Editorial Policy

1. Our Editorial Mission

Canada’s corrections framework is split between two levels of government and confuses almost everyone who runs into it for the first time. Federal CSC handles sentences of two years or more; the Parole Board of Canada makes conditional-release and record-suspension decisions. Provincial and territorial corrections ministries handle sentences of less than two years and all remand. Federal and provincial systems run on different statutes, hold different records, have different victim-registration processes, and apply different privacy frameworks to those records.

Our editorial mission is to publish practical, step-by-step walkthroughs — manually verified against the live agency portal — for navigating both systems. The reader leaves a page knowing the right portal URL, the right toll-free number, the right form, and the legal framework that governs the procedure. The reader does not leave with the personal information of any specific inmate, accused person, victim, or witness — that’s not what this site is for.

2. Quality Standards Every Page Meets

• The official agency URL is verified live, with current officeholder where listed
• Toll-free numbers (CSC Victim Notification 1-866-806-2275, PBC Victim Information Line 1-866-789-4636, provincial victim-services lines) are confirmed against the agency’s own page
• Forms (CSC Request for Victim Registration, PBC Decision Registry request) are described from the agency’s own published copy
• The legal framework citation (Corrections and Conditional Release Act, Canadian Victims Bill of Rights, Privacy Act, Access to Information Act, applicable provincial corrections statute) is verified
• The seven-step verification process (below) is followed
• “Last reviewed” date appears on every page
• Anti-doxing and victim-safety standards (below) are observed

3. Source Hierarchy — Six Tiers

Full hierarchy with named sources, URLs, and how each is used is on the Sources & Methodology page.

4. Verification — Our Seven-Step Process

1. Identify the right authoritative source. We start with the federal CSC, PBC, and Public Safety Canada websites for federal procedures, and the relevant provincial / territorial corrections ministry for provincial procedures.
2. Verify the URL is current. Federal and provincial corrections websites get redesigned and migrated. We click through every link before publication.
3. Verify toll-free numbers and forms. Numbers are tested where possible; forms are confirmed against the agency’s published copy.
4. Document the process from the actual interface. Walkthroughs are written from on-screen content, quoted verbatim where described.
5. Cross-check the legal framework. Federal procedures cited to the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, Canadian Victims Bill of Rights, Privacy Act, or Access to Information Act. Provincial procedures cited to the relevant provincial corrections statute.
6. Note current procedural details, fees, and form numbers. Captured with a “last reviewed” date.
7. Editor sign-off and safety review. A second editor reviews the page end-to-end before publication, with specific attention to whether any content could enable doxing, harassment, or harm to victims, witnesses, or inmates.

5. Update Cycles

6. Corrections Process

1. You report it. Email info@jail-roster.org with subject “Correction” and the page URL.
2. We acknowledge. Response within seven business days confirms receipt.
3. We verify. An editor goes back to the official source and confirms the current position.
4. We correct. If confirmed, the page is updated. Substantive corrections trigger a published correction note.
5. We tell you. The reporter is notified once the correction is live.

7. Anti-Locator Policy

8. Anti-Doxing Standards

We do not publish, link to, or facilitate the discovery of:

• Personal addresses, phone numbers, or contact information of any inmate, accused person, victim, witness, juror, or family member
• Personal information of any individual judge, Crown counsel, defence counsel, parole-board member, corrections officer, or law-enforcement officer beyond what they make publicly available in their official capacity
• Identifying information of victims that has been protected by a publication ban under section 486.4 of the Criminal Code or any other publication-ban provision
• Identifying information of any young person dealt with under the Youth Criminal Justice Act in violation of the Act’s publication-ban provisions
• Identifying information of any person whose name is protected by a court order or sealing order

If you are aware of any content on the site that may inadvertently identify a protected individual, contact us immediately at info@jail-roster.org with subject “Privacy concern — urgent” and we will review and remove if necessary within one business day.

9. Victim-Safety Standards

10. Youth Criminal Justice Act Compliance

The federal Youth Criminal Justice Act (S.C. 2002, c. 1) imposes strict publication bans on identifying information about young persons (under 18 at the time of the offence). We do not publish names, identifying details, or any other information that would identify a young person dealt with under the YCJA. Our coverage of youth justice topics is limited to the framework, procedures, and the role of provincial youth corrections / open and secure custody — never specific cases that would risk identification.

11. Bilingual Coverage

12. AI Tools and Authorship

• AI tools may be used for first drafts, summarization of agency pages, formatting consistency, and language polish
• Every walkthrough is run against the live portal by a human editor before publication — AI cannot substitute for live verification
• Portal URLs, agency names, statute citations, and form numbers are confirmed against the official page by a human
• AI-generated text that turns out to misstate a procedure is corrected through the standard corrections process
• We do not allow AI to invent statute citations, fabricate agency procedures, or describe officials who do not exist
• We do not use AI to generate any content about specific individuals, cases, or institutions in a way that could enable identification or harm

13. Editorial Independence

We do not take payment from CSC, PBC, the Office of the Correctional Investigator, Public Safety Canada, the Department of Justice Canada, the National Office for Victims, the RCMP, any provincial corrections ministry, any law-enforcement agency, or any court in exchange for editorial coverage. We do not take payment from inmate communication-service resellers, commissary providers, or any commercial provider that targets vulnerable people in or connected to the justice system.

14. Advertising Restrictions

Display advertisements on the site are screened. We do not accept advertising from:

• Inmate communication-service resellers, telephone-account providers, or commissary providers that mark up vendor pricing to families of inmates
• “Background check” services that misrepresent themselves as official Canadian record-check providers
• Bail-bond services (which do not operate in Canada the way they do in the US — bail is administered by the courts)
• Services that purport to “find” or “locate” a Canadian inmate (no such public-facing service exists in Canada)
• Services targeting vulnerable populations connected to the justice system in deceptive ways

Where any commercial relationship exists, it is disclosed in context per Competition Bureau guidance on online endorsement disclosure.

15. Sensitive Topics

Corrections content intersects with several sensitive areas. We try to handle them fairly:

• Indigenous incarceration. Indigenous people are over-represented in Canadian federal and provincial corrections. We describe CSC’s Indigenous Initiatives Branch, the Healing Lodge framework under section 81 of the CCRA, and the role of Indigenous Community Liaison Officers. We link to the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s reports on the over-representation question without taking partisan positions.
• Mental health in corrections. We describe the framework and link to the Office of the Correctional Investigator’s findings.
• Solitary confinement / structured intervention units. We describe the post-2019 SIU framework under amendments to the CCRA and link to public oversight reporting.
• Capital cases or wrongful convictions. We describe the framework — including the federal Miscarriages of Justice Review Commission (Bill C-40) once operational — without commenting on specific live applications.
• Youth justice. Strictly within the YCJA framework; no identifying coverage.
• Survivors of sexual offences and intimate partner violence. We point readers to the Crown Victim/Witness Assistance Program in their province, provincial victim-services lines, the National Office for Victims, and crisis lines (9-1-1 emergency; 9-8-8 mental health).

16. Reader Feedback

Substantive feedback — corrections, broken-link reports, requests for new walkthroughs — is logged and addressed within seven business days. Feedback that is abusive, threatening, or that requests information about a specific individual is not engaged with and may be reported under our Terms of Service or, where the conduct may be criminal under the Criminal Code, to authorities.

17. Language, Tone, and Accessibility

• Pages are written in plain Canadian English at a level intended to be accessible to a general adult audience
• Acronyms are spelled out on first use (CSC, PBC, OCI, NOV, ATIP, FOIPPA, MFIPPA, FIPPA, FOIP, ATIPPA, RTIPPA, CCRA, CVBR, YCJA, CMHA)
• French-language federal pages are linked where they exist; Quebec corrections French-language pages are linked
• We follow our Accessibility Statement, including WCAG 2.1 AA targets and alignment with the Accessible Canada Act and provincial accessibility laws