NCJ Number
144207
Journal
Canadian Journal of Criminology Volume: 35 Issue: 3 Dated: (July 1993) Pages: 323-331
Date Published
1993
Length
9 pages
Annotation
An archival study of 110 inmates at one of Canada's maximum-security provincial institutions established that over 39 percent of inmates were transient and had no fixed address upon release.
Abstract
Homeless and domiciled inmates were identified using health, administrative, probation/parole, and treatment files, with homelessness defined as the absence of a fixed address upon release. Data on demographic, treatment-related, and criminal background factors were obtained for each inmate. Study findings revealed that homeless inmates were significantly overrepresented in the prison population; nearly 40 percent had no fixed address upon release. Significant differences were observed between homeless and nonhomeless inmates in terms of institutional behavior, occurrence of psychopathology, use of medical services, mental illness and prior involvement with mental health services, prior criminal history, and incidence of violent and parasuicidal behavior. No significant differences were found between homeless and nonhomeless inmates with respect to age, educational level, and sentence length. Methodological limitations of the study and the need for community-based programs to deal with homeless inmates are discussed. 22 references, 1 note, and 3 tables