Growing Old Behind Bars: Grey Wave Hits Canadian Prisons

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OTTAWA, ONTARIO, Nov 01, 2011

The 38th Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator was tabled in Parliament today. The report contains a special focus on older offenders - those aged 50 and over - a segment of the prison population that has grown by more than 50% in the past decade.

In releasing his report, the Correctional Investigator, Mr. Howard Sapers, noted that federal penitentiaries were originally designed and built to accommodate younger inmates - not those with mobility and other impairments. As prisons become more crowded, and more offenders grow old behind bars, there are mounting concerns regarding the impact of gangs, drugs, violence and victimization. "There are significant safety, healthcare and security concerns as a result of a growing proportion of physically vulnerable older inmates being housed in crowded, inaccessible and overextended facilities," said Sapers.

As the report documents, an aging offender population presents a number of operational challenges in the correctional context including: physical ambulation and accessibility; independent care and living; palliative care; employment and vocational programming; physical vulnerability and victimization. Aging offenders use a disproportionate share of prison health care services. Treating chronic diseases and degenerative illnesses associated with aging - cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory problems as well as dementia - and retrofitting institutions to make them more accessible to the mobility or sight impaired adds to rising prison costs in Canada.

"Federal prisons are increasingly home to greater numbers of the infirm, the impaired, and the aging. Canada's population is aging so it is not surprising that our prison population is also greying. We need to find better ways to manage this significant and growing, but often overlooked and neglected segment of the prison population," stated Sapers.

The report recommends that the Correctional Service develop a more appropriate range of programming and activities for older offenders that is more relevant and responsive to their unique mobility, learning, assistive and independent living needs, including hiring of more staff with training in gerontology and palliative care. Correctional and vocational programming is geared toward offenders who will be released when they are young. The reality is that older and long-serving offenders are not considered high priority for programming. As Sapers says in his report, "Many aging offenders simply spend long periods of time locked in their cells during working or programming hours. This is not rehabilitative or productive for anyone."

The report draws attention to the fact that parole by exception of a terminally ill offender to the community to die with dignity is a very complicated, rare and lengthy process. A number of terminally ill offenders die in prison each year, even when they seem to meet the exceptional release provisions of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA) or the Royal Prerogative of Mercy. Sapers recommends that the Correctional Service of Canada's (CSC) practices and procedures for preparing terminally ill offenders for 'release by exception' consideration be independently reviewed to ensure deserving cases are treated with appropriate diligence, rigour and timeliness.

In concluding his report's special focus on aging offenders, the Correctional Investigator calls on the CSC to prepare a national older offender strategy in 2011-12 that includes enhanced community supports to facilitate timely and safe reintegration of older offenders who pose no risk to public safety.

Other sections of the report highlight the Office's continuing focus on addressing six key priorities - access to physical and mental health services, preventing deaths in custody, conditions of confinement, issues facing Aboriginal and federally sentenced women offenders and correctional programming. In each of these priority areas, a number of issues of ongoing concern are documented:



-- Over-reliance on segregation, physical restraints and seclusion to
manage self-injurious offenders
-- Non-compliance with voluntary treatment and informed consent principles
-- Impacts and indicators of prison crowding
-- Widening gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offender outcomes
-- Lack of specialized treatment services for women who self-injure





In his outlook for 2011-12, the Correctional Investigator notes that as the federal offender population increases the Correctional Service will be under increasing pressure and scrutiny to provide appropriate, safe and secure custody; meet growing mental health challenges; deliver quality, accessible and credible programs to facilitate offender reintegration, and; respond to the unique needs of women, aging and Aboriginal offenders.

The Correctional Investigator is mandated by an Act of Parliament to be an independent ombudsman for federal offenders. This work includes ensuring that systemic areas of concern are identified and addressed. OCI reports cited in this release are available at www.oci-bec.gc.ca .

BACKGROUNDER

38th Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator

Summary of Issues and Challenges Facing Older and Aging Offenders in Federal Custody

Overview



-- In Canada, and many other jurisdictions, the 50-year old benchmark is
used to refer to aging or older offenders. The literature suggests that
the natural aging process is accelerated by as much as ten years or more
in an institutional (custodial) setting.
-- Close to one-in-five federally incarcerated offenders is aged 50 or
over; 30% of federal offenders in the community are aged 50 and over.
This segment of the offender population has increased by 50% over the
past decade. At Bath Institution, for example, which is a medium
security facility in the Ontario region, 35% of the total offender
population is aged 50 or older.
-- The increasing proportion of older offenders behind bars reflects the
changing demographics of an aging Canadian society. The median age of
the offender population upon admission to federal custody is 33 years,
which is increasing slightly each year.
-- An increasing number of offenders are entering federal penitentiaries
later in life. In 2009-10, 20.3% of admissions to federal custody were
offenders between the ages of 40-49 (up from 16.3% at the start of the
decade).
-- In addition, the cumulative impact of policy, sentencing and legislative
reforms (e.g. introduction of mandatory minimum penalties, elimination
or tightening of parole eligibility criteria, expansion of indeterminate
sentencing designations) means that a greater percentage of offenders
are serving an increasing proportion of their sentence in custody rather
than some form of community supervision.(1)
-- Today, 62% of the total federal offender population is incarcerated,
while 38% is supervised in the community. The ratio between incarcerated
and community supervised offenders is widening. The majority of federal
offenders are now being released at statute (two-thirds point of the
sentence) having never benefited from an early discretionary release of
any kind (e.g. day or full parole, work release, temporary absence).
-- Other systemic barriers to community reintegration - e.g. limited access
to programming, more complex offender profile, delays in preparing cases
for parole review, decreasing parole grant rates - suggest that the
proportion of aging and older offenders will continue to increase and
accumulate inside federal penitentiaries.





Issues of Concern

Access to Programming



-- There needs to be increased attention given to the relevance,
accessibility and applicability of the current programming model for
older offenders. Older offenders may require specific accommodations in
order to participate in correctional programming.
-- Older and long-serving offenders are often not considered as high a
priority for reintegrative and rehabilitative programming or vocational
training as younger offenders. As a group, aging offenders have
different needs. Older offenders rarely access existing counselling,
educational or vocational prison programs.
-- The structure and content of the current programming model, focused on
'intensity' levels, 'employability' and practical job market skills may
have little relevance or meaning in the life status of an older
offender.





Health Care



-- Canadian prisons are increasingly home to greater numbers of the infirm,
the impaired and the aging. Older offenders use a disproportionate share
of prison health-care services. Some aging offenders find it difficult
to maintain normal everyday institutional routines (eating, dressing,
hygiene) as a result of progressive physical impairment.
-- Aging offenders have higher rates of both mild and serious health
conditions. Treatment of chronic diseases and illnesses associated with
aging - including cancer, emphysema, dementia, diabetes and
cardiovascular disease - often requires access to expensive outside
medical facilities. Many older offenders will require palliative care as
a result of terminal illness.
-- Relieving suffering and providing end of life care in a prison setting
is an expensive endeavour, and often presents both ethical and
operational challenges. A long-serving older offender may have few
community ties or family supports outside of the prison walls.





Conditions of Confinement



-- Prisons were built to accommodate a young inmate profile. The physical
design and infrastructure of a typical federal penitentiary are often
not appropriate to the needs of aging offenders. Accessing fresh air
exercise, participating in yard or gym or engaging in other regular
social routines and institutional activities can be challenging for the
mobility or sight-impaired.
-- Retrofitting institutions with special assistive devices and equipment
to meet everyday housing, ambulatory, toileting, bathing and feeding
needs of an aging offender population is expensive. New construction
should have these needs taken into account.
-- Older offenders can be the victims of intimidation, muscling and
bullying by younger, stronger and more aggressive inmates, which may
deprive them of their physical safety and security. Segregating older
offenders from the rest of the population for personal safety or
institutional security reasons creates its own dilemmas and can result
in further isolation and marginalization of an already distressed
population.





Post Release Supervision



-- Section 121 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act allows for
'parole by exception' release of a federal offender who is terminally
ill. Such releases are rare. Even the most deserving of cases can be
discouraged from applying as the referral and review process is
complicated and lengthy.
-- Under the Criminal Code, the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, exercised by
the Governor General or federal Cabinet upon recommendation of the
Minister of Public Safety, is an exceptional provision that allows for a
life-sentenced offender with a terminal illness to be conditionally
pardoned and released to the community. In 2008, the Parole Board
received 21 Royal Prerogative requests; none were granted.
-- The Office continues to see cases where the respective legislative
criteria would seem to be met, but the applications were not considered,
supported or prepared as diligently as they could be by the Correctional
Service.
-- The result is that a number of terminally ill offenders are dying in
federal penitentiaries each year, sometimes in tragic or less than
dignified conditions.





National Older Offender Strategy



-- The Correctional Service lacks a specific and dedicated national older
offender strategy. An Older Offender Division was created at CSC
National Headquarters in 2000 and a policy group was tasked with making
recommendations in support of a national effort, but both initiatives
have long since been abandoned. None of the recommendations ever saw the
light of day.
-- A national strategy is required to provide much-needed direction and
reform in managing a significant, but often overlooked sub-population.
Such a strategy needs to take account of the unique individual and group
needs of aging offenders and include plans and resources to meet current
and anticipated capacity demands in the areas of physical health care,
accommodation, program development and independent care and living.
-- Special consideration should be given to pre-release planning and
enhanced community supports to facilitate timely and safe reintegration
of older offenders who pose no risk to public safety.





Recommendations



1. The Service develop a more appropriate range of programming and
activities tailored to the older offender, including physical fitness
and exercise regimes, as well as other interventions that are responsive
to the unique mobility, learning, assistive and independent living needs
of the elderly inmate.
2. Where necessary, CSC hire more staff with training and experience in
palliative care and gerontology. Sensitivity and awareness training
regarding issues affecting older offenders should be added to the
training and refresher curriculums of both new and experienced staff.
3. Where new construction is planned, age-related physical and mental
impairments should be part of the infrastructure design, and include
plans and space for a sufficient number of accessible living
arrangements.
4. The Service prepare a national older offender strategy for 2011-12 that
includes a geriatric release component as well as enhanced post-release
supports.
5. The Service's practices and procedures for preparing terminally ill
offenders for 'release by exception' consideration be independently
reviewed to ensure CSC standards are being met and that cases are being
prepared with appropriate diligence, rigour and timeliness.





(1) Approximately 3,200 offenders are currently serving a life or indeterminate sentence in a federal penitentiary. Most will eventually be considered an 'older' offender before they are even considered eligible to apply for parole. The average time served in prison for first-degree murder in Canada is 28.4 years, greater than most other advanced democracies.

Contacts:
Ivan Zinger
Executive Director and General Counsel
(613) 990-2690
Ivan.Zinger@oci-bec.gc.ca