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Correctional Service of Canada

During Question Period, a Conservative member asked about CORCAN, the Correctional Service of Canada’s inmate employment and skills training program, saying it cost $66 million to train only about 1,000 inmates — roughly $62,000 per inmate — and questioned whether the training prepares inmates for jobs. The Liberal minister replied that he had visited many prisons, reviewed CORCAN’s programming, and seen examples of training, such as in construction, that help inmates find work after release.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

2 statements

Scott Reid

Conservative

Linked statement

“The prison job training program spends 66 million dollars to train just over 1,000 inmates. That is 62,000 dollars per inmate, and it only teaches basic chores that will not help them get jobs. Why is the government spending so much money for such poor results?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, CORCAN is the inmate skills development wing of Corrections Canada. Last year, it employed 608 individuals, at a cost of $66 million, to educate only 1,056 inmates. That is an annual per-student cost of $62,000, about half the cost of tuition at Harvard University. What kind of education did the inmates get? They were taught rudimentary tasks like shovelling manure, picking apples and sewing pillowcases, none of which will help them to find jobs upon release. Why does the government allow CORCAN to achieve so little at so great a cost to taxpayers?

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Gary Anandasangaree

Liberal
“Our prison job-training programs work. I have visited many prisons and seen them successfully train inmates, like in construction, so they can get jobs when they are released.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, let me just assure my colleague. I have had the opportunity to visit many prisons in the last year and a half. I have also had a chance to look at the core programming undertaken by CORCAN and the training that is undertaken and given to individuals, and I have had the chance to look at the remarkable success, including from ensuring there is training in construction. Just last month, I had the opportunity to visit an institution in Saskatchewan with Her Excellency the Governor General. We saw the actual impact CORCAN has on individual inmates, and it will prepare them for a life of employment once they get out of prison.

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