Serious question here:
If one is sentenced to "detention" is that The DB in Edmonton?
If one is sentenced to "imprisonment" is that a civilian facility?
"Detention" is a National Defence Act only punishment, there is no detention in the Criminal Code. If someone is sentenced to "detention", they cannot serve it in a civilian jail, prison or penitentiary. It is done in a "detention barracks". Club Ed is a "service prison" and "detention barracks".
Some definitions from the NDA that explain differences.
detention barrack means a place designated as such under subsection 205(1);
penitentiary
- (a) means a penitentiary established under Part I of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act,
- (b) includes, in respect of any punishment of imprisonment for life or for two years or more imposed outside Canada pursuant to the Code of Service Discipline, any prison or place in which a person sentenced to imprisonment for life or for two years or more by a civil court having jurisdiction in the place where the sentence is imposed can for the time being be confined, and
- (c) means, in any place outside Canada where there is no prison or place for the confinement of persons sentenced to imprisonment for life or for two years or more, a civil prison;
service convict means a person who is under a sentence that includes a punishment of imprisonment for life or for two years or more imposed on that person pursuant to the Code of Service Discipline;
service detainee means a person who is under a sentence that includes a punishment of detention imposed on that person pursuant to the Code of Service Discipline;
service prison means a place designated as such under subsection 205(1);
service prisoner means a person who is under a sentence that includes a punishment of imprisonment for less than two years imposed on that person pursuant to the Code of Service Discipline;
Service prisons and detention barracks
- 205 (1) Such places as are designated by the Minister for the purpose shall be service prisons and detention barracks and any hospital or other place for the reception of sick persons to which a person who is a service convict, service prisoner or service detainee has been admitted shall, in so far as relates to that person, be deemed to be part of the place to which that person has been committed.
Who goes where and when.
NDA 220
Committal of
service prisoners
(3) A service prisoner whose punishment of imprisonment for less than two years is to be put into execution shall as soon as practicable be committed to a civil prison to undergo punishment according to law,
except that a committing authority may, in accordance with regulations made by the Governor in Council, order that a service prisoner be committed to a service prison or detention barrack to undergo the punishment or part thereof.
Committal of
service detainees
(4) A service detainee whose punishment of detention is to be put into execution shall as soon as practicable
be committed to a detention barrack to undergo the punishment.
Regulations concerning service prisons and detention barracks are found at
QR&O Vol IV - Appendix 1.4 Regulations for Service Prisons and Detention Barracks
"(3) When a service prison or detention barrack contains service convicts or service prisoners as well as service detainees, the
service convicts and service prisoners shall be segregated in so far as practical from the service detainees."
And the Notes to
QR&O 104.04
NOTES
(A) Although specialized treatment and counselling programmes to deal with drug and alcohol dependencies and similar health problems will be made available to a person serving a term of imprisonment, a member serving a sentence that includes imprisonment will in most cases be considered unfit for further military service. As a result, service prisoners and service convicts will ordinarily not be subjected to the same regime of training that service detainees undergo.
In certain cases, exceptions may be made for service prisoners serving a short term of imprisonment provided that it has either been decided to retain the member or no decision to release the member has been made but the circumstances suggest that retention in the Canadian Forces is likely. A punishment of imprisonment will be considered to be of short duration where the term does not exceed 90 days.
(B) Service prisoners and service convicts typically require an intensive programme of retraining and rehabilitation to equip them for their return to society following completion of the term of incarceration. Civilian prisons and penitentiaries are uniquely equipped to provide such opportunities to inmates.
Therefore, to facilitate their reintegration into society, service prisoners and service convicts who are to be released from the Canadian Forces will typically be transferred to a civilian prison or penitentiary as soon as practical within the first 30 days following the date of sentencing. The member will ordinarily be released from the Canadian Forces before such a transfer is effected.
My reading of the CMAC decision is that it was not clear that the guilty corporal would be released from the CAF; especially since dismissal was "not" part of his sentence. Therefore, it's entirely possible that he could have served that sentence at the CFSPDB as a service prisoner. Now that it's been changed to 30 days detention, hello Edmonton.
The DB was a much busier place in the 1980s. While I didn't visit it as an inmate, we (the BHosp) did have a regular relationship. There was a 6B Med A (what's now called a PA) posted to 14 SPDB; when he was on away (leave, courses, etc), we had to provide a replacement. All the new detainees and prisoners were examined by our MOs as part of intake and the most unusual thing is that a specific in-patient room on our ward was deemed part of the DB for the purposes of holding detainees and prisoners admitted to the BHosp. It had been renovated as a secure, lockable suite.
