NUMBER OF WOMEN IN PRISON UP 50 PER CENT

'Troubling trend' over past decade may only get worse with push toward
harsher laws, experts say

The number of women starting federal prison sentences in Canada has
grown by more than 50 per cent in the past decade -- a "troubling
trend" that experts say will only get worse as the Conservative
government moves toward harsher law and order measures.

Most concerning, they say, is that the small pool of incarcerated
women share many common traits: They are primarily poor or homeless,
undereducated and have addictions or mental-health problems such as
schizophrenia, depression and anxiety disorders.

Almost all of them -- 82 per cent, according to advocacy group
Elizabeth Fry Society -- have a history of sexual or physical abuse.
That figure rises to 91 per cent for aboriginal women.

"Women who are incarcerated have a particular profile," said Ivan
Zinger, executive director and general counsel at the Office for the
Correctional Investigator of Canada, the ombudsman for federal offenders.

"There's a much larger over-representation of aboriginal women and
women with mental health issues than men, so they're being
disproportionately impacted by that lack of preventive measures, and
social welfare, and appropriate health care services," he said.

There are about 500 women -- or almost four per cent of the total
federal prison population in Canada -- currently serving federal
sentences of two years or more, compared with more than 13,000 men.

In 2001-02, there were 202 women admitted to federal custody.
Consistent with figures from the two previous years, 313 women were
admitted to custody in 2008-09 -- a 55 per cent increase since the
beginning of the decade.

That compares to a 15 per cent increase for men.

Moreover, the number of aboriginal women serving federal time has
jumped 90 per cent since 2001, with aboriginal women now representing
33 per cent of women behind bars, although they make up only three per
cent of the female population.

While aboriginal men are also over-represented in federal prisons,
their figures have grown 17 per cent in that time, according to Zinger.

Women are twice as likely to have a mental-health-problem diagnosis at
the time of admission to custody than men -- with 30 per cent of women
having been admitted to a psychiatric hospital before being
incarcerated, compared to 14.5 per cent of men.

"If the mental-health system, for example, is failing, then some of
the behaviour linked to symptoms of mental health are now being
criminalized, and that can certainly contribute to the rising
numbers," said Zinger.

Zinger said some new Conservative crime laws, such as ending
two-for-one sentencing credit for time served in custody awaiting
trial, could have an adverse affect on poor women who will have a
tougher time getting bail, or paying for a lawyer while in custody.

"The risk is that [the] legislation ... may actually exacerbate
already very troubling trends, like the increase incarceration of
women and women aboriginals, the fastest growing segment of the inmate
population in Canada," said Zinger.

She said the Correctional Service of Canada has developed a
comprehensive mental-health strategy that includes a computerized
screening system to identify earlier and more easily offenders who may
require mental-health services, allowing for earlier intervention and
treatment.

"[The Correctional Service of Canada] also has a recruitment plan in
place to find sufficient people in sufficient numbers with the
expertise and motivation to work with offenders that have
mental-health issues. This can often represent a challenge because
many of our institutions and parole districts across Canada are
located in smaller or remote communities," said Csversko, adding that
the service is working with aboriginal communities as well.

Some argue the problems start before women get to prison.

Pate, who has worked at Elizabeth Fry for more than 20 years, said the
rise in women serving federal sentences is directly related to cuts in
social services.

"As we've seen cuts to social programs, cuts to health care, cuts to
education, those who traditionally had to rely on those for an equal
playing field have been most impacted. And that overwhelmingly is, of
course, indigenous peoples, women, poor people, and those with mental
health issues," said Pate.

About two-thirds of incarcerated women are mothers, she
added.

"Sentencing a woman to prison also sentences her children often to
social services. The cost of imprisonment is also the cost of the
state care of those children. The potential for abuse in those
settings also increases the potential for those children to end up in
a crisis situation. Once you're caught in that system, it's difficult
to extricate yourself," she said.