Victims have the option to participate in hearings before the Ontario Parole Board and the Parole Board of Canada. Note that victim is a broad category that refers to any individual who has suffered physical or emotional harm, property damage or economic loss as the result of the commission of an offence. Victims can attend hearings, and they can also make a statement to the Board. Statements may be given orally, through written submissions, or...
Prisoners who are granted parole by the Parole Board of Canada (i.e. prisoners serving sentence of 2 years or more) or the Ontario Parole Board (i.e prisoners serving sentences of less than 2 years) must abide by any conditions imposed on their release. Some conditions are standard for all prisoners on parole, but other conditions may be imposed to address a prisoner's particular risk factors. If a prisoner on parole breaches a condition, then...
Accelerated parole review ("APR") is a simplified parole review procedure for federal prisoners. It was repealed several years ago, but prisoners may still be eligible if they were sentenced before March 27, 2011. Generally, prisoners have an in-person hearing before the Parole Board of Canada to be considered for parole, but APR reviews are done on a file review. An in-person hearing is only conducted if parole is not granted after the file...
Under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, prisoners can be granted parole "at any time" if certain criteria are met. Parole by exception can be granted if a prisoner: is terminally ill, is likely to suffer serious damage to their physical or mental health if continued to be incarcerated, is experiencing excessive hardship that was not reasonably foreseeable at the time of sentencing, or subject to an order of surrender under the...
Correctional authorities are responsible for the health and safety of inmates. This is a statutory duty of Correctional Service Canada (for federal inmates) and the Ministry of Corrections (for provincial inmates). Outbreaks in correctional institutions across Canada raise the issue of whether institutions are doing enough to protect inmates, as well as what can be done when institutions fail to protect prisoners. In Latham v Canada, 2020 FC...
Since the pandemic began, we've been making the argument that COVID-19 is relevant to parole decision-making. Recent case law has confirmed that the Parole Board of Canada and provincial parole boards are expected to consider the impacts of COVID-19. According to the Parole Board of Canada's website, the Board now agrees that COVID-19 may be considered as part of the Board's legal obligation to consider all relevant available information related...
Prisoners have their day and full parole eligibility dates calculated at intake. These eligibility dates are generally the earliest the Parole Board of Canada will release a prisoner. However, prisoners can also apply for parole by exception if: a) They are terminally ill; b) Their physical or mental health is likely to suffer serious damage if the offender continues to be held in confinement; c) Continued confinement would constitute an...
In response to COVID-19, many community residential facilities (aka halfway houses) are implementing policies and house directives that limit residents' curfews, leave privileges, and access to the community. A prisoner granted parole or released with a residency condition (on statutory release or on a Long-Term Supervision Order ("LTSO")) is required to follow house rules. Failure to follow house rules, no matter how restrictive they are, could...
In response to COVID-19, Correctional Service Canada has suspended in-person visits across the country, which includes visits with legal counsel. It's unclear how long this measure will be in place. In the meanwhile, CSC has put in place interim measures to allow prisoners to access counsel. These include: Allowing prisoners to add toll free numbers for lawyers' offices on their phone card; Allowing prisoners to exceed the cap of 40 numbers on...
In R v Morgan, 2020 ONCA 279, the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed a sentence appeal brought during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Court clarified that COVID-19 is relevant to parole decision-making, at paragraph 12: "That result does not mean that there is no potential remedy for the appellant respecting the impacts arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. We expect that the Ontario Parole Board will take into account those impacts in deciding...
