Security trumps mental health care in Canadian prisons

Canada’s federal correctional investigator, Howard Sapers, has released a report detailing the Correctional Service of Canada’s ongoing dealings with mentally ill prisoners.

The investigator said that “security practices continue to trump clinical needs in the care and custody of offenders with mental health problems.” Mr. Sapers had earlier chronicled the systemic failures that led to the death, by suicide, of 19-year-old inmate Ashley Smith in a Kitchener, Ontario prison cell on October 19, 2007.

We speak with Howard Sapers, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, and France Tellier, director of programs at Nanaimo Region John Howard Society.

Howard Sapers     131_october_01_2009_sm

France Tellier     132_october_01_2009_sm