Frequently Used Terminologies used in Correctional Services
Adult Inmate – An offender (18 years or greater) who has been sentenced to serve time in an adult institution.
Appellant – Accused individual who has appealed his/her conviction.
Custodial – Having to do with being in a Correctional Centre
License – This is an act of releasing a ward prior to his/her Order being fully served based on the ward’s evaluation (mental, academic, behavioural)
Maximum Security – An institution where the movement of inmates within the institution is drastically reduced and the outer parameters of the institution reinforced.
Non-custodial – Having to do with the Probation side of Corrections.
Offense – An act that is considered illegal under the law.
Open Security – An institution where the inmates are supervised in a minimum-security environment.
Probation Order – A sentence that stipulates that the offender “repay his debt” without being sent to a confinement institution.
Reception Institution – The Adult Correctional Centre where a sentenced offender is assessed before being assigned to an open or maximum-security institution.
Recividist – A repeat offender
Remand – To hold an individual in confinement and try him/her until he/she is sentenced/released
Sentence – Ruling handed down to an offender to “repay his/her debt to society”
Unfit to plea – Individual not fit to stand trial
Ward – Offender being under the age of 18