22 Gender and Security Toolkit 1) Women who are classified as minimum or medium security level live in housing units with communal living areas, where they are responsible for daily needs such as cooking, cleaning and laundry. There is a mother–child programme at each women offender facility. 2) Women who are classified as minimum or medium security level with mental health needs and/or cognitive limitations are accommodated in housing units called “structured living environments”. Staff with specialized mental health training provide assistance and supervision. Interventions, structured skills groups and daily activities are provided. Women with additional mental health needs are accommodated at Correctional Service of Canada’s national treatment centres. 3) Women classified as maximum security are accommodated in secure units, where high-level intervention and supervision are provided by specialized staff. Some of these women also have mental health needs and receive specific interventions, including dialectical behaviour therapy and modular intervention. In addition, the Correctional Service of Canada has agreements with several local psychiatric units, and provides a purpose-built “healing lodge” for aboriginal women. The lodge is guided by a “vision” developed by elders during the planning process, and therefore has the acceptance of the community. Sources: Correctional Service of Canada (2002) “Creating choices: The report of the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women”, Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada; M. R. Barrett, K. Allenby and K. Taylor (2010) “Twenty years later: Revisiting the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women”, Research Report R-222, Ottawa, ON, Correctional Service of Canada. 3.5 Policies, practices and programmes promote healthy connections to children, family members, significant others and the community Places of deprivation of liberty embrace the positive influence that comes with the connection of detainees and prisoners with their families. In both policy and practice, institutions promote an approach that emphasizes and facilitates connection with family and the community, and especially with their children. Staff in places of deprivation of liberty are aware of the central importance of contact with children to many parents’ lives, whether those parents are women, men or transgender men and women. Institutions therefore facilitate contact with children, primarily via in-person visits, but also in as many other forms as possible, including telephone, video link, email, letters, etc. Programmes promote healthy positive relationships with the local community, and recognize the gendered pathways to incarceration of women who have previously experienced interpersonal violence. There is awareness throughout the detention system that many women are left by husbands and partners when they spend time in places of deprivation of liberty (whereas men are comparatively more often supported by partners), and therefore policies are designed to ensure women can stay connected to their families as much as possible to minimize and avoid stigma and isolation. Detainees are always consulted as to who is allowed to visit them, including which direct family members. This is especially considered in the case of children who may have experienced abuse and for women, in light of the fact that many women disproportionately experience domestic violence (see Bangkok Rules, Rule 44).