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History and overview of CORCAN

History of CORCAN and the evolution of prison industries

Correctional industries play an important role in the daily operation of correctional institutions and the reintegration of offenders to the community. They particularly provide interventions that help offenders to address their correctional plan and meaningful daily activities. The role of CSC’s offender employment program has changed significantly since its start. In the 19th century, prison industry was a punishment meant to reform the misguided. In the early 20th century, it was seen as an important component in the rehabilitative process. Today, the employment and employability program, including interventions and services for offenders, contribute to the reintegration of federal offenders. This has a positive impact on public safety.

The ultimate goal of CSC’s offender employment and employability program is to help offenders to find and maintain employment in the community by building important skills, including providing:

This helps offenders:

The start of prison industries

Prison industries in Canada have been around for as long as penitentiaries have been. In the 1830s, as the population of Upper Canada was growing, so too was the need for increased law and order.

Governments of the day strongly believed that hard work:

As the country built new penitentiaries, each incorporated space for inmate workshops. Several also developed farms to supply food to the penitentiaries, and provide work opportunities to inmates.

In his 1842 work, American Notes for General Circulation, Charles Dickens comments on his travels through North America. He makes the following observations about Kingston Penitentiary during his stop in that city.

"There is an admirable jail here, well and wisely governed, and excellently regulated in every respect. The men were employed as shoemakers, rope-makers, blacksmiths, tailors, carpenters, and stonecutters; and in the building of a new prison, which is pretty far advanced towards completion. The female prisoners were occupied in needlework."

Kingston Penitentiary completed construction in 1835, due in part to inmate labour. At the time, labour was thought to:

Kingston Penitentiary became a major centre for industry in the area. It sold labour services to private businesses, such as cabinetmakers and stonecutters. In addition, farming occurred both inside and outside the walls.

The use of prison labour at the time was not without controversy. Tradesmen in the area were concerned that prison labour would bring about a loss of social status, and hold back economic development in the area.

The construction of penitentiaries continued at a great rate from late 19th century to early 20th century. It also included the creation of shops to employ inmates in a variety of industries, including:

  • farming
  • carpentry
  • machine shops
  • auto repair
  • stonecutting
  • shoe making
  • printing
Dorchester Institution Shoe Shop, circa 1925

Dorchester Institution Shoe Shop, circa 1925

As the correctional system evolved, the focus on labour shifted from a form of punishment toward vocational training and industry as rehabilitation. By 1951, the correctional system determined that social work and psychology were valuable to offenders’ reintegration.

To ease offenders back into society, CSC adopted new approaches to rehabilitation and reintegration throughout the 1960s. By 1966, the Treasury Board approved a plan to integrate vocational training into industrial activity. This new approach allowed inmates to leave the institutions for short time periods for work or to attend school and return to the facilities in the evenings. Collins Bay Institution in Kingston, Ontario introduced the first gradual release program.

During the 1970s, CSC underwent a series of reforms to the correctional system. These reforms saw the death penalty abolished in 1976 and the classification of offenders and institutions according to medium and maximum levels of security.

A new concept

One afternoon in 1960, a man with a lunch bucket in his hand knocked on the gate of the B.C. Penitentiary. He claimed to be an inmate, and demanded to be let back in. The bewildered guard refused to open the gate until he was assured by someone in authority that the man was indeed a legitimate guest of the institution; he was simply returning from his first day at an outside job. Someone had neglected to tell the turnkey about the new program of day parole.

Parole Board of Canada 

The creation of CORCAN

In 1980, CSC launched the CORCAN trademark as part of the CSC correctional industry program. In 1992, the government approved CORCAN as a special operating agency (SOA). Because of this new status, CORCAN began to:

  • strengthen partnerships with private sector firms
  • build capacity for program delivery utilizing revenue reinvestment
  • increase opportunities for other government departments to contribute to priorities through acquiring from or partnering with CORCAN

The result for inmates was:

  • more realistic working conditions and scenarios, and
  • increased responsibilities for both staff and inmates

As CORCAN evolved its operations and practices, offenders:

  • gained valuable trade experience, and
  • learned useful life skills
Mechanical garage at Kingston Penitentiary, 1962

Mechanical garage at Kingston Penitentiary, 1962

1990 to present

CORCAN today

Approximately half of incarcerated offenders have high or moderate employment and/or education needs. CORCAN contributes to offender rehabilitation by providing correctional interventions throughout their sentence including:

Research shows that offenders who find jobs in the community are more than three times less likely to return to CSC’s custody.

Besides other elements of the offender employment and employability program, CORCAN currently provides on-the-job training to offenders in both correctional institutions and community environments. CORCAN-operated industries offer training under five business lines:

Products and services delivered through CORCAN on-the-job training sites generate revenues. CORCAN fully reinvests these revenues in its employment and employability program to:

Learn more about CORCAN products and services at:

Manufacturing

An offender welding a metal frame.
An offender welding a metal frame.

Most of CORCAN's manufacturing shops are ISO-certified and have industry standard machinery and equipment. They successfully generate high volumes of quality-manufactured goods while providing offenders with meaningful employment opportunities and training. They manufacture a wide range of standard products, such as:

Textiles

CORCAN's textile operations use private sector standards and methods. They produce a wide range of high quality textile products in well-equipped, ISO-certified shops. CORCAN provides offenders with opportunities to develop skills in all aspects of tailoring and garment creation. Offenders also learn skills covering a range of complexity, through the production of various items like:

Ship tarp manufactured in the Atlantic Region in 2020.
Ship tarp manufactured in the Atlantic Region in 2020.

In addition to these standard products, CORCAN's textile operations can custom design and deliver products that meet specific client needs, such as our fire retardant fleece blankets.

Services

CORCAN's services line covers a wide variety of on-the-job training activities including:

Construction

At CORCAN construction worksites, experienced tradespeople provide offenders hands-on construction experience and training. Offenders learn by using industry standard equipment and techniques. CORCAN is able to offer a wide range of services that match private sector capabilities and quality, including client-specific designs. Although the projects vary in scope, offenders learn skills in a variety of construction related areas, including:

Partially completed construction framing project.
Partially completed construction framing project.

Agriculture

In 2018, the Government of Canada announced the reopening of the penitentiary farms at Joyceville Institution and Collins Bay Institution in Kingston, Ontario. This was a new beginning for the penitentiary farm program. It incorporates a variety of agriculture activities that represent a broad scope of the Canadian agriculture sector. The program offers meaningful opportunities that support offenders in their rehabilitation and reintegration.

Dairy cows at a penitentiary farm.
Dairy cows at a penitentiary farm.

Offenders may participate in a variety of activities at the two sites, or via micro-incubators or initiatives at other locations including:

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