White inmates benefited the most from efforts to reduce Ontario jail populations during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study.
While people of all racial backgrounds benefited from the 鈥渄ecarceration鈥 efforts 鈥 spurred by increased health risks to jail populations 鈥 Indigenous, Black and non-Black racialized people remained incarcerated at higher rates and spent more days in custody than white people, according to the study, published in聽.
鈥淥ur study adds evidence showing that decarceration had inequitable impacts for Indigenous, Black, and other racialized people in Ontario,鈥 wrote the authors of the paper, adding that efforts to reduce the jail population 鈥渆xacerbated鈥 existing structural public health inequities.
The study analyzed race-based inmate data for all incarcerated people in Ontario provincial jails from 2015 to 2022, treating April 1, 2020, as the start of the pandemic in terms of comparing admissions, releases from jail, number of people in custody and time spent in custody, per person.
The study found significant differences between white and non-white groups in terms of length of time in custody and number of people in custody during COVID.
In both of those measures, COVID decarceration disproportionately benefited non-Indigenous white people, wrote the authors of the study, led by University of 海角社区官网sociologist Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, along with academic colleagues Nina Lamberti, Beverley Osei, Amanda Butler, Ruth Elwood Martin, Jessica Jurgutis, Kate McLeod, Martha Paynter, Raya Semeniuk and Fiona G. Kouyoumdjian, along with consultant Ruth Croxford and former federal correctional investigator Howard Sapers.
The researchers concluded that the effort to reduce jail populations in the spring of 2020 was 鈥渋nequitable, exacerbating the disproportionate exposure of people who are Indigenous and Black to time in custody and to the adverse health impacts associated with incarceration during the COVID-19 pandemic.
鈥淥ur findings of inequitable decarceration are concerning, given the long-standing overrepresentation of Indigenous and Black people in Canadian correctional facilities,鈥 said the research team, adding that the results 鈥渆mphasize the need for targeted strategies to foster equitable health and justice outcomes, including during public health emergencies.鈥澛
The data the researchers obtained does not explain how, or which, measures and changes in policies and procedures by police, courts and the correctional system potentially influenced the inequitable outcomes, nor to what degree.
鈥淲e hypothesize that the disparities in decarceration observed in this study reflect the cumulative effects of systemic and structural inequities embedded in policing, court, and correctional practices,鈥 the researchers wrote. 鈥淭hese inequities may manifest in differential treatment based on racial and Indigenous identity, either directly or indirectly, through factors such as poverty, housing instability, and prior involvement with the criminal justice system.鈥
One of the provincial ministries involved in decarceration efforts was that of the Solicitor General, which operates provincial jails. Ministry spokesperson Brent Ross said in an email to the Star that inmates considered for release 鈥渉ad to be near the end of their sentences and be considered a low risk to reoffend.聽
鈥淚nmates serving sentences for serious crimes, such as violent crimes or crimes involving guns, were not considered for early release. An inmate鈥檚 racial or ethnic background were not considered when making decisions to release.鈥
Regardless of how decarceration during COVID was achieved 鈥 by diverting the case from criminal court, for example, or releases from custody 鈥 the researchers said that 鈥渢he disparities in decarceration during the COVID-19 pandemic likely exacerbated existing health inequities.鈥
Efforts were made globally to protect vulnerable populations from infection during the pandemic, including jail and prison populations. In the United States, which has among the highest per capita incarceration rates in the world, COVID decarceration efforts reduced the incarcerated population by 17 per cent in the first year of the pandemic, with outcomes that also , according to a 2023 study.
In Canada, adult admissions to federal prisons decreased by 14 per cent in the federal prison system from 2020 to 2021, and in provincial and territorial jails over that period by 34 per cent, per research cited by the Ontario study.
Within jail systems, factors that contribute to a higher risk of infection include high rates of staff movement between institutions and the outside world, the 鈥渃ontinual 鈥榗hurn鈥 of admissions and releases,鈥 as well as overcrowding of inmates, the paper notes.
Also, people who experience incarceration are more likely to already have 鈥減oor health status, including higher rates of chronic diseases, mental illness, and communicable diseases such as HIV鈥 than the general population.
The vast majority of people in Ontario jails are being held on 鈥渞emand,鈥 awaiting bail hearings or trial. The provincial jail population is less stable than a federal prison, where all inmates are serving sentences, and for longer than two years.
Harini Sivalingam, equality program director at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said in an interview that the Ontario study鈥檚 findings of COVID inequity are 鈥渄eeply emblematic of the crisis in our criminal justice system, in our prison system, that has been going on for really decades,鈥 and that all the resources that can prevent incarceration should be viewed through an equity lens.
Following the spring of 2020, Ontario incarceration rates rose following the 鈥渞apid reduction鈥 associated with COVID decarceration efforts, the study found.聽
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