Two alternate entry pilot projects were
established in the North and South Fraser
regions in 1978, In March 1979, the North
Fraser Region Reception Centre was developed
to co-ordinate the movement of inmates for
sheriffs, classification programs and other
centres. The centre provided sentence planning,
classification, information on offenders, and
admission of offenders serving three months or
less directly to regional programs from the
North Fraser courts.

In keeping with this trend, a direct entry
program for young offenders was implemented
in May 1979:

Based on the information at hand, it was
the opinion of the Director of Willingdon
that two-thirds of the youths coming into
containment at that time had not met the
admissions criteria as set out in legislation.
In addition, at least that proportion did not
require access to containment through
Willingdon, which is a secure institution.
The Directors of Youth Containment
Programs subsequently discussed the
concept of direct entry to containment
programs, similar to the direct entry model
being utilized for adults in Terrace, and
experimented with, ona regional basis, in
North and South Fraser Regions. A
proposal for direct entry was brought
forward to the May Branch Management
Meeting."3

In January 1982, the Review, Assess, Motivate
and Place (RAMP) program was developed to
improve provincial classification. Its aim was to
motivate offenders aged 17-24 years to function
in a general open camp setting, This

development coincided with an increase in the
availability of open camp programs. In 1983, a
computerized corrections administration
records entry system was installed at the Lower
Mainland Regional Correctional Centre, the
Vancouver Pretrial Services Centre, the
Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre
and the Fraser Region Sentence Management
Unit.

This system was designed to streamline the
admission, transfer and discharge of inmates. It
was also intended to improve accuracy and
internal record-keeping, including visitor
scheduling and sentence calculation. Capacity to
manage alternate entry models and provide
local classification authority improved. As a
result, in January 1984, a decision was made to
delegate classification responsibility to the five
corrections regions in the province. Coinciding
with this development, the Lower Mainland
Regional Correctional Centre Sentence
Management Unit became operational in April
1984,

Programs to improve classification and
sentence management within the province
rapidly followed the decision to regionalize
authority for these responsibilities:

» A caseload classification project was initiated
in four offices of the Fraser Region;

» Several regions established sentence
management and assessment centres;

» Alouette River Correctional Centre developed
a sentence management unit; and

» Vancouver Pretrial Services Centre
implemented a modified assessment program.

13 Corrections Newsletter, Jane 1979,

150

Corrections in British Columbia