Federal prison service ‘ill-equipped’ for long-term mental health care: watchdog

The Pacific Institution federal penitentiary in Abbotsford, B.C., on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

OTTAWA — The federal prison ombudsman says weak policies, insufficient training and a lack of specialized treatment are hindering the Correctional Service of Canada’s efforts to deliver mental health care.

In his latest annual report, correctional investigator Ivan Zinger says it’s “abundantly clear” the prison service is fundamentally ill-equipped to provide long-term mental health care to people experiencing acute psychiatric distress, suicidal thoughts or chronic self-injury.

In cases involving such serious mental illnesses, transfers to external, secure, community-based psychiatric hospitals are necessary, Zinger says in the report.

The Correctional Service of Canada routinely transfers individuals requiring complex physical care — such as chemotherapy or heart surgery — to external hospitals, Zinger notes.

“It would be unthinkable to attempt such procedures in-house,” he writes. “Yet, when it comes to mental health, CSC continues to operate under the misguided belief that it can provide specialized psychiatric care internally.”

Zinger, who says he plans to retire at the end of January, is set to discuss the report today at an Ottawa news conference.

The report draws on the findings from six national investigations that Zinger’s office conducted on mental health care for federally sentenced individuals.

The office carried out 425 interviews with people in custody and on community release, made site visits and met with institutional and community staff, community-based stakeholders, Indigenous organizations and provincial correctional authorities.

Zinger’s office found weak, vague, outdated or non-existent national policies have led to ineffective, confusing and inconsistent direction and implementation of mental health services.

Insufficient training for staff on how to work effectively and humanely with individuals with mental health issues has contributed to poor quality of care in corrections, the report says.

An absence of effective screening and assessment of mental health issues has created “a domino effect” of poor identification and access to services, excluding many who need enhanced care, the report adds.

Zinger also found a lack of specialized options for programming, treatment or opportunities to acquire skills that would support the successful release of offenders.

One of the investigations focused on the prison service’s five Regional Treatment Centres.

Treatment centres present “a unique dynamic” in that they are hybrid facilities — psychiatric hospitals guided in part by provincial health legislation, operating within a federal penitentiary setting subject to federal legislation, the report says.

All of the treatment centres, except for the Regional Psychiatric Centre in the Prairie region, are located within larger penitentiary sites.

Zinger found the centres can be best described as intermediate and geriatric care facilities, with limited emergency mental health capacity for acute cases.

“They should therefore be reprofiled and recognized as such,” he writes.

Individuals with acute and long-term psychiatric needs should be transferred, under section 29 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, to specialized, external facilities capable of delivering the appropriate care, the report says.

Continuing to house these individuals in treatment centres operated by the Correctional Service is ineffective, inappropriate and a clear violation of human rights, it adds.

Zinger calls the federal announcement of a $1.3-billion replacement facility for the Atlantic region “a profound misallocation of resources.”

Rather than investing in another in-house facility, the government should have directed the prison service to partner with provincial health systems to expand access to secure psychiatric beds in the community, the report says.

In a response included in Zinger’s report, the Correctional Service rejects the recommendations.

The prison service says it has a health system and delivery model “to provide services that are matched to level of need.”

The Correctional Service says its health services, including the Regional Treatment Centres, are accredited by Accreditation Canada, the same organization that accredits hospitals and other service providers in communities across the country.

The prison service notes it also has a partnership with the lnstitut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal for provision of in-patient psychiatric care to men and women offenders, subject to meeting Pinel’s admission criteria.

The prison service says it will continue to engage with provincial psychiatric hospitals to supplement existing capacity.

“This engagement is done in acknowledgment of the limited capacity of provincial health care facilities to provide care to federal inmates, particularly in relation to their ability to admit federal inmates with complex mental health and security needs,” the response says.

The prison service says it is also conducting “a comprehensive review” of its Regional Treatment Centres to provide a standardized baseline of service provision.

The review will focus on ensuring that services align with needs and reflect an appropriate mix of psychiatric hospital care, intermediate mental health care and short-term medical care, the Correctional Service says.

The planned new facility in Dorchester, N.B., will be “a modern, bilingual, purpose-built health care facility” that will support the prison service in advancing its patient-centred health care model, the service adds.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2025.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press