Adult Correctional Statistics in Canada

Last week, the Statistics Canada publication Juristat published an article on Adult correctional statistics in Canada, 2015/2016.

It looks provides a statistical overview of adults admitted to and released from custody and community supervision in Canada in 2015/2016.

Among the highlights:

• In 2015/2016, there were on average 120,568 adult offenders on a given day, in either custody or in a community program. This represents a rate of 438 offenders per 100,000 adult population^, a decrease of 3% from the previous year and a decline of 16% compared to 2011/2012.
• On a typical day in the federal correctional system in 2015/2016, there were 22,956 adult offenders being supervised, representing a rate of 79 per 100,000 adult population. The federal rate was down 1% from the previous year and down 6% compared to five years earlier.
• A large majority of adults (80%) under correctional supervision in the provinces and territories in 2015/2016 were under community supervision such as probation and conditional sentences.  
• The adult incarceration rate for Canada, which represents the average number of adults in custody (sentenced custody, remand and other temporary detention) per day for every 100,000 adults in the population remained stable in 2015/2016 at 139 inmates per 100,000 adults.
• On a typical day, in 2015/2016, there were 14,899 adults held in remand, awaiting trial or sentencing, in comparison to 10,091 adults in sentenced custody in the provinces and territories.
• Consistently over the last decade, the remand population has exceeded the sentenced population with adults in remand accounting for 60% of the custodial population in 2015/2016.