Many of the young people in B.C.’s three youth custody centres experienced significant trauma before they end up behind bars, a new survey by the McCreary Centre Society shows.
The youth report high rates of abuse, many suffered from mental-health problems, and most had lost someone close to them to violence, suicide or overdose.
Unlike their peers in the school system, youth in custody were also less likely to live with parents and more likely to have lived in government care. They abused substances more often and were more likely to have harmed themselves or attempted suicide.
Annie Smith, the society’s executive director, said the findings highlight the “significant trauma” in the lives of youth who end up in custody.
“I think the number of young people who’d lost somebody, whose close family or friend had died, was just staggering to me,” she said. “And then the ways that they’d died as well — the violence, the suicide the overdose — it’s a lot to deal with at 13 or 14.”
The McCreary Centre’s report said government efforts to connect youth with specialized programs and caring adults while in custody show signs of making a difference.
The survey found that those youth who felt somebody was looking out for them were more likely to report better health and to have plans to get a job or attend college or university.
Children’s Minister Stephanie Cadieux was on holidays and unavailable for interviews Tuesday. Her office issued a statement saying the ministry has adjusted its programs to recognize the trauma that young people have suffered.
“Instead of asking, ‘What’s wrong with this kid?,’ trauma-informed practice asks, ‘What’s happened to this kid?” the ministry said.
“The goals of this approach are supportive relationships being built with the youth and a reduction in the possibility of re-traumatization.”
The ministry has also moved to fix a problem highlighted by the survey, which found that 47 per cent of youth reported going hungry in custody.
“Although a nutritionist sets meals and calorie counts for youth in custody, it’s clear the youths’ after-dinner physical activities were burning lots of energy, so the ministry has added protein to the bedtime snack and is monitoring feedback from youth,” the ministry statement said.
The society surveyed 114 youth at custody centres in Victoria, Burnaby and Prince George from August 2012 to January 2013.
The youth ranged in age from 12 to 19 and a disproportionate number of them — 52 per cent — identified as aboriginal compared to just 10 per cent in the mainstream school population. “Aboriginal youth remain vastly over-represented in the custody-centre population,” Smith said.
On any given day in 2012-13, there were an average of 85 youth in custody across B.C., the centre said. That’s down from 153 in 2004-05.
