Here we're talking about a standard voluntary transfer, which requires a recommendation from the case management team.
In one of the most common situations, an inmate may wish to have access to services in the language of his choice. For example, an anglophone may want to leave Quebec because there aren't enough English-language services, or vice versa for a francophone. That's a situation that may arise.
In the most common situation, inmates want access to programs corresponding to what's prescribed in their correctional plan. They want access to programs related to their risk factors. In this case, offenders might request a voluntary transfer to a particular institution that offers those programs. Preparing the request is one thing, but they also have to ensure that the security classification of the institution corresponds to the offender's security level.
We therefore have to ensure that the program is offered, that it's given in the right language and that it relates to the inmate's dynamic and crimogenic factors. If that's the case, the case management team must review the inmate's request in order to determine, first, whether the security reclassification scale proposes a corresponding security level. We may have an individual who is in a maximum-security institution and wants to take a program offered at a medium-security institution. We have to verify whether the application of the security reclassification scale supports a transfer to a medium-security institution. We also have to assess the three factors that must be considered in order to allow a downward reclassification of the security level, which are the level of institutional adjustment, the risk to the public and the risk of escape. For each of those three factors, we have to determine whether the risk is low, moderate or high. Obviously, if we determine that the risk is high for at least one of those three factors, the individual will remain at a maximum-security institution.