Adult and Youth Correctional Statistics in Canada (2017/18)

NOTE: This is a personal blog, any views or opinions represented in this blog belong solely to the CIFFConsulting Team. “WE ARE NOT Psychologists or Therapy Professionals,” all data and information on these blogs is for informational purposes ONLY. In the comments section we are hoping that people can outline their experiences and foster communication that will assist others going through similar events.

The Correctional system provides all the necessary documentation that an inmate will need if he or she wants additional information on any of the subject matter.

How many are in prison in Canada?
In 2017/18, on a given day 38,786 adults and 792 youth (aged 12 to 17 years) were in prison in Canada (Federal & Provincial), for a total of 39,578 prisoners.

Is this number going up?
At 131 per 100,000 population, Canada’s 2017/18 adult incarceration rate is down 4% from the previous year.
Adults in remand (Pre-Trial Detention) continued to exceed those in the sentenced prison population. The rate of those in remand was significantly higher at 47 prisoners per 100,000 population, while those in sentenced prison represented a rate of 32 per 100,000 population.

Is this the same for men and women?
In the last ten years, the number of women admitted to Federal prisons increased 32.3% from 232 in 1998-99 to 307 in 2007-08. During the same time period, there was an increase of 6.6% in the number of men admitted to Federal prisons. As of April 13, 2008, there were 495 women in Federal prisons.
In 2015 there were about 600 women in Federal prisons and roughly 6,000 others in Provincial prisons. About two-thirds of them have children, and many have young children.

What is the average age of prisoners?
The average age upon admission in 2010-11 is 33 years of age (CSC). This is roughly the same for men and women. However, the average age of Aboriginal inmates is lower, 29.
Prisoner age at admission to Federal prisons is increasing. In 2010-11, 12.1% of the Federal incarcerated population is age 50 or over, compared to 8.1% between 2001-02.

What is the literacy/ education level of prisoners?
65% of people entering prisons have less than a Grade 8 education or level of literacy skills.
79% of people entering Canadian prisons don’t have their high school diploma.
Up to 30% reduction in recidivism can be achieved through programming depending on the level of literacy the prisoner achieves.

How many prisoners have mental health issues in CSC?
In 2007-08, 11.1% of individuals committed to Federal prisons had a mental health diagnosis at time of admission and 6.1% were receiving outpatient services prior to admission.
In 2007-08, 30.1% of female prisoners compared to 14.5% of male prisoners had previously been hospitalized for psychiatric reasons.
The percentage of Federal prisoners prescribed medication for psychiatric concerns at admission has almost doubled from 11.0% in 1998-99 to 21.3% in 2007-08.
Female prisoners are twice as likely as male prisoners to have a mental health diagnosis at time of admission.
In BC prisons, in one seven year study, over 30% of the prison population had been medically diagnosed with a substance use disorder. An additional 26% were diagnosed with a mental disorder unrelated to substance use. Among those people diagnosed with a substance use disorder, more than three quarters were also diagnosed with a non drug-related mental disorder (concurrent disorders). Importantly, this does not necessarily include alcohol abuse, fetal alcohol syndrome or developmental disabilities which are not often diagnosed.
In BC, an estimated 80% of female prisoners have received a psychiatric diagnosis.

Are Indigenous adults and youth are overrepresented in custody?
In 2017/2018, Indigenous adults accounted for 30% of adult admissions to provincial/territorial custody and 29% of adult admissions to federal custody, while representing approximately 4% of the Canadian adult population. A decade earlier, Indigenous adults accounted for 21% of admissions to provincial/territorial custody and 20% of federal custodial admissions, indicating that the percentage of Indigenous peoples in custody has increased over the past decade.
In 2017/2018, Indigenous youth made up almost half of youth admissions to custody (48%) in the nine reporting jurisdictions (excluding Nova Scotia, Quebec, Alberta and Yukon), while representing about 8% of the Canadian youth population.

What are the most frequent complaints from people in Federal prisons?
Health Care accounted for 13.5% of complaints followed by Conditions of Confinement (7.9%), and Cell Property (6.9%). Together these accounted for 28.3% of all complaints.

What is the death rate in Federal prisons?
In the ten-year period from 1999-00 to 2008-09, 533 Federal prisoners and 376 Provincial prisoners have died while in custody.
During this time period, suicides accounted for 18.6% of Federal prisoner deaths and 38.3% of Provincial prisoner deaths. The suicide rate was approximately 77 per 100,000 for Federal prisoners, and approximately 71 per 100,000 for Provincial prisoners. These rates are significantly higher than Canada’s 2007 rate of 10.2 suicides per 100,000 people.
Between 1999-00 and 2008-09, 5.8% of the Federal prisoner deaths were due to homicide, whereas homicide accounted for 2.4% of Provincial prisoner deaths. The homicide rate for Federal prisoners was approximately 24 per 100,000 and 4 per 100,000 for Provincial prisoners.
These rates are significantly higher than the national homicide rate of 1.6 per 100,000 people in 2007.

Source: Adult and Youth Correctional Statistics in Canada, 2017/18
(Missing most of Provincial / Territories Statistics due to ‘Unavailability of Data’!)

Federal Prison Statistics (Correctional Investigator’s Report: 2016)
50%: The proportion by which the aboriginal prisoner population in federal prisons grew during the law-and-order Harper years between 2005 and 2015.
The number of aboriginal women entering prisons has almost doubled in that time. About 25% of the total Federal prisoner population of 15,000 in Canada is aboriginal; 35.5% of all women prisoners are aboriginal.

69%: The proportion by which the black prisoner population grew during the same decade.
‘These increases continue despite public inquiries and commissions calling for change and Supreme Court of Canada decisions urging restraint,’ the report states.

One in four: The proportion of prisoner in the federal prison population who are over 50.
That’s one-third more than just five years ago. According to the report, ‘The system has become so risk averse that even elderly, chronically ill and geriatric persons who no longer pose any ongoing or dynamic risk to public safety are commonly held to their statutory or warrant expiry dates.’ The prison population is not only getting older; it’s also getting sicker. About 68% of federal inmates are overweight or obese. That number increases to 90% for those over 65. The average age at death for a federal inmate is around 60 – much younger than the Canadian average of 78.3 for men and 83 for women.

30%: The proportion of women prisoners who were previously hospitalized for psychiatric reasons.
Even more troubling: six in 10 women in the federal prison system are on some form of psychotropic medication to manage their mental health.

Close to 70%: Women in federal prisons who report a history of sexual abuse.
More than 86% report having been physically abused at some time in their lives.

578: ‘Self-injury’ incidents involving women prisoners in 2013-14.
Nearly three-quarters of those occurred at one facility: Regional Psychiatric Centre, Saskatoon. Overall incidents of prison self-injury have tripled in the last decade.

The information presented above were compiled from the following sources:

Adult and Youth Correctional Statistics in Canada (2017/18)
Federal Prison Statistics (Correctional Investigator’s Report: 2016)
womensprisonnetwork.org/Facts.htm