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News Release

Communiqué

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OTTAWA, April 7, 2004 - The Health Care Needs Assessment of Federal Inmates Report is being published in the March/April 2004 issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health. This report provides a comprehensive profile of the health status of federal offenders incarcerated in Canada.

The report illustrates the differences between the health status of the general Canadian population and the inmate population in federal penitentiaries. From a health perspective, the report indicates that inmates represent a high risk, high needs population with substantial rates of unhealthy behaviors, infectious diseases, injuries, chronic diseases, mental disorders and premature deaths.

"The report will allow us to better target our interventions and to improve the delivery of health services in our correctional facilities," said Lucie McClung, Commissioner of CSC.

As a result of this report, CSC will improve the information management system of current health services within its federal correctional institutions. An integrated reporting system will provide the opportunity to assemble a more focused health status profile of the inmate population. It will also allow CSC to identify and prioritize the health service needs of the inmate population and to support the improvement of the health status of inmates while they are incarcerated.

For more information, please visit the Canadian Public Health Association's website at www.cpha.ca or contact:

Dr. Françoise Bouchard
Director General, Health Services
Correctional Service Canada
(613) 992-1741

HIGHLIGHTS
Health Care Needs Assessment for Federal Inmates Report

• The Health Care Needs Assessment for Federal Inmates Report provides a comprehensive profile of the health status and needs of federal inmates in Canada. While there have been many individual reports and papers addressing specific inmate health-related issues, neither an inmate health status report nor a profile of health service delivery have been previously prepared.

• Information and health data were collected from a variety of sources - research reports within and outside the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC), inmate surveys, scientific literature, Canadian population data - which allowed to identify and assess the areas where further attention is required, as well as to improve the impact of existing health care services.

• The report illustrates the differences between the health status of the general Canadian population and the inmate population in federal penitentiaries. From a health perspective, inmates represent a high risk, high needs population and their health status indicators are influenced by many social and economic factors.

• The report and its findings will provide the Government of Canada with a basis on which to report on its mandate of health services delivery to the offender population. It will enable CSC to better target its interventions and to appropriately resource them to improve the delivery of health services in its correctional facilities.

• CSC must fulfill its legal obligation to provide quality health services and care for inmates that take into account specific health needs of this population. CSC provides health care services that are consistent to professionally accepted standards.

MAIN FINDINGS

Inmate Population

• The report indicates that federal inmates have a poorer health status compared to the general Canadian population. There are many socio-economic factors that negatively influence health in the inmate population, such as lower levels of formal education, a history of unemployment, previous unstable accommodation and lack of social support networks.

• The provision of health services to inmates is an extremely challenging undertaking. Inmates constitute a highly mobile, high needs population with substantial rates of unhealthy behaviours, infectious diseases, injuries, chronic diseases, mental disorders and premature deaths.

• Male inmates account for 97% of all inmates with the majority of inmates being less than 40 years of age. The number of women inmates admitted to federal penitentiaries has been increasing. Aboriginal inmates are over-represented, comprising 17% of the federal prison population. The population of older inmates has also been steadily increasing, doubling in the past 10 years.

Physical Health

1. Information on health behaviours indicates that inmates are more than twice as likely to smoke and more likely to have alcohol or substance abuse disorders.
2. The rate of several chronic diseases is higher in the inmate population, including:
   1. Diabetes - 40% more likely to be treated for diabetes in males and three times more likely in females;
   2. Cardiovascular conditions - 68% more likely to be treated for cardiovascular conditions in males and over two times more likely in females; and
   3. Asthma - 43% more likely to be treated for asthma in males and almost three times more likely in females.

Infectious Diseases

• Prison inmates experience higher rates of infectious diseases than the general population. They often possess a history of high-risk behaviours, such as injection drug use, trade sex and unprotected sex with high-risk partners, which place them at risk of infection prior to their incarceration.

• Current data is based on self-selected testing of inmates. Neither the actual prevalence of infection nor the rates of transmission within prisons are known.

• Inmates have high rates of injection drug use prior to and during incarceration. They are:
  • more than twice as likely to have been infected with Hepatitis B;
  • more than twenty times more likely to have been infected with Hepatitis C;
  • more than ten times more likely to have been infected with HIV; and
  • much more likely to be infected with Tuberculosis.

Mental Health

• Promoting mental health in a correctional setting represents a challenge since a prison is a difficult environment. Overall, 38% of inmates reported stressful incidents, with maximum security inmates (44%) more likely to feel depressed than inmates in minimum security (25%).

• The intake assessment indicates that a substantial proportion of inmates have mental health disorders that co-exist with substance abuse needs.

• Inmates are more than twice as likely to have had any mental disorder. Males are three times more likely to have schizophrenia and females are 20 times more likely. Inmates are also four times more likely to have a mood disorder.

• Inmate suicide rate is almost four times higher than comparably aged Canadians.