Prisons pay more for native spiritual services than all other faiths combined

While the issue may be more underfunding of chaplain services for other religions than overfunding of Indigenous spiritual services, it is nevertheless an interesting disparity, particularly given that relatively few Indigenous peoples according the 2011 NHS practice Aboriginal spirituality (less than 5 percent).

The previous government’s cut to chaplaincy services and subsequent restoration may also have played a part (Corrections Canada reverses course on chaplains | Toronto Star):

Canada’s federal prisons are paying significantly more each year for indigenous spiritual services than for all other religions combined.

Indigenous populations are grossly overrepresented in the prison population, a systemic issue. But statistics show that only five per cent of offenders identify as having “native spirituality.”

Still, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is spending $8 million annually on sustaining spiritual services for those offenders — versus its $6.75 million ceiling for other religions.

Spokesperson Avely Serin said Elder services help offenders follow a “traditional healing path” and provide advice to the heads of institutions about “access to ceremonial objects and traditional medicines within the institution.”

As of last October, 85 per cent of indigenous offenders in custody, or 3,156, had undergone an “Elder review,” which requires multiple meetings, according to Serin.

Meanwhile, in the 2015-16 year, chaplaincy services registered 407,639 individual contacts with offenders. That number includes attendance at religious services and faith-based educational sessions, along with individual counselling.

The correctional service takes “a lot of criticism for the overrepresentation of First Nations people in the prison system,” said Catherine Latimer, executive director at the John Howard Society. She suggested that could be one reason for the extra funding.

Indigenous people make up a quarter of the prison population versus 4.3 per cent of the general population, according to Canada’s Correctional Investigator. And 31 per cent of female prisoners are indigenous.

Latimer questioned the fairness of offering different amounts of spiritual support based on ethnicity.

Indigenous offenders do have better outcomes when “reconnected with their spiritual and cultural traditions,” said the Correctional Investigator of Canada’s annual report for 2014-15.

But spiritual services help offenders of other religions, too, said Kate Johnson, a former chaplain at Joyceville Institution in Kingston, Ont.

Almost half of offenders are Christian, a majority of those Catholic, and just over five per cent are Muslim. About 15 per cent report having no religion.

“Chaplains generally are the people who provide that kind of bridge from institution to community,” said Johnson, now chaplain at Queen’s University after leaving corrections three years ago. “The better care we provide for somebody, the less likely they are to reoffend.”

Source: Prisons pay more for native spiritual services than all other faiths combined | National Post