In this program of research, we focus on the prevention of incarceration, improving health care in prisons, and supporting continuity of health care on release.
Current projects:
- A project funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada called C-CHANGE (the Canadian Correctional Health information for Action Group Endeavour), which aims to expand health surveillance for the population incarcerated in Canadian federal prisons, in partnership with the Correctional Service of Canada and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance System, and supported by a Project Advisory Committee. Embedded research includes a mixed methods study to understand stakeholders’ needs and priorities for health surveillance.
- A study funded by the Canadian Research Initiative on Substance Misuse (CRISM) exploring opioid toxicity deaths between 2015 and 2020 and opioid agonist treatment prescribing between 2015 and 2018 for persons in provincial correctional facilities in Ontario
- A project to generate evidence on sexual, reproductive, and maternal child health of incarcerated Indigenous women through a scoping review, quantitative and decolonizing qualitative (arts-based) methods. Learn more: https://www.honouringvoices.ca/
Select recent projects:
- A scoping review and critical analysis of the evidence for trauma-informed care in primary care and correctional health settings, with a report on recommendations and opportunities to support trauma-informed care in the prison setting.
- A global systematic review on the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on people who experience imprisonment
- A knowledge translation project, funded by the Canadian Research Initiative on Substance Misuse (CRISM), to support buprenorphine/naloxone treatment access in correctional facilities
- A study on the overrepresentation of persons who are Black in Ontario provincial correctional facilities
- Studies on antenatal care and birth outcomes for females who experience incarceration in Ontario, funded by the Regional Medical Associates of Hamilton
- A project describing the health care utilization of persons released from Ontario provincial correctional facilities in 2010, including work on primary care use and attachment, emergency department use, and hospital readmission, funded by the Physicians’ Services Incorporated Foundation
Program Lead
Fiona Kouyoumdjian
MD, MPH, PhD, FCFP, FRCPC
Assistant Professor
Research Director
Program Team
News & Updates
New Prison Health Research Council established to directly engage people with lived experience of incarceration in research
Prison Health, Research Project Update
Expanding health surveillance in Canadian federal prisons
Prison Health, Research Project Update
Health surveillance in Canadian federal prisons
Prison Health, Research Project Update
Establishing population-level health monitoring for people incarcerated in Canadian federal prisons
Prison Health, Research Project Update
Project brings new view on health profile of people in Canadian prisons
News, Prison Health, Research
Understanding opportunities to support trauma-informed care in prisons
Prison Health, Research Project Update
Supporting access to buprenorphine/naloxone for people in correctional facilities
News, Prison Health, Research
Two postdoctoral fellows join the department of family medicine to lead embedded health system research
News, Prison Health, Research, VIP Lab
Black people are overrepresented in Ontario’s jails
News, Prison Health, Research
Improving health care of people experiencing incarceration
Prison Health, Research
Knowledge Translation Products
WEBSITE
Initiating Buprenorphine/Naloxone (bup/nal) in Correctional Facilities
Prescribing algorithm