Programs that provide educational services for adults or youth who are in correctional institutions. Included are academic and vocational training classes that may focus on basic skills (reading, writing, listening, mathematics), English or French language skills, CAEC or other high school equivalency preparation and testing, life skills, personal and interpersonal skills, vocational skills, and leisure education; may be credit or noncredit; and may be provided in a classroom setting or through alternative delivery methods including correspondence courses, computer education programs and independent study.

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Programs, generally provided by correctional facility rehabilitation staff, that interview inmates who are about to be released from the correctional facility, make an assessment of the services they will need to facilitate their return to the community and provide them with referrals to outside agencies that offer job placement assistance, transportation, lodging, emergency aid or other resources. Pre-release counselling services may also be provided by outside agencies that have a contractual arrangement with the correctional system.

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Programs that work to vindicate and free from prison, inmates who claim to be innocent of the crimes for which they have been convicted and sentenced. The program may secure DNA tests which can be used to identify the perpetrator of a crime (or to establish the innocence of other suspects) when biological evidence has been left at a crime scene, provide investigative services and/or offer legal representation, particularly in situations where there is new evidence or evidence was overlooked or withheld by the prosecution during the original trial. DNA testing is effective on biological material that is decades old and can sometimes be used to prove that a conviction that predated the development of DNA testing was based upon incorrect factual findings.

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