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| Correctional service seeks to stem 'revolving door' |
| By montrealgazette.com - Douglas Quan |
| Published: 09/06/2011 |
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The Correctional Service of Canada has quietly rolled out two pilot programs in the past year — one in British Columbia and one in Ontario — with the aim of stemming the "revolving door" of inmates with mental disorders who repeatedly get transferred between prisons and regional psychiatric facilities. Canada's corrections watchdog says the programs are a step in the right direction but need to be expanded nationwide. Currently, the correctional service gets funding from the federal government to provide primary or basic mental-health care support at all its institutions, as well as funding to provide intensive treatment for offenders with the most serious mental illnesses at one of five regional treatment centres. However, there is no direct funding to support inmates who fall somewhere in the middle — those who don't meet admissions criteria at regional treatment centres but who still have complex mental-health problems or who engage in risky behaviour. As an "interim" measure, the correctional service launched two pilot programs in November, according to details contained in a briefing note sent from corrections Commissioner Don Head to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews in January. At the Kingston Penitentiary in Ontario, a 30-bed Intermediate Mental Health Care Unit opened to provide a "structured therapeutic yet secure environment" for male offenders with a range of mental health needs. And at the Pacific Institution/Regional Treatment Centre in Abbotsford, B.C., a 10-bed Complex Needs Unit opened to specifically help treat male offenders from across the country who repeatedly self-injure. Both pilot programs, which cost an estimated $5 million annually to run, are scheduled to last 18 months. Howard Sapers, the correctional investigator of Canada, said these initiatives are important first steps in helping to bridge a serious gap in the "continuum of care" for offenders with mental disorders. Intermediate care units, he said, can help stabilize a person and decrease the likelihood that they will need to be sent for more intensive treatment at a regional psychiatric facility. They also can help someone who has been discharged from such a facility transition back into the general inmate population. One case that Sapers' office investigated recently involved a 28-year-old inmate who died in the spring of 2010 from medical complications from years of self-inflicted injuries. The man was transported to different treatment centres in an attempt to treat his chronic self-injury but to no avail. The correctional service wrote no fewer than eight investigation reports about his behaviour. Read More. |
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