Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said Friday he is setting up a panel to review the operations of Correctional Service Canada to ensure the federal prison system is safe for its employees and effective in its programs.

Day said the review, which was allocated $3.5 million in the last federal budget, will assess how the prison system has contributed to public safety.

The review is needed because the Conservative government has made law and order a priority, he said. Its proposed reforms, including mandatory minimum sentences for certain gun and drug crimes, could increase the prison population.

"As we move to mandatory sentencing for serious crime, we do expect there will be some upward movement initially. It's difficult to measure. That's why the review will hopefully give some more insight into that," Day said at a news conference.

"If we need more space, we will have more space."

Rob Sampson, former Ontario corrections minister, will chair the five-member panel. It is expected to produce a report by Oct. 31.

The panel will assess how available and effective existing rehabilitation, mental health and work programs are for inmates, and the quality of its programming for aboriginal offenders, among other things.

Panel will tour prisons

It will also look at the ability of the federal system to deal with parole violations, its plans to enhance services for victims and the challenges it faces in providing a safe and secure environment for correctional staff.

"The end result will be a more effective correctional system and improved public safety," Day said.

The panel, which is expected to begin its work immediately, will tour prisons and consult justice experts, correctional staff and members of the public.

The panel will include former Victims of Violence president Sharon Rosenfeldt, whose son, Daryn, was abducted and murdered by serial killer Clifford Olson in 1981; former Montreal police investigator Serge Gascon; former National Parole Board chairman Ian Glen and Clarence Louie-Oliver, chief of the Osoyoos First Nation in B.C.

Correctional Service Canada manages eight maximum security, 12 multi-level security, 18 medium security and 20 minimum security prisons across the country. It administers sentences involving a term of two years or more as imposed by the court.

It employs 14,500 people, 41 per cent of whom are correctional officers. There are roughly 12,700 federally incarcerated offenders in Canada. One of four federal offenders is serving time for homicide.