Mortality trends among adults with a history of incarceration, 2015/2016 to 2023/2024

Released: 2026-11-06

In Canada, people who have experienced incarceration are at increased risk of premature death compared with the general population. Among people aged 20 to 49 years who had experienced incarceration in either 2022 or 2023 across five provincial correctional services (Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia), 1,790 died in 2023. This number was more than double that recorded in 2016, despite a decline in the incarcerated population. In 2023, the mortality rate among men in their 20s and 30s who had been incarcerated was 18 times higher than the rate for men of the same age who had not been incarcerated.

Released today, the Juristat article "Mortality trends from 2016 to 2023 among adults who have experienced incarceration across five provincial correctional programs" uses linked data from the Canadian Correctional Services Survey, the Canadian Vital Statistics Death Database and the Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database to explore the mortality rates among adults who experienced recent incarceration (within two years of death). This article examines annual mortality rates among this population, with a focus on trends over time, differences by sex and age group, and the most common underlying causes of death. The trends are described in both all-cause and cause-specific mortality within the recently incarcerated population and compares these trends with those observed in the broader Canadian population.

Mortality rates among recently incarcerated adults more than doubled from 2016 to 2023

In 2016, there were 1,155 deaths among all adults recently incarcerated in the five reporting jurisdictions, and this increased to 2,215 deaths in 2023. This translates to a mortality rate that more than doubled from 94 deaths per 10,000 persons in 2016 to 230 deaths per 10,000 persons in 2023 (+145%) (Table 1).

Almost all deaths among recently incarcerated adults occur after being released from custody

From 2016 to 2023, a small proportion of deaths among recently incarcerated adults occurred while under custodial supervision (4%), and nearly all deaths occurred while in the community (96%), after release from custody. The average time from release from custody to death was 156 days, while the median was 198 days (the analysis covered up to a two-year period between release and death).

Accidental drug toxicity is the most common underlying cause of death for recently incarcerated adults

Accidental drug toxicity (sometimes referred to as drug overdose or drug poisoning deaths) was the most common underlying cause of death among adults who had experienced recent incarceration. The proportion of accidental drug toxicity deaths increased from a low of 40% in 2016 to a high of 61% in 2021 (Table 2).

However, it can take several years for a death investigation to be completed and for the underlying cause of death to be determined. Therefore, some deaths that are currently attributed to an unknown or unspecified cause may eventually be attributed to accidental drug toxicity (or some other cause). As such, it is possible that the current proportion of these deaths could be even higher than what is currently on record.

Deaths from accidental drug toxicity quadrupled for women and nearly tripled for men during the study period

In 2023, there were 151 accidental drug toxicity deaths per 10,000 incarcerated women aged 20 to 49 years, more than quadrupling the rate recorded in 2016 (36 per 10,000). Among women in this age group who had not experienced incarceration, the rate increased at a slower pace, going from 0.6 deaths per 10,000 women in 2016 to 1.6 deaths per 10,000 women in 2023.

The rate of accidental drug toxicity deaths nearly tripled among incarcerated men in the same age group, increasing from 41 deaths per 10,000 men in 2016 to 122 deaths per 10,000 men in 2023. For men who had not experienced incarceration, the rate of these deaths was much lower, and the magnitude of the change was much smaller, going from 1.8 deaths per 10,000 men in 2016 to 3.4 deaths per 10,000 men in 2023.

The number of accidental drug toxicity deaths per 10,000 population peaked in 2021 for both men (147 deaths) and women (173 deaths).

Chart 1 
Accidental drug toxicity deaths among recently incarcerated men and women, aged 20 to 49 years, 2016 to 2023

Homicide mortality is about 30 times higher among incarcerated men aged 20 to 49 years relative to similarly aged men who have not experienced incarceration

Although relatively rare, homicide consistently ranks among the leading causes of death for young and middle-aged men in Canada. From 2016 to 2023, the annual homicide mortality rate among incarcerated men aged 20 to 49 years ranged from 5 to 9 deaths per 10,000 population. This was about 30 times higher than the homicide mortality rate for men in the same age group in the rest of the Canadian population (Table 3).

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The article "Mortality trends from 2016 to 2023 among adults who have experienced incarceration across five provincial correctional programs" is now available as part of the publication Juristat (Catalogue number85-002-X).

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).