Statistics Canada says, in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an unprecedented decline in the number of adults in a correctional institution.
While balancing public safety concerns, reducing the number of persons held in correctional institutions is seen as a preventive measure to reducing public health risk associated with COVID-19 transmission.
Some of the steps taken to reduce the size of the population in lockup include: temporary or early release for those considered low-risk to re-offend; extended periods for parole appeals deadlines and access to medical leave privileges; and alternatives to custody while awaiting trials, sentencing and bail hearings.
Statistics Canada says, as a result, the average daily count of adults in custody in June was 20% below the custodial population in June 2019.
Although unparalleled, this recent trend has followed a more general decline, over a longer time period, in the number of people in correctional institutions.
Incarceration rates for both adults (aged 18 years and older) and youth (aged 12 to 17 years) in Canada have been on a downward trend over the last seven years. In 2018/2019, the national incarceration rate (the rate of adults in provincial/territorial and federal custody) was 127 adults per 100,000 population, down 4% from the previous year and down 9% from five years earlier.
In 2018/2019, adults under community supervision, such as probation, conditional sentences and provincial parole, accounted for the majority (80%) of the provincial/territorial correctional population on a typical day. Over the same period, 2 in 5 adults (40%) in the federal correctional population were under community supervision on a typical day.
In provincial/territorial correctional services, the rate of adults under community supervision declined in 2018/2019, while it increased slightly in federal correctional services. There were 321 adults per 100,000 population under provincial/territorial community supervision in 2018/2019, a rate 6% lower than the previous year. The rate of adults under federal community supervision rose 1% from a year earlier to 31 adults per 100,000 population.
Most youth serve their sentence in the community. Youth under community supervision accounted for 89% of the youth correctional population in 2018/2019. On average, there were 5,713 youth aged 12 to 17 under community supervision in the 10 reporting provinces and territories (data exclude Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec). This represented a rate of 32 youth per 10,000 population, down 10% from the previous year.
