Reproductive and maternal child health experiences of Indigenous women in prison: A scoping review.

In the context of the over-representation of women who are Indigenous in prisons and historical and structural barriers to health, we undertook a scoping review to understand research regarding the reproductive and maternal health experiences of Indigenous women in prison in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the USA. We searched online databases in May 2022 since inception, as well as Google and governmental websites between December 2022 and March 2023. We identified 8 eligible articles.

Interest-holder priorities for health surveillance of people incarcerated in Canada: A qualitative study.

Objectives: As a core function of public health, health surveillance for people who are incarcerated could address gaps in knowledge regarding their health status. The views of people who could use these data and who are included in health surveillance data should inform health surveillance. In this study, we aimed to identify the priorities of interest-holders for health surveillance of people incarcerated in Canadian correctional facilities.

Health conditions among women in prisons: a systematic review.

Despite rapidly rising incarceration rates, the health needs of women in custody are overlooked. This Review aims to summarise the current evidence on the health of women in prisons around the world. In this systematic review, we searched peer-reviewed and grey literature databases for quantitative studies published between Jan 1, 2003, and Jan 29, 2025.

Continuing the conversation: practical strategies to enable acceptable and feasible health research in prisons.

Within the unique structural, procedural, and social contexts of prisons, there are substantial challenges to conducting health research. Sharing approaches that facilitate study planning and implementation could support future research and foster critical discussion regarding best practices. During a qualitative study, we developed strategies to navigate the challenges of conducting research with participants who were currently incarcerated in prisons across Canada, including in participant recruitment, participation, and benefits.

Understanding Trauma-Informed Care in Correctional Facilities: A Scoping Review.

People who are incarcerated are significantly more likely to have experienced traumatic events than others in the general population. Trauma-informed care (TIC) is an approach that recognizes and responds to the lasting effects of trauma on peoples' lives and health, going beyond individually focused, trauma-specific care and into broader change in policy and practice. Our objectives were to describe how TIC is implemented in correctional facilities, and evidence on the impacts of TIC in correctional facilities.

COVID-19 impacts on decarceration for Indigenous, Black, and other racialized people in Ontario, Canada: an interrupted time series study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic response in many jurisdictions included efforts to depopulate correctional facilities. In the context of the overrepresentation of Indigenous and Black people in Canadian correctional facilities, we aimed to assess COVID-19 impacts on decarceration by race and Indigenous identity in Ontario, Canada.

Methods: We accessed correctional administrative data for all people incarcerated in provincial correctional facilities in Ontario, Canada between 2015 and 2022.

Opioid toxicity deaths in Indigenous people who experienced incarceration in Ontario, Canada 2015-2020: a whole population retrospective cohort study.

Background: While Indigenous people are overrepresented in Canada's prisons and in the toxic drug supply crisis, we lack data on the harms related to opioids for Indigenous people with experiences of incarceration. We aimed to examine opioid toxicity deaths in Indigenous peoples who experienced incarceration and to compare opioid toxicity mortality rates with rates for people with no incarceration.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study linked correctional data for all people who were incarcerated in provincial correctional facilities and coronial data for all people who died from opioid toxicity in Ontario, Canada between 2015 and 2020.

Applying Best Practices from CAPs to a Community-Academic-Corrections Partnership: Academic Partner Perspectives.

Background: While correctional systems often function separately from academic and community-based organizations, there is opportunity for mutually beneficial collaborative partnerships to strengthen services and relationships. Community-academic partnerships (CAPs) are a well-established model in implementation science and in scientific literature. Applying best practices for CAPs to a partnership that includes community, academic, and correctional partners could contribute to a stronger partnership with more capacity to improve population health of people who experience incarceration.

A Process Model of Formative Work to Strengthen a Prison Health Surveillance System.

Worldwide, there is a lack of systematically collected health data on people who are incarcerated. Our objective in this paper was to describe a process model of formative work for a project to strengthen health surveillance for people incarcerated under a Canadian prison authority. We have developed project structures and processes, and we are evaluating project partnerships.

"We wish we had the option": a qualitative study of women's perspectives and experiences with contraception in a provincial prison in Ontario, Canada.

Background: Evidence suggests that women who are incarcerated desire access to contraception while incarcerated, and that this need is not currently being met. Our objective in this study was to explore the perspectives and experiences of women in prisons regarding contraception and contraception access using data from focus groups with women in a provincial prison. We analyzed focus group data collected in a provincial prison in Ontario, Canada using content analysis and a constructivist epistemology.

Opioid toxicity deaths in Black persons who experienced provincial incarceration in Ontario, Canada 2015-2020: A population-based study.

Objective: In the context of mass incarceration and the opioid toxicity crisis in North America, there is a lack of data on the burden of opioid toxicity deaths in Black persons who experience incarceration. We aimed to describe absolute and relative opioid toxicity mortality for Black persons who experienced incarceration in Ontario, Canada between 2015 and 2020.

Methods: We linked data for all persons incarcerated in provincial correctional facilities and all persons who died from opioid toxicity in Ontario between 2015 and 2020, and accessed public data on population sizes.

The impact of COVID-19 on opioid toxicity deaths for people who experience incarceration compared to the general population in Ontario: A whole population data linkage study.

Background: To inform preparedness and population health action, we need to understand the effects of COVID-19 on health inequities. In this study, we assess the impact of COVID-19 on opioid toxicity deaths among people who experience incarceration compared to others in the general population in Ontario, Canada.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study for the period of January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2020.

Chronic Psychotic Disorders and Correctional Involvement: A Population-Based Matched Case-Control Study in Ontario, Canada.

Objective: Individuals with chronic psychotic disorders are overrepresented in correctional facilities, but little is known about factors that increase the risk of correctional involvement. The objective of this study was to compare individuals with chronic psychotic disorders who were released from correctional facilities in Ontario to individuals with chronic psychotic disorders but no correctional involvement on sociodemographic, clinical, and prior mental health-related health service utilization characteristics.

Method: All individuals with chronic psychotic disorders who were released from a provincial correctional facility in Ontario in 2010 were matched (1:2) by age and sex to Ontario residents with chronic psychotic disorders and no correctional involvement.

The health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on adults who experience imprisonment globally: A mixed methods systematic review.

Background: The prison setting and health status of people who experience imprisonment increase the risks of COVID-19 infection and sequelae, and other health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: To conduct a mixed methods systematic review on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of people who experience imprisonment.

Data Sources: We searched Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, the Cochrane Library, Social Sciences Abstracts, CINAHL, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, Sociological Abstracts, Sociology Database, Coronavirus Research Database, ERIC, Proquest Dissertations and Theses, Web of Science, and Scopus in October 2021.

Intellectual/developmental disabilities among people incarcerated in federal correctional facilities in Ontario, Canada: Examining prevalence, health and correctional characteristics.

Background: There is little research with people who experience intellectual/developmental disabilities and imprisonment.

Methods: The study linked health and correctional data to examine prevalence of intellectual/developmental disabilities and health and correctional characteristics among adults experiencing their first federal incarceration between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2011 (n = 9278) and two non-incarcerated groups (n = 10,086,802).

Results: The prevalence of intellectual/developmental disabilities was 2.

Buprenorphine/naloxone access for people with opioid use disorder in correctional facilities: taking steps to support knowledge translation.

People with opioid use disorders are overrepresented in correctional facilities, and are at high risk of opioid overdose. Despite the fact that buprenorphine/naloxone is the first line treatment for people with opioid use disorder, there are often institutional, clinical, and logistical barriers to buprenorphine/naloxone initiation in correctional facilities. Guided by the knowledge-to-action framework, this knowledge translation project focused on synthesizing knowledge and developing a tool for buprenorphine/naloxone initiation that was tailored to correctional facilities, including jails.

Health Care Costs of Individuals With Chronic Psychotic Disorders Who Experience Incarceration in Ontario.

Objective: Little is known about the health care costs of individuals with chronic psychotic disorders who experience incarceration. This study sought to address this knowledge gap.

Methods: The authors analyzed linked 2007-2010 correctional and administrative health care data on sex- and age-matched individuals with chronic psychotic disorders with and without known incarceration in prison for up to 2 years in the Ontario correctional system.

Health Status of Females Who Experience Incarceration: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study.

People who experience incarceration have poor health across a variety of indicators, but we lack population-level data on the health of females in particular. We examined the health status of females released from provincial prison, and compared their data with data for males released from provincial prison and females in the general population in Ontario, Canada in 2010. We conducted a retrospective cohort study using linked correctional and health administrative data.

The impact of a Housing First intervention and health-related risk factors on incarceration among people with experiences of homelessness and mental illness in Canada.

Objective: To examine the effect of a Housing First (HF) intervention and health-related risk factors on incarceration among adults with experiences of homelessness and mental illness.

Methods: Participants (N = 508) were recruited at the Toronto site of the At Home/Chez Soi study. The outcome was incarceration in Ontario from 2009 to 2014.

Prevalence and Predictors of Reincarceration after Correctional Center Release: A Population-based Comparison of Individuals with and without Schizophrenia in Ontario, Canada: Prévalence et prédicteurs de la réincarcération après la libération d'un centre correctionnel : une comparaison dans la population-de personnes souffrant ou non de schizophrénie en Ontario, Canada.

Objectives: Individuals with schizophrenia are overrepresented in correctional facilities relative to their population-based prevalence. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate and predictors of reincarceration of individuals with schizophrenia after release from correctional facilities.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study that included all people released from Ontario's provincial correctional facilities from January 1 to December 31, 2010.

Quality of Antenatal Care for Women Who Experience Imprisonment in Ontario, Canada.

Importance: Women who experience imprisonment have high morbidity and an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Antenatal care could modify pregnancy-related risks, but there is a lack of evidence regarding antenatal care in this population.

Objectives: To examine antenatal care quality indicators for women who experience imprisonment and to compare these data with data for the general population.

"When you first walk out the gates…where do [you] go?": Barriers and opportunities to achieving continuity of health care at the time of release from a provincial jail in Ontario.

We aimed to explore continuity of health care and health barriers, facilitators, and opportunities for people at the time of release from a provincial correctional facility in Ontario, Canada. We conducted focus groups in community-based organizations in a city in Ontario, Canada: a men's homeless shelter, a mental health service organization, and a social service agency with programs for people with substance use disorders. We included adults who spoke English well enough to participate in the discussion and who had been released from the provincial correctional facility in the previous year.

Improving Health and Healthcare Access for People Who Experience Imprisonment in Ontario.

People who experience imprisonment have worse health status than other Ontarians - about 40% lack access to primary care in the community, and the period after release from prison is associated with high risks of adverse health outcomes. Population-based correctional and health administrative data suggest that access to quality healthcare in prison and in the community needs to improve if we are to improve population health and deliver on healthcare obligations to people experiencing imprisonment.