Prisoners in B.C. struggling with mental health and substance use issues up significantly, study finds

A new study from Simon Fraser University shows people in B.C.'s prison population who suffer from mental health and substance use issues has gone up significantly over the past decade.

The study from the department of Health Sciences was published last week in the journal Psychiatric Services. In it, researchers found people who suffer from both mental health and substance use issues made up 32 per cent of the B.C.'s provincial prison system in 2017 — up from 15 per cent in 2009. 

Study author Amanda Butler says the prevalence of disorders in prisons really gives us a mirror into what is and isn't happening within the community in the health-care system.

"It's important to note the medium length of stay in our sample was only 12 days, so more than half of the people who go to provincial prison are there for less than a week and the vast majority are there for less than a month," Butler said. 

"Over that time, we've seen increases in precarious employment, increases in homelessness ... in addition to changes in the drug market and the increased toxicity of drugs in the drug supply." 

The report found three in four people in the B.C. prison population have either a mental health or substance use issue.  Methamphetamine use increased from six per cent to 29 per cent, and heroin use increased from 11 per cent to 26 per cent. 

The report was created using data from B.C. Corrections's screening assessment tool. Butler said every adult who is admitted to a prison facility in B.C. goes through a screening process in which they identify their health needs, substance use needs, social background and more. 

Hope for improvement

One of the reasons the data cuts off at 2017 is because in October 2017, the responsibility for the delivery of health-care services within prisons switched from B.C. Corrections to the provincial health services authority. 

'The hope is that actually over the last few years, since 2017, that we will have actually improved continuity of care and access to high quality services within the prison system and hopefully see improvements in transitions when people are released from prison," she said. 

But Butler says much more needs to be done to address the underlying issues.

"We really, really need to invest in our community-based services. As it currently stands, most evidence-based services are unaffordable in the mental health and substance use sectors and are not covered publicly by provincial insurance," she said.

"People are forced to end up sometimes in the prison system before they can get care."