Black Stats
Researchers say in order to understand these issues adequately they need racial statistics on incarcerated Canadians, which are rarely released publicly.
There is race-based data that offers a rare glimpse into the disproportionate incarceration rates for Black Canadians, with authors of a study suggested the rates stem directly from widespread and historical inequality.
It's a huge amount of work and we just do not have enough resources or frankly, care in society for people once someone becomes a ‘criminal.’ We justify having almost no empathy for them.
Those figures are, for me, striking, shocking and saddening,” Akwasi 0wusu- Bempah, criminologist and study author, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview. He said the data shows how “starkly overrepresented young Black men are in these correctional statistics.
We said that various forms of racism, structural, systemic and institutional racism have undoubtedly produced these disparities. There's no doubt about that in my mind,” said Owusu-Bempah, a University of Toronto assistant sociology professor.
Researchers from the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, McMaster University, St. Michael’s Hospital and ICES, a non-profit clinical research institute, compiled their findings based on Ontario home address data, 2006 census information and data of every Ontario inmate released in 2010, which included self-reported race-based data.
The authors said the fact that most recent prison racial data was a decade old spoke to the rarity of public, race-based information in general in Canada.
ALL OF SOCIETY PAYS FOR INCARCERATION: ADVOCATES
Owusu-Bempah’s research team, which included researchers looking into public health issues, attributed racial disparities in incarceration rates to a lack of resources in low-income communities, which commonly had inadequately funded transit systems, schools, libraries, and hospitals.
I [also] think there's a huge impact for communities when you have folks returning to same neighbourhood and you don't have the services or support in place that have the capacity to help them with that reintegration.
Owusu-Bempah agreed and said ”Without that support, they’ll have a much harder time reintegrating into society, finding work and housing.”
“It means that the likelihood that they'II engage in future crime increases and the likelihood that they will rely on social assistance increases, he said. “And ultimately, the cost of incarceration is borne by society as a whole.”
BLACK STATS
Nearly one out of every 15 young Black men in Ontario has experienced jail time, compared to approximately one-in-70 young white men, according to public data published in the journal Race and Justice.
Young Black men, whose ages range from 18 to 34, had the highest rates of being in the prison system -- 7,000 per 100,000, compared to 1,400 per 100,000 for white males in the same age range.
Black men overall were also five times as likely as white men to be incarcerated and were more likely to live in low-income neighbourhoods in Ontario.
Black men spent more days behind bars than white men too, with the former group also experiencing higher rates of being transferred from a provincial to a federal institution.
Studies from the criminal justice non-for- profit John Howard Society of Canada have shown that the total (federal, provincial and municipal) public spending on criminal justice in Canada per year is about $20 billion, with about $5 billion of that spent on prisons and jails. This works out to about $550 in taxes per person in Canada per year.
The province of Ontario has long been the most densely populated region of Canada. As a result, more prisons were buiit to accommodate higher crime rates. The expertise required to operate prisons and the inmate labour force required to build them was already here.
Between 2008 and 2013, Black people in Toronto were 3.25 times more likely to experience a street check than White people. The disproportionate targeting of Black people occurred across all Toronto neighbourhoods. In fact, disproportionate police stops of Black individuals were even more pronounced in low-crime, predominantly White neighbourhoods.
A 2019 survey of GTA residents found that, after controlling for relevant factors, “Black [people] are twice as likely to experience one or more police stops, three times more likely to experience two or more police stops, seven times more likely to experience three or more police stops, and nine times more likely to experience four or more police stops” than White or Chinese people. The survey found that Black people are also 6.1 times more likely to experience a police search than their White counterparts.
Both the frequency of police stops in the Greater Toronto Area, as well as the racial disparities in GTA police stops, has increased over the past 25 years.
Black people represented 35.2% of people involved in “out-of-sight” driving charges (such as driving without valid insurance), which are charges that only arise after a stop has already taken place, suggesting other motives for the stop.
Black people represented 37.6% of people involved in cannabis charges, and were 4.3 times more likely to be charged with a cannabis possession offence despite conviction rates and many studies showing that Black people use cannabis at similar rates to White people
Despite being charged at a disproportionately higher rate (Black people in Ontario were 3.9 times more likely to be charged by police than White people), Black people were over represented in cases that resulted in a withdrawal of charges; and their cases were also less likely to result in a conviction compared to cases involving White people.
Two decades of research have consistently found that Canadian police stop, search, and question Black Canadians at higher rates than members of other racial groups. These trends persist even after you factor out other individual characteristics that might lead to higher levels of police contact, including living in a high-crime community, age, gender, social class, victimization, illegal drug use, criminal history, or routine activities. Higher levels of police surveillance mean that Black people are much more likely to be arrested and charged with criminal offences as compared to White people and members of other racial groups who engage in the same behaviour. Black people are also seriously injured and killed during encounters with the police at significantly higher rates than individuals from other racial backgrounds.
An analysis of SIU data from 2013—2017 showed that, while Black people made up 8.9% of Toronto’s population, they accounted for:
- 25.4% of SIU investigations
- 28.8% of police use of force cases
- 36% of police shootings
- 61.5 % of police use of force cases that resulted in civilian death.
- 70% of police shootings that resulted in civilian death.
As a result of disproportionate policing, bias in our criminal justice system, and other forms of systemic discrimination in our society, Black Canadians are incarcerated at much higher rates than White Canadians. While overall sentenced incarceration rates have been on a Iong- term decline in Canada, this decrease in incarceration has not extended to Black Canadians.” Again, some numbers:
Black people make up 7.2% of the federal prison population in the Canada but are only 3.5% of the overall population, making them more than twice as likely to be incarcerated in federal prisons.
In Ontario, Black adults made up 3.9% of the population in 2010-2011 but accounted for 17.7% of admissions to custody in the province.
In 2011-2012, Black youth accounted for almost one-quarter (24.1%) of admissions to custody in Ontario while comprising only 3% of the province’s youth population at the time (Rankin & Winsa, 2013). Notably, the incarceration rates for young men have steadily declined since the introduction of the Youth Criminal Justice Act in 2003; however, Black male youth have not benefitted from this decline.
Between 2003 and 2013 the proportion of federal prisoners who were Black rapidly increased, from 7.3% in 2003 to 9.3% in 2013. In 2018, 7.3% of federal prisoners were Black. Black prisoners in federal institutions report that institutional rules are applied differently to them, as compared to prisoners from other racial backgrounds.” A 2013-14 report from the Office of the Correctional Investigator found data to support those assertions.
Between 2007/08 and 2011/12, while the overall number of disciplinary charges against federal prisoners dropped by 7%, the number of Black prisoners facing disciplinary charges rose by 59%.
Black prisoners were consistently over- represented in charge categories that gave correctional officers more discretion on whether to file disciplinary charges, and consistently under-represented in categories like possession of stolen property, theft, and damage of property, where officers have less discretion.
For many Canadian households, the home is the primary asset and means of wealth accumulation. This study analyzes the trajectories of homeownership and co- residence with parents among Canadian- born racialized population groups born from the early 1970s to the early 1990s, using data from the six most recent Canadian censuses. The findings indicate that disparities in homeownership among these groups persisted throughout the lifetime. Depending on the birth cohort and age group, the rate of living in an owned home was higher for South Asians and Chinese (5 to 24 percentage points) and lower for Blacks and Latin Americans (3 to 19 percentage points) when compared with White Canadians. At younger ages, these disparities were primarily due to differences in co-residence with parents and parental homeownership. Across racialized groups in their 20s, the highest rates of co-residence with parents were observed among South Asians (86% to 91%), Chinese (79% to 84%), and Filipinos (82% to 85%). Black and Latin American youth were more likely to leave their parental home earlier and were least likely to own their own homes when starting their households.
Mental Health & the Criminal Justice System
These individuals routinely experience discrimination and human rights violations, and they are systematically barred from employment opportunities, housing, and access to critically needed health services. When incarcerated, they become isolated from their community supports and services, which can worsen their symptoms and cause significant psychological distress.
Under such conditions, they must also rely on mental health services that are frequently inadequate.
In addition, people in the criminal justice system can develop mental health problems and illnesses due to incarceration and other stressors that hinder recovery and healing. The rate of mental health problems and illnesses among people involved with the criminal justice system is substantially higher than in the general population, a rate that has been worsening over time.
Our mandate The Mental Health Commission of Canada’s (MHCC’s) 2019-2021 mandate from Health Canada identified mental health and the criminal justice system as a renewed area of focus.
This mandate Defined as prevalent at the time of the study.
Prevalence rates of any mental illness diagnosis, including mood, psychotic, substance use, anxiety, and eating disorders:
FACT STATS
Today across Canada, there are 58 federal correctional institutions administered by the federal Correctional Service of Canada and, of these, nine are located in the Greater Kingston area (Ontario). This represents the highest concentration of such facilities in the country.
The most recent Correctional Service of Canada report pegs the daily cost of maintaining inmates at about $345 per day (2019-20 statistics), or on average of just more than $126,000 per year — slightly more than two times the average annual salary in Canada.
73% of federally incarcerated men met the criteria for one or more current mental disorders.
79% of federally incarcerated women met the criteria for a current mental disorder.
Prevalence rates of serious mental illness, including bipolar, major depressive, and psychotic disorders.
12% of federally incarcerated men met the
criteria for a current major mental illness.
17% of federal incarcerated women met
the criteria for a current major mental
illness.
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