Admin support staff are often alone in the
probation office and deal with difficult
clients. Members of the public are
frequently not happy and tend to take it
out on the first people they encounter. I
have a great deal of respect for people in
admin support who are in these higher risk
positions.

In family offices as well, there’s a high
degree of emotional charge when children
are involved and there are custody and
access issues. The administrative support
staff in these situations are vulnerable, and
probably don’t get the recognition they

deserve.

People don’t know the risk they assume
every day at work, or the abuse that is
sometimes directed at them. An
administrative support position is not
always typing and answering the phone. It
takes a special person to deal with people
who are irate.31

Terminal temporary absences

Adding to the pressure of overcrowding in
correctional centres, there was political pressure
to spend less. The Branch responded to these
concerns in 1993 by releasing offenders serving
short sentences (seven days or less) for
defaulting on a court-ordered fine. These
releases were called terminal temporary
absences.

This type of temporary absence release, with
conditions, was not unusual, Such a process had

been around since the late 1980s. However, the
Branch’s action recetved negative media
attention. This was because offenders were
being placed in the community through the
temporary absence process without also being
placed on the electronic monitoring program.
Ironically, many higher risk offenders were
already in the community on probation and
other court orders.

Implementation of the electronic monitoring
program (EMP) began in 1987. The
Corrections Branch used EMP as a
classification option, While electronic
monitoring was not a sentencing option for the
courts, recommendations from the court were
strongly considered. Offenders were placed on
the program if they met the criteria, but
exceptions could be made with the approval of
a regional director.

Initially, this program targeted the intermittent
population (inmates serving their sentence on
weekends in jail) and offenders whose
sentences did not exceed 90 days.*’ The criteria
were later expanded to include offenders
serving continuous sentences of up to four
months,

Integration of parole and temporary
absence EMP

For some time, attempts were made to reduce
overcrowding in prisons by moving offenders
into community supervision. These efforts
re-ignited controversy about the authority to
make releasing decisions.

31 “Interview: Shirley Maniec in recognition of administrative support staff,” CorrTech Quarterly #24, Spring 2000,

pp. 6-7.

32 L. Neville, Evectronic Monitoring System for Offender Supervision, EMS Pilot Project Evaluation, Province of British Columbia,

Ministry of Solicitor General, 1989.

200

Corrections in British Columbia