Some inmates with mental disabilities may have difficulty following prison rules; e.g., some inmates may not be capable of standing in an orderly line for meals. It is not uncommon for prison staff to respond to such a situation with some form of punishment or by placing the inmate in physical restraints or administrative segregation.²⁶ Such responses may exacerbate rather than alleviate the inmate's symptoms.²⁷

The trend to incarcerate persons with mental disabilities in prisons has caused advocates for the mentally disabled to say that the "clock is being turned back to the 19th century".²⁸ Indeed, the spectre of institutionalization common in previous days may very well be reinventing itself in today's prisons.

PART II: PROFILE OF FEDERALLY SENTENCED WOMEN WITH MENTAL DISABILTITIES

A. A Brief Description of FSW Labelled with a Mental Disability

Mental disability is a broad term used to describe a variety of disabilities. Human rights legislation in Canada has defined "mental disability" to include intellectual disabilities, mental health disabilities and learning disabilities.²⁹

Unfortunately, there is a general lack of data substantiating the numbers of federally incarcerated persons with mental disabilities. According to some unreported sources the number of those with mental disabilities in the prison system varies, some people estimating that between 30 to 50% have a learning disability, while others suggest that it is more like 15 to 20%.³⁰ A report issued by the United States Department of Justice in 1999 estimates that at that time, 16% of all inmates in state and federal jails and prisons had schizophrenia, manic depressive illness (bipolar disorder), major depression, or another severe mental illness.³¹

The dearth of reliable statistical information makes it difficult to say with any certainty what percentage of FSW is considered to have a mental disability. According to findings of the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey, 2001 (Statistics Canada) approximately 6.7% of women in the general population are considered to have a mental disability.³² As this paper notes elsewhere, CSC estimates the rate of mental disability among FSW to be significantly higher than women in the general population. This paper accepts this assertion, however, we are also cautious about CSC's assessment of the prevalence of mental disability.³³ The CSC tends to cast a wide net when identifying women with mental disabilities by equating social disadvantage with having a mental disability.³⁴ While social disadvantage combined with inappropriate incarceration may create mental health problems, CSC seems to use the label of mental disability as a means of removing women from the general population into a more controlled environment.

This paper uses the term "mental disability" to refer to intellectual disabilities, mental health disabilities and learning disabilities. Due to the difficulty in providing an accurate statistical profile of FSW with mental disabilities in the prison system, this paper offers a narrative description of some of the factors that are known about FSW with mental disabilities.