SCENE ONE – Correctional Service of Canada National Headquarters, Ottawa

“CSC is the largest federal employer of psychologists in Canada.
As a CSC psychologist, you will have a significant impact in changing offender’s behaviours and helping them to adopt more positive lifestyles, assisting in their safe reintegration into the community.

CSC psychologists are primarily focused on the assessment and treatment of offenders with mental disorders and on the assessment of their risk to reoffend. Psychologists also develop and deliver programs that help offenders to better understand their behaviour and to develop new ways of coping.

Join a team of psychologists who are world renowned for their contribution to correctional research and for developing programs and interventions that work.”

…..from ‘Health Services’ employment opportunities on the Correctional Service of Canada web site.

Yes, CSC psychologists are primarily focused on the assessment of their (offenders) risk to reoffend.

As for the rest of the profile, put it in front of the men and women locked away in our prisons. Listen for the laughter coming from inside, breaching the high walls, Plexiglas, fences, bars and barbed wire.

Inmates have higher incidents of mental/emotional challenges than the community at large, and it may account for the criminality of many offenders. Despite the potential for positive outcomes, and the demand for help, psychiatric and psychological intervention is sparse, limited, and exclusive.

Again, an example of the difference between policy and practice.

God forbid that Correctional Service of Canada should do anything to reduce the size of the prison population.