Years of life lost to incarceration: inequities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.

Eric Druyts,Steve Kanters,John W Farquhar,Akwasi Owusu-Bempah,Edward J Mills,Kabirraaj Toor,Katherine A Muldoon

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-585

Abstract

BackgroundAboriginal representation in Canadian correctional institutions has increased rapidly over the past decade. We calculated “years of life lost to incarceration” for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians.MethodsIncarceration data from provincial databases were used conjointly with demographic data to estimate rates of incarceration and years of life lost to provincial incarceration in (BC) and federal incarceration, by Aboriginal status. We used the Sullivan method to estimate the years of life lost to incarceration.ResultsAboriginal males can expect to spend approximately 3.6 months in federal prison and within BC spend an average of 3.2 months in custody in the provincial penal system. Aboriginal Canadians on average spend more time in custody than their non-Aboriginal counterparts. The ratio of the Aboriginal incarceration rate to the non-Aboriginal incarceration rate ranged from a low of 4.28 in Newfoundland and Labrador to a high of 25.93 in Saskatchewan. Rates of incarceration at the provincial level were highest among Aboriginals in Manitoba with an estimated rate of 1377.6 individuals in prison per 100,000 population (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1311.8 – 1443.4).ConclusionsThe results indicate substantial differences in life years lost to incarceration for Aboriginal versus non-Aboriginal Canadians. In light of on-going prison expansion in Canada, future research and policy attention should be paid to the public health consequences of incarceration, particularly among Aboriginal Canadians.

Highlights

Aboriginal representation in Canadian correctional institutions has increased rapidly over the past decade
It ranks in the middle of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries with an incarceration rate of 117 prisoners per 100,000 population [1]
We calculated the years of life lost to incarceration for these two population groups for the provincial prison system in British Columbia (BC), and the Canada-wide federal correctional system

Summary

Introduction

Aboriginal representation in Canadian correctional institutions has increased rapidly over the past decade. We calculated “years of life lost to incarceration” for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians. Canada has a relatively low rate of incarceration compared to its American neighbours. It ranks in the middle of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries with an incarceration rate of 117 prisoners per 100,000 population [1]. The size of Canada’s federal prison population has increased modestly in the past decade. This increase, has not been uniform across racial groups.

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Results

Conclusion