Canada has 14 distinct correctional systems: one Federal and 13 Provincial and Territorial. Correctional Service Canada (CSC) comes under federal jurisdiction, and therefore has facilities across Canada. This is where prisoners with sentences longer than two years, including life sentences, are placed.

Ten correctional systems fall under provincial jurisdiction,while three are the responsibility of the territories. These systems are for defendants awaiting trial, prisoners serving sentences of less than two years, and others, for example, those whose immigration status is an issue.

The correctional systems vary a great deal. However, the Criminal Code applies to all of them. The costs and available resources for the prisoners are not all the same. The CSC has a much larger budget than the other correctional systems. At times, someone may ask for a more severe sentence in order to be sent to a federal penitentiary rather than a prison.

There are two main types of incarceration facilities:

• provincial and territorial prisons, where prisoners are housed while awaiting trial (defendants) and those who have been sentenced to less than two years of imprisonment. The defendants are kept separate from the sentenced prisoners;

• penitentiaries are run by the federal government: they are managed by the CSC. They are classified according to their level of security: minimum, medium, maximum, even super-maximum. Some facilities have different levels of security. There are also detention centres reserved for migrants. However, some migrants may be placed in a provincial prison.

Community Correctional Centres (CCC) and healing lodges support the social reintegration of Aboriginal offenders into the community. The CCCs are community-based prison facilities, as the prisoners are under the supervision of corrections officers. The security level is low.

Transition Houses or Community Residential Centres (CRC) are privately run. There is a minimum of physical control.