Episode 6: Behind the Badge part 3 (minimum security)

Ellen: "You can't force change. All you can do is is keep leading that example and leading what the change could look like to them."

Kirstan: Correctional manager Ellen Conner has worked the front lines of CSC for nearly 26 years. She began her career at CSC in a maximum security facility then medium, and now works at William Head Institution, a minimum security prison just outside of Victoria in British Columbia. Every day, Ellen and the thousands of other CSC officers working across Canada strive to create positive change in the lives of offenders, colleagues, and they work to protect our communities.

I'm your host, Kirstan Gagnon, and welcome to Prisons Inside/Out.

Kirstan: On this episode of Prisons Inside Out, we wrap up our Behind the Badge interviews. Today, we finish the series off with an interview exploring what it's like working in a minimum security prison. The lowest security classification at CSC. These facilities may not look like the typical prison, but as Ellen will explain, there's a good reason for that.

Ellen, thanks for joining us today. Just to start out, how long have you been a correctional officer?

Ellen: I've been a correctional officer since 1998. So 26 years this year.

Kirstan: Congratulations.

Ellen: Thank you.

Kirstan: And I know your background was with the Canadian Forces before.

Ellen: That's right. I was 19 years old. I joined the Canadian Navy, and I was there for seven and a half years. I left there on a Friday, started corrections on the Monday. So in total 33 years.

Kirstan: That's wonderful.

I was wondering to in all of your years of service, have you always worked at William Head or at a minimum security facility?

Ellen: No, actually, I started off at the maximum security in Agassi at Kent Institution. I started there and then I went to Mountain Institution and that's a medium. And then I went to Elbow Lake. And Elbow Lake is no longer because Elbow Lake transitioned to Kwìkwèxwelhp Healing Lodge. So I was there when it transitioned. So and then I came to William Head. So I've been at every security class right.

Kirstan: And what would you say are the main differences? I know, um, we've heard a lot about public safety and past months. And sometimes, um, Canadians ask us, well, is minimum security, um, secure for the public? How does that work?

Ellen: So the difference being is that it's this the transition of the individual. So when I was working at Kent, years and years later, I see those same individuals at minimum security now. So it's the transition. When an offender first starts his or her sentence. Um, they go to RAC, right, which is the Regional Assessment Center. And they are interviewed there, looked at their crime, they looked at the criminal genetic factors of what brought them to to this point in their life. And a correctional plan is in place, put in place.

And in that correctional plan is an outline of what they need to address, right? What brought them to jail. And so, you know, if you have an offender that's at maximum security, so he has to address a few factors and get his public safety, um, lowered in order to cascade down. And as it's kind of like, you know, they have to work at that to cascade down to a lesser security. And so as that happens, they're addressing those factors that I just told you they're public safety. So they have to be charged free.

They have to be, you know, upstanding citizens now because things they have to change. But change is hard, right. And so for some it takes longer than others. Some, you know, they come into the institution and they know that they've done wrong right off the hop. Some of them, it takes time, changes hard, right. And it takes time for them to address those factors. What brought them into the jail. Right. And so that's really what the difference is. It's the same individual. It's just depending on what they've addressed at the at that point. Right. As they cascade down.

Kirstan: And you do talk about that cascading and it being really important for kind of a gradual reinsertion into the community, if those offenders are eligible for that in their sentence.

Kirstan: As we were wrapping up our tour with Don, an inmate walked right past the security check in.

Ellen: Yeah. There's lots of checks and balances into that. It's not just like do a program and then you get to minimum security. That does not work that way. Right. There is a lot of checks and balances. And you know what. It's you're assessing human behavior. So sometimes that doesn't work out very well. Sometimes it does. But you know what? It's funny how our population, our Canadian population, they talk about the sensational cases that go wrong. What about all the cases that went right. Nobody talks about those. Yeah. How many offenders have I crossed paths with that are law abiding citizens now in the community? I see them with their families.

Kirstan: And how does how does that feel? Ellen, when you meet someone on the street and, you know their journey, how does that feel? Do they ever say thanks for making an impact?

Ellen: You bet they do. Yeah. They do. Um, yeah. And sometimes it's it's those subtle moments where you're at the mall or something and you see somebody that that has been inside and maybe it's been years. And sometimes it kind of takes me back because I think, how do I know you? Right? Yeah. How do I know you? And then, um, it's usually of, you know, thanks for making a difference. Or you know what? How are things there? You're still there, you know, it's that it's the communication. It's the connect. Right? Because it's they're connected to the past.

But yet I'm not a connect to the future. So it's okay. Right. And it's and to me that's more rewarding than reading the paper or saying, you know, reading about somebody that's that's messed up, right? That's, you know, reoffended or whatever the case may be. Um, but we never talk about those good stories. We never talk about those.

Kirstan: I noticed everybody is very calm as well. Would you say that's really necessary to be a correctional officer?

Kirstan: I had the opportunity to visit William Head and inside it, you know, it's a different experience. For example, when you talked about that gradual progression, you know, we're not seeing cells. It's more about living with a group of other, um, inmates to kind of learn about that sense of responsibility, like cooking your meals together and kind of trying to get prepared for maybe life on the outside. Um, do you want to talk to me a bit about that?

Ellen: Sure. Um, William had we have duplexes, so there's five offenders in each side of the duplex, and it's separated by a fire door on the upper portion. Um, so we empower those offenders to live amongst peers, right? Because in order to be successful in society, you got to get along with people, and there's going to be problems. There's going to be conflict. How do you resolve that? So by living with four others and then in your community with all these different, um, duplexes, you have to learn how to get along and how to work together, come together, be team players.

Some of these offenders have never had that form of reference. And now we're we're empowering them to live amongst each other to get along. They have responsibility of cleaning their house, so they have to figure out who's doing what chores they they get so much money per week, so they have to budget their food. We have a grocery store, they have to order their groceries. This is all you know. It transitions to the community very well because when you're out in the community, you have to go grocery shopping yourself. You have to live within your budget, you have to eat within your means.

And so we're showing them that. We're showing them how to do that, how to um, and they fail. They fall, right? Pick themselves back up. Accountability is a wonderful thing. And to learn to know how to do that right, you're not always going to get it right. But let's keep trying. Let's keep trying until you do. And then that form of reference is there. So yeah, we empower them with living in these these duplexes. There's so many different things going on all the time, but there's checks and balances to all of that, you know? So an offender gets up in the morning, he has a place to go.

And we're going to check to make sure that they go there. Right. Whether it be programs, whether it be work, work supervisors are there to empower, empower through, you know. Don't be late for work. Report to work on time. If I give you a task, have you done that task? And then not only that, it's the education piece. So if you're working for, say, the carpenter, you're going to learn some skills, right? Or maybe some of these guys have never had an education. So now guess what? You're going to school every day. And just like, you know, our teens that go to school, there's checks and balances. Are you showing up? Are you skipping out. Because if you're skipping out there's repercussions for that.

Kirstan: Yeah. And how do you make sure that everybody stays safe, like in terms of the public, if, um, either at a minimum, security institution as a correctional officer, I guess part of your role is making sure that they're accounted for. At the end of the day, they're still in prison, right?

Ellen: Yeah. So there's rounds and counts that happen all through the day and all through the night. And so like I said, it's checks and balances, you know, so if you have an offender. So in the morning a count happens. So everybody's accounted for. And then they get up and go off to wherever their work, you know, whatever they're supposed to be doing that day, whether it be programs, work, community service, work release, whatever is identified for them to do. And then throughout the day, um, the work supervisors, the teachers, everybody is reporting it's not just we forget about them for the day.

There's checks and balances all throughout the day. And then at noon there is another count and then at four another count. So there's counts and rounds and then every two hours there's rounds. So the staff presence is very prevalent. You know, whether it be in the units in the workplace around the facility itself, it's very prevalent. So, you know, it's not like they're free and clear to go for the day.

Kirstan: And what are the types of jobs that someone would do in a minimum security institution?

Ellen: So we have anywhere from: we have a plumber's helper, we have the wastewater treatment plant, we have programs. Which could be a whole wide variety of different things. We've had, you know, the flaggers that are on the roads. We've had flagger courses come in. We've had industrial first aid, um, framing courses. So we're giving these offenders opportunity to have skills like employable skills that when they do get out they can get they can get employment.

Kirstan: And so you talked a bit about some of the challenges, um, you face. But in terms of your job, is there anything that, um, you want to share in terms of some of the bigger challenges of working in corrections, or are they are they all quite manageable?

Ellen: Well, I think there's always going to be challenges. And when it comes to changing behavior, as everything that the theme of what I'm talking about, that's hard for some people, right? And you can't force change. All you can do is, is keep leading that example and leading what the change could look like to them. And some will never buy into that. I honestly believe that someone will just be so entrenched, and that could be a host of different reasons. All you can do is be the change, and hopefully that it's like the ripple effect that hopefully it'll touch you at some point to make you look and go, oh, okay, maybe I can change that now or change my perspective on that. Or I never thought of it like that.

Kirstan: Anything you want to leave with Canadians before we, uh, we close the interview?

Ellen: I think just to think outside of what you're seeing in the media, you know, to think about the day to day stuff and the correctional officers and the staff that that work inside these places that we're trying to make it better. We're trying to make our society as a whole better, you know, um, and don't just quick to, to listen to those sensational stories because there's some really good stories that come out of here, too, some really impactful ones that I think that we just don't talk about.

Kirstan: Well, thanks for spending time with me today again. It's been wonderful talking with you.

Ellen: Thank you for this. I think this is really important that we're doing this.

Kirstan: Absolutely.

Kirstan: Thanks again to Ellen for joining us and sharing her story. This brings us to the final part of today's episode, Common corrections. Today's common correction is: does life sentence mean life in prison? When you hear the words life sentence, you would probably think that equates to a life behind bars, right? Well, in Canada, not quite. All offenders are eligible for conditional release after a certain period of time, regardless of the sentence they're serving.

For those serving an indeterminate sentence for first degree murder, for example, they will have to wait 25 years before being eligible for full parole. For those serving for second degree murder, the judge will set the full parole eligibility between 10 and 25 years. There are also other forms of conditional releases that offenders serving a life sentence become eligible for prior to their full parole eligibility date, like temporary absences and day parole.

However, this doesn't necessarily mean that they will be released back into the community. The decision for release is made independently by the Parole Board of Canada. So just because an offender is eligible for release, it doesn't mean that the release will be granted. Release on parole is never guaranteed. All that to say, someone serving a life sentence will never enjoy total freedom. Even if an offender is granted conditional release, like parole, they will remain under the supervision of the Correctional Service of Canada and report to a parole officer for the remainder of their life. During this time, if they violate the conditions of parole or commit a new offence, parole may be revoked and the offender returned to prison.

That's all for this episode. Thanks again to Ellen, Don, Victoria and everyone else who made this miniseries possible. A big thank you to our correctional officers serving Canadians across the country. This has been a production of the Correctional Service of Canada, and I'm your host, Kirstan Gagnon. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.