New approaches …

February 12, 2016 CBC News – Marika Wheeler Unique mental health team in Quebec City treats psychotic patients at home Willing to make up to four house calls a day to the same patient, psychiatric nurse Alexandre Boisvert … [Read more...]

Mental health and criminal justice: a long and dysfunctional relationship (Ed McIsaac)

Mental health and criminal justice have a long and dysfunctional relationship. Inevitably it seems our desire for punishment overtakes both the needs of the individual offender suffering from mental illness and our collective long-term interest in … [Read more...]

Effects of parental imprisonment on child antisocial behaviour and mental health

In “Effects of Parental Imprisonment on Child Antisocial Behaviour and Mental Health: A Systematic Review” (Campbell Systematic Reviews August 2009:4), Murray, Farrington, Sekol and Olsen did a meta-analysis of 16 studies to determine if parental … [Read more...]

Deaths in custody

There are about eight times as many deaths (from illness, homicides and suicides) in institutions, as in the population at large. While the stresses of prison life contribute to these numbers, there are often shortcomings in the prison response to … [Read more...]

Recommendations for improved care for mentally ill offenders

There are options other than incarceration for mentally ill persons who come into conflict with the law, such as police diversion to hospital before they are charged, court support workers, mental health courts. These options draw on the principle of … [Read more...]

Why is prison the worst setting for the seriously mentally ill?

Jails and prisons can be brutal places: suicide rates are at 84 per 100,000 compared with 11.3 in the community; homicide is 28 per 100,00 compared with 1.8 (Office of the Correctional Investigator, 2010). Slamming cell doors, fear and intimidation … [Read more...]

Which mental illnesses are prevalent in current admissions to prison?

Data show a disproportionate number of our mentally ill enter our prisons with psychoticism and paranoid ideation, but also anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (CSC 2010); schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, brain injuries and the effects … [Read more...]

Provincial Correctional Responses to Individuals with Mental Illness in Ontario – A Review of Literature

This review, published by the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario in 2012, identifies key issues related the correctional systems’ responses to individuals with mental health conditions. The report concludes that the needs of this growing population are … [Read more...]

Mother tells of son’s despair on closure of Kingston Penitentiary

The author's name has been withheld at her request On Wednesday of last week, after having been away, I had a conversation with my son’s psychiatrist at the Regional Training Centre (RTC), attached to Kingston Penitentiary. I was inquiring … [Read more...]