Correctional Service Canada plans to cut library technicians and employment co-ordinator positions in federal penitentiaries, a move critics worry could affect inmate recidivism and reintegration.
Federal budget cuts means the department needs to come up with over $132 million in savings over the next three years, as the government plans to slash the public service. Correctional Service Canada (CSC) alone plans to cut over 400 positions, through means including workforce adjustment and career transitions.
The unions representing library technicians and employment co-ordinators say those jobs account for just under 50 of the positions to be cut.
“In total, these salaries amount to less than one per cent of the correctional services budget, but the consequences will be felt by all Canadians and could end up costing society far more in the long run,” Nathan Prier, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, the library technicians’ union, said in a statement.
The federal department says plans are still being finalized but points to an ongoing effort to “increase online resources” for inmates.
“Many sites across the country have already been operating with a modern library model and without a dedicated librarian on site,” a CSC spokesperson said.
But Catherine Latimer, the executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada, says that in a federal prison system where about 75 per cent of people who enter don’t have a high school diploma or equivalent, in-person assistance is a must.
Library technicians curate reading and research materials to match a prison’s needs and help inmates understand and access research material they may use for educational programs or even their legal cases.
“You’re getting people with limited academic acumen, who are not used to using libraries, who need resource people to get them the information they need,” Latimer said.
But librarians are critical even for people with a post-secondary education, according to former inmate Wendy Bariteau.
Bariteau was a real estate professional and struggled with addiction before serving time. She says the librarian at her institution helped set her on the path of recovery.
“She would go and order books that I needed. Or she would go through boxes and boxes of donations to find the type of self-help books I was looking for, the books that helped me grow,” she said.
On top of that, Bariteau says, the librarian was a rare “piece of the outside” for inmates.
Nearly everyone else she interacted with was “security focused,” while the librarian offered a supportive, human connection, she says.
“If you want to function properly on the outside after, you can’t forget what it’s like on the outside,” she said. “Keeping that piece of the outside was integral to reintegration for me.”
The non-profit Book Clubs for Inmates, which published an open letter protesting the move, points to “vital institutional knowledge” that library technicians hold, like “knowledge of security protocols, inmate learning needs, culturally appropriate collections and trauma-informed service.”
The letter, which will be sent to the public safety minister, calls the cuts “the hollowing out of a core rehabilitative service.”
Community employment co-ordinators, meanwhile, help inmates become job-ready and find employment when they are released.
“This support increases the likelihood of the offender’s safe and successful reintegration,” according to the federal department’s website.
But when asked about these cuts, CSC said the role is effectively redundant.
The cuts will “reduce duplication with what is already available in the community,” a spokesperson said, pointing to the work of non-governmental organizations, Employment and Social Development Canada programs and parole officers.
But the Union of Safety and Justice Employees, which represents the employment co-ordinators, says it’s unrealistic to expect community agencies or external organizations will assume all of their work — like handling complex cases and building relationships with local employers.
It is unclear if the impacted workers will be laid off or moved, but advocates say that either way they worry that these changes will do damage.
Latimer was briefed on the cuts by outgoing CSC commissioner Anne Kelly in February.
She called cutting these roles a “misplaced” way to save money.
“The situation of prisoners is so dire now that any reduction in programs or services is going to be very bad,” she said.
These are not the only changes to the department’s education programs. CEGEP, or junior college, education in Quebec’s federal prisons is also being slashed, a move met with shock and disappointment by educators and inmates alike.
Justin Piché, a University of Ottawa criminology professor whose research includes Canadian prison conditions, argues the cuts will end up costing Canadians more in the long run.
“Canadians will pay the costs by footing the bill for imprisonment and less safe streets,” he said.
