If an essential service such as the police or fire department held out, the public reaction would be immediate. When it comes to public safety, we want things to work.
Just like for halfway houses in Quebec, which supervise and support people leaving a detention facility. Their contribution to society may still be unknown, but it is essential.
However, these organizations are struggling to deliver their services. The reason: the labor shortage, as in many other sectors. This is the case of the only halfway house in Gaspésie, for example, which was forced to close its doors at the end of March due to a lack of staff, and despite all the efforts made to continue operating. This closure amputates the entire region of an important social safety net.
Uncompetitive and often difficult employment conditions, contractual requirements and inflated operating costs make it increasingly difficult to hire and retain qualified personnel, as well as to maintain adapted programs and diversified to people on parole. What would happen if we were to close more halfway houses?
The situation in numbers
This network suffers from the exodus of its professionals to the public sector, with which the pay gap is 29% for the same qualifications. This is the reason given by 89% of employees who leave their position, according to a survey conducted last fall by the Association of Social Rehabilitation Services of Quebec.
Over the past 24 months, the average turnover rate in halfway houses has been 54%. For more than half (56%), it is impossible to offer essential clinical positions a salary competitive with the current labor market. So the pressure increases on the management staff, who too often have to work evening, night and weekend shifts.
In addition to an unprecedented shortage of personnel, we are seeing an increase in the needs of people leaving detention. The increase and severity of mental health, addiction and physical health problems, in addition to cognitive deficits related to the aging of the prison population, are often cumulative and require increasingly specialized intervention and know-how, which don’t improvise.
An equally essential service
Note that the Quebec system is a precursor, and it embodies a humanist vision by advocating social reintegration and rehabilitation rather than coercion. And it works! This is evidenced by the very low rate of recidivism among halfway house residents (1.25%). And once out, these people again contribute to the economy of the country.
For 50 years, these agencies have been a formal part of our justice system and act as a buffer between custody and the community. They are dedicated to the social rehabilitation of incarcerated people by helping them find a job, housing and a positive place in society.
But if we don’t want the quality of clinical follow-up to decline, funding must be commensurate with the real needs of the sector so that, collectively, we can continue to benefit from this essential service. In public security, the funding of detention is always much more important than the funding granted to the follow-up and supervision in the community of ex-inmates. Yet more than 90% of those detained will eventually be released and become our neighbors again.
So, who do you want as a neighbor? A person leaving prison without any support, or a person who will be supervised by a team of professionals to support him in his social reintegration?
*Also signed this text:
Lorraine Michaud, General Manager, CRC Arc-En-Soi, Rivière-Du-Loup and Maria Chantal Lessard, General Manager, CRC ATNQ, Amos
Marie-Ève Théberge, General Manager, Auberge Sous Mon Toit, Granby
Judith Deslauriers, General Manager, Transition Centre-Sud, Montreal
Steeve Thomassin, Executive Director, Montreal Transition House, Montreal
Carl Veilleux, General Manager, Emmanuel-Grégoire Society, Montreal
Geneviève Latreille, General Manager, Maison Joins-Toi, St-Hubert and Granby
Raymond Cotonnec, General Manager, CRC Curé-Labelle, St-Jérôme
Patricia Arseneault, Executive Director, CHC Lafleur, Ste-Angèle-de-Prémont
Claudine Bertrand, General Manager, Via-Travail, Montreal
Diane Tremblay, Executive Director, CRC Le Pavillon, Quebec
Jean-François Cusson, General Manager, CRC Carpe Diem, Laval
Stéphanie Tremblay, Executive Director, CRC Joliette, Joliette
Michèle Michaud, Executive Director, REHAB, Lévis and Vallée-Jonction
Richard Gagnon, Executive Director, Outaouais Specialized Social Agency, Gatineau
Martin Bélanger, Executive Director, Le respite du passer-by, Rimouski
Annie Morel, Executive Director, Crime Prevention Assistance Service, Sherbrooke
Luc Gagnon, General Manager, Maison Charlemagne Corporation, Montreal
André Bonneau, General Manager, CRC Roberval, Roberval
Ruth Gagnon, Executive Director, Elizabeth Fry Society of Quebec, Montreal and Quebec
Luc Bellemarre, Executive Director, CRC Maison Jeun’Aide, Montreal
Valérie Maltais, Executive Director, Canadian Mental Health Association, Saguenay Chapter, Chicoutimi