Inside Education December 2000

Program Accreditation: Conclusive Results
Reproduced with Permission from the Correctional Service of Canada,
Let's Talk, Vol 25, No. 2

The Correctional Service of Canada's (CSC) Management Committee has approved the program accreditation design and implementation plans. The Committee ensures that the programs delivered by the Service meet the highest possible standards and are efficiently implemented.

In his latest report on the CSC, the Auditor General wrote the program accreditation has had a beneficial impact on our work with offenders.

The review panel experts have also led consultations on various components of the Cogntive Skills Program; the content of a high-intensity substance abuse program; a national, moderate-intensity sex offender program; and a national, moderate-intensity violence prevention program. An international consultation was held to determine whether the accreditation process could be adapted to programs for women offenders. As a first step, the National Accreditation Panel, chaired by Gerry Hooper, Assistant Commissioner, Performance Assurance of CSC, reviewed the results of an examination involving twenty-seven institutions that deliver programs. The following institutions have been accredited for a three-year period:

For Cognitive Skills Program
Pittsburgh, Ferndale, William Head, Rockwood, Riverbend, Beaver Creek, Bath, Drumheller, Montée Saint-François, Frontenac, Dorchester, Westmorland

For the Anger and Emotions Management Program
Pittsburgh, Ferndale, William Head, Rockwood, Riverbend, Beaver Creek, Fenbrook, Drumheller, Frontenac, Dorchester, Westmorland

For the Offender Substance Abuse Pre-Release Program
Pittsburgh, Ferndale, William Head, Rockwood, Riverbend, Beaver Creek, Bath, Fenbrook, Drumheller, Frontenac, Dorchester, Westmorland

Meanwhile, CSC has continued to work with the two other correctional services that operate an accreditation program: Her Majesty's Prison Service of England and Wales, and the Prison Service of Scotland. We have also shared information with the corrections departments of several U.S. states and consulted with the International Community Corrections Association, the American Probation and Parole Association, the National Institute on Corrections, and the State of Iowa.