In his annual report, Correctional Investigator Howard Sapers said changing demographics account for part of the increase.
“Beyond rising inmate counts and costs, Canadians should be interested in who is ending up behind bars. Questions about whom we incarcerate, for how long and why are important public policy issues,” said Sapers.
Sapers said 21 per cent of the federal penitentiary inmate population is of Aboriginal descent, while nine per cent are black Canadians.
“Incarceration rates for these two groups far exceed their representation rates in Canadian society at large.”
He said in the last five years, the number of women in federal prisons has increased by almost 40 per cent, while the number of Aboriginal women has increased by more than 80 per cent in the last 10 years.
“In fact, if not for these subgroups, the offender population growth rate would have flatlined some time ago,” Sapers said.
Sapers flagged the extraordinarily high rates of female inmates who report “self-harm” and who continue to injure themselves or attempt suicide in prison.
He said 50 per cent of federally sentenced women say they have a history of injuring themselves, over half identify a current or previous addiction to drugs, 85 per cent report a history of physical abuse and 68 per cent experienced sexual abuse at some point in their lives.
“The number and prevalence of serious self-injury incidents in federal prisons is increasing,” he said. In fact, they more than doubled in the past five years.
According to Correctional Services Canada data, he said, there were 822 incidents of self-injury recorded in 2010-11 involving 304 offenders, including 54 attempted suicides.
“Women offenders accounted for one-third of self-injury incidents in 2010-11, including 15 attempted suicides. Three-quarters of all incidents occurred in multi-level institutions (regional treatment centres or the regional women’s facilities) and maximum security facilities.
Sapers reports that 104 Aboriginal offenders accounted for 45 per cent of all self-injury incidents.
Sapers said he was particularly concerned by the fact that nearly one-third of reported self-injury incidents occurred in segregation units.
While CSC insists that it must at times use force to manage those who injure themselves, often to preserve life or prevent more serious injury, Sapers said his review calls into questions “strategies that exclusively rely on control measures.”
“In these cases, as the security response ratchets up, the cycle of self-destructive behaviour often repeats itself, becoming more frequent, sometimes more desperate, and, occasionally, even lethal. In other words, in some cases, the measures used to stop or prevent self-injurious behaviour can actually serve to reinforce it.”
As he has in the past, Sapers said the federal inmate population is getting older and sicker. Now, one in five is aged 50 or older.
Those admitted to federal penitentiaries are “more addicted and mentally ill than ever before,” he said.
Sapers said more than a third of all inmates — 36 per cent — have been identified at admission as requiring some form of psychiatric or psychological follow-up.
He said nearly two-thirds — 63 per cent — report they used either alcohol or drugs on the day of the offence they are jailed for.
Sapers said it all adds up to big and complex challenges for Ottawa to provide “safe and secure custody, meet growing mental health and physical health care demands, and respond to the special needs of aging, minority and Aboriginal offenders.”
“These needs often run ahead of the system’s capacity to meet them,” he said.
Quickfacts:
Between March 2010 and March 2012, the federal in-custody population increased by almost 1,000 inmates or 6.8 per cent — the equivalent of two large male medium security institutions.
Expenditures on federal corrections totalled approximately $2.375 billion in 2010-11, a 43.9 per cent increase since 2005-06.
The annual average cost of keeping a federal inmate behind bars has increased from $88,000 in 2005-06 to more than $113,000 in 2009-10.
The annual average cost to keep an offender in the community is about $29,500.
It costs $578 per day to incarcerate a federally sentenced woman inmate and just over $300 per day to maintain a male inmate.
Double-bunking (placing two inmates in a cell designed for one) has increased dramatically in the past two years. As of April 1, 2012, more than 17% of the incarcerated population was double-bunked.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Tonda MacCharles
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