn't matter if you're serving a life sentence and you've been in the community for 20 years, you are still under supervision. Now, you may have earned a reduced level of supervision and level of intervention that I was talking about. So, level E is the lowest it goes.

Hello, Jack.

How are you?

I'm doing well. How are you?

Jack's first matter of business is a travel permit for him to visit family in Winnipeg. When on parole, any travel must be pre-approved and monitored by the offender's home parole office.

So, this is heading to Winnipeg in a couple weeks time? Three weeks time? Yeah. Okay, well, I'll look at that when we get back to the office. I'll process that and then we can see each other again before you go, and I'll provide you with the permit. So, good. Okay. Yeah. Sounds good. Otherwise, life is, stress levels, good? Yeah.

Yeah. I've got to the point in life that there's not much to stress me.

That's good. Yeah.

I’m comfortable living here. And kids are good. And grandkids are all good, so. Yeah, no, it's…

Well, not much stresses Jack these days. That wasn't the case when he was first brought back home.

I got back here on a Friday, early in the morning. I took the overnight bus just to get here in the time where I could have get something done during the day. And I spoke to my two daughters that lived here, and I said, look, I said, I want the weekend by myself. I just, get back into recognizable places and getting out amongst people just with the idea of, hey, I can, you know, and I can go.

And yeah, I found it very emotional. It just happened that day, I was walking along and I forgot that there was a country market here on Saturdays in the summer. So, I went in and it was just being with people who were enjoying themselves and happy to be there. It was different. I don't know what I expected, but it certainly wasn't that.

It was so different from what I had spent pretty much in the last seven plus years type of thing. But I got over it, you know, and very shortly I was able to take advantage of some of the things I could do, even though, you know, there was restrictions. I had curfew and that. It was a gradual adjustment, but I didn't have any issues other than my own emotional moments. The fact that my family was there for me, and it always has been, makes a big difference.

All right, Jack.  Good to see you. Okay. See you soon.

As Ian wraps up his visit with Jack, he gives a call ahead to his next stop, a woman offender nearby.

Just letting you know we’re on our way.

Okay. How long do you think you'll be?

Five, five, ten minutes, maybe.

In Jack's case, after committing the crime, he immediately turned himself in, was arrested and given his sentence. But it's not always that straightforward. In some cases, an individual may not realize they committed a crime until many years after the incident. That's what happened to the offender Ian's visiting next. A wife and mom of young children who a few years ago received a knock at the door from police.

She was arrested for crimes of sexual nature that occurred over a decade ago.

So, my federal sentence started on December 1st, 2023. I was granted day parole in the end of June 2024. So, I was on day parole supervision up until almost the end of November. I had requested an early return home to do what's called day parole – other. And then they finally granted that, I don't know, a week before my day parole was up. And then I've been on full parole since then.

Victims and the families of victims experienced trauma from the actions of offenders, but what is sometimes forgotten is that offenders and their families can also be traumatized from the incident and their experience in the correctional system.

So, I put my kids on the bus that morning, and then I didn't come home. So, for me to come home this time and to be like, okay, no, I got to leave again. Well, that was retraumatizing for them.

Parole Officers have to keep this in mind when working with offenders.

So, I just, yeah, I struggle trusting now. And trusting that this is not going to happen again and come, you know, it's been 20 years. Come and blow up my life.

And while offenders may reach the end of their sentence, there are impacts that can last a lifetime.

It's a life sentence, though. I'm on that registry for my life in Ontario, which, I mean, that's checking in once a year. That's them coming to my house once a year. That's me telling them if I move, if I change jobs, you know, whatever else is on that list of things. And it sucks because I never thought in a million years I would have a criminal record.

I am a very by-the-book rule follower. So, this has been a hard adjustment. And I still have the registry. I still have ten years of condition, other conditions that I have to follow.

But despite these challenges, this offender finds ways to cope, and Ian helps keep her focus on the road ahead.

But I still have other things going on. I'm pretty good at putting it aside, like putting all the trauma aside until I have to deal with it. But if something comes up, like the Parole Officer messages me, or I get an email from my lawyer, or, you know, then I get into right away, I panic. But I'm, one of my strengths is hyperfocus.

So, when I'm sitting at my desk and working, I'm really good at, you know, ignoring everything else in the world. And the kids keep me busy outside of that. So, there's that. Self-care has been super important. I go out for lunch with my girlfriend once a week. I don't flake on that. These are things that I didn't do before I went away, but definitely things I do now to try and, you know, bring some joy, I guess, if you want to call it that. And really focus on those joy, little joy moments.

Hi, Debbie, it’s Ian.

Oh, hey, Ian.

What's up?

So, I'm just calling you to let you know that we're done and we're heading back to the office now.

As Ian heads to his next check-in, Jordan pulls up to his next meeting in Elliot Lake.

Jordan's now visiting a lifer who's been living in the community for eight years.

No alcohol, no wild women.

No drugs?

No drugs.

While many offenders want to return to their community, that isn't always the case. Sometimes it's better for the offender, and for victims, for the offender to live elsewhere.

I always had an eye open for this area. I wasn't going back to Windsor. Stay away from the people that are still in the game, say. I was in a club in Windsor for quite a few years, so.

Staying in Elliot Lake helps him stay away from gang activity he used to be affiliated with.

I was streetwise before I went to jail.

When you go to jail and everything, you become more streetwise. If I see the patch, I walk the other way. I don't even give a damn if they’re Christian Riders.

As time goes on, offenders get into a more regular routine, and Parole Officers can decrease the level of supervision with good behavior or increase it if things change.

He's now at a level C, meaning he gets checked in on once a month. Eight years in, there's less focus on programming and more on maintaining a normal routine.

Yeah, I just, I just live my life. I live alone. My landlord and I get along good.

Stay out of trouble, stay clean.

As Jordan heads to his next visit, overall, he's satisfied with how he's doing. Jordan's last visit is back at the parole office. After seeing offenders at the beginning and midpoint of community supervision, he ends his day with Daniel, who's just two weeks away from the end of his sentence, meaning he'll be completely free from supervision.

So, March 16th at midnight, I am officially off parole. I've completed everything. I'm ending on a very positive note. I've had all clean drug tests. I have a very good report put together there. And it feels really good to accomplish that and be in school, you know, moving forward with my life and actually ending the way I'm ending with it.

I'm proud. I'm happy. I'm relieved.

I'm anxious. You know, the closer it comes, it's like hard to believe that, you know, I'm like, I did it, and I ended on such a positive note. But, you know, if I can do it, like, anybody can do it. You know, once I finish school, planning on getting a good job, I've got a couple places looking to hire me.

People, places and things is definitely something you got to get a hold of because the crowd you're in, you know, the places you are, and the things that you're doing really have a lot to do with who you are in that life. And, you know, trying to better yourself, like, you can't do it when you're around bad people. You can't do it when you're around bad places.

What's motivated me a lot is the fact that, like, at one point, people were looking at me as a very bad person, you know, thinking I wouldn't amount to anything after everything that I did. And a lot of the drive for me is showing everyone that, you know, just because you made some bad decisions doesn't define you as a person.

As Jordan concludes his day, Ian heads back to the office to wrap up his.

I like to think that we are in a position to be able to support people. Often when people ask me about this work, I say, well, I'm in a position to help people that need help. And while at the same time keeping the community and the safety of Canadian communities at the forefront of everything that we do. So, you know, that's good work, and to be able to do that. And so there's lots of successes.

And generally, our relationships with our parolees are really positive. It's really more about, okay, how are you doing? What's going on for you? What level of support do you need? You know. Are you abiding by your conditions? And let's see this through and get you to the end of your sentence so that we can shake your hand at the end of this and say don't come back, right?

And so that tends to be how I frame my days and how I feel about the work that I do here.