New tainted-blood class actions in Québec and Alberta

In two cases in Québec and Alberta, people infected with HIV and HCV through infected blood and blood products have successfully defended motions to strike out all or parts of their legal actions against federal and provincial governments and the Canadian Red Cross Society (CRCS). On 16 January 2003, the Québec Superior Court ruled that the plaintiffs in a class action could rely on the Krever Commission Report in their application for certification of a class proceeding. On 20 February 2003, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench dismissed an application brought by the Canadian and Alberta governments to strike out the legal action brought against them. These cases illustrate that the settlement schemes proposed by the federal and provincial governments and the CRCS, and approved by the courts, have not put an end to the civil and constitutional claims brought by people seeking compensation for infection through tainted blood.     

Québec: an outbreak of HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination

In the space of a few weeks in January 2004, actions by three different institutions in Québec combined to threaten the human rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, raise the spectre of mandatory HIV testing, and create unnecessary public fears about the spread of HIV infection. In response to what they called "the worst weeks in recent history for people living with HIV/AIDS in Québec," the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and COCQ-Sida (the Québec coalition of community-based organizations fighting AIDS) called for a province-wide campaign against HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. A victory was achieved when a Montréal catholic seminary announced that it had backed down from its initial proposal to mandatorily test all applicants for priesthood for HIV, but much more is needed to fight the rapid outbreak of mandatory-testing proposals.     

AIDS in the workplace: a program that's still relevant

A new AIDS-in-the-Workplace program being implemented in Québec emphasizes the rights of workers living with HIV/AIDS. The program tackles issues such as confidentiality of HIV status, access to insurance benefits, discrimination, and the need for employers to take reasonable measures to accommodate the disabilities of workers.     

Women Corrections Officers in Men's Prisons

ABSTRACT

Women have worked as corrections officers (COs) in some adult male prisons in most states for the past two decades. However, the degree of acceptance of women COs and the perception of women officers' job performance by men officers have varied greatly. This study was based on the results of a survey of men and women officers working in men's prisons in a midwestern state. Comparisons of the officers' responses about women's acceptance, safety, and perceived job performance revealed some significant gender differences. The results indicated that while women faced some resistance among men officers, it was not to the extent suggested by previous research studies, and the resistance came primarily from more experienced men officers. Women officers were confident of their ability to work effectively in men's prisons. The resistance to women that persists among some men officers is likely to provide an obstacle for women seeking opportunities for advancement and promotion in adult male prisons.     

Trepidation among the “keepers”: Gendered Perceptions of Fear and Risk of Victimization among Corrections Officers

Determining the attitudes of correctional officers relative to their level of fear and risk of victimization is important to investigate due to the relationship of the conditions of confinement and the care and custody of offenders. Furthermore, consideration of such attitudes by gender may uncover differences because of the unique obstacles female corrections officers face. This study examines the level of fear and risk of both inmate and staff related victimization by gender through administering a survey to all corrections officers employed in the adult prisons within one-state. The overall analysis indicated some level of apprehension among officers regarding their fear and risk of victimization for inmate-precipitated victimization more than staff-to-staff victimization. Female officers were also more likely to demonstrate a higher level of perceived fear and risk of inmate-precipitated and staff-precipitated victimization. In addition, race and security level were shown to be significant as predictors of both fear and perceived risk of victimization among officers.     

Supervised injection sites: Minister of Health ready to review applications for pilot research projects

Since 1 January 2003, Health Canada has been prepared to receive proposals for pilot supervised injection sites (SISs). Vancouver has already indicated that it will submit a proposal within a few months. Other cities that have expressed an interest in opening SISs include Montréal, Québec, Winnipeg, and Victoria.     

Criminal charges against marijuana compassion club volunteers stayed on constitutional grounds

A Court of Québec judge stayed trafficking charges laid in February 2000 against two Montréal men in conjunction with the operation of a medical marijuana compassion club. The judge determined that it would be unjust to allow the criminal procedure to continue. Section 5 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) unjustifiably infringed the accuseds' Charter rights to life, liberty, and security of the person (section 7) by prohibiting the distribution of marijuana for medical purposes when no legal source or supply existed at the time.     

Inquest into the death of a prisoner co-infected with HIV and hepatitis C: how many more will there be?

Michael Joseph LeBlanc probably became infected with HIV and Hepatitis C while incarcerated in a federal penitentiary. On 18 November 1999, he died at the Regional Hospital in Kingston Penitentiary of complications relating to hepatitis C. Mr LeBlanc died inhumanely, in extreme physical, psychological and emotional distress. His death raises the issues of transmission and prevention of HIV and hepatitis C, compassionate release, and health care and palliative care in federal prisons. An Inquest under the Coroners Act was held in Kingston, Ontario from 30 January to 1 February 2001. These same issues had been raised previously at the October 1997 coroners inquest into the death of William Bell, a person living with AIDS who died while incarcerated in another federal penitentiary.     

The perceived levels of job satisfaction among police officers: A descriptive review

Whereas job satisfaction is a popular research topic among industrial and organizational psychologists, police organizational researchers have all but ignored the area of job satisfaction. Considering its link to many organizationally important factors, such as productivity, morale, and personnel turnover, research on job satisfaction in policing should be important. The identification of how satisfied police officers are with various jobrelated factors can be extremely useful to the police executive. This article examines perceived satisfaction of a purposive sample of 2611 police officers, with respect to 23 job-specific and three global job satisfaction items.     

HIV-infected prisoners: what mental health services are constitutionally mandated?

State and federal correctional facilities currently have approximately 23,000 inmates who are infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). These inmates suffer from the same mental health disorders as uninfected inmates but are additionally subject to mental health problems uniquely related to their HIV infection. Many prison systems are struggling to provide minimal mental health care to uninfected inmates. How will prisoners address the additional mental health needs of the staggering number of inmates being diagnosed with AIDS and HIV? This article describes the type of mental health services that are constitutionally mandated and discusses whether and how prisons will have to respond to the distinct mental health issues related to HIV infection.     

Chronic disease and disadvantage: the new politics of HIV infection

HIV infection is now perceived as the end stage of a chronic disease that is spreading most rapidly among blacks and Hispanics. The politics of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s were dominated by four interacting factors: fear and fascination; who had the disease and to whom it seemed to be spreading; the endemic problems of United States social policy; and the impact on policy of advances in scientific knowledge. This paper analyzes the political history of each of these factors and describes the dominant policies of the federal government and the states regarding HIV in the areas of surveillance, prevention, research, and financing. Four uncertainties will have a profound influence on the future politics of the HIV epidemic: how the states and the federal government will address the general problems of paying for the care of people with chronic diseases and providing access to care for the uninsured and the underinsured; the number and distribution of the sexual behaviors that transmit infection with HIV and the effectiveness of policies to persuade people to modify these behaviors; precisely who uses addictive drugs and the effectiveness of measures to change their behavior; and the natural history of the virus.     

Risk and Resilience Factors among Italian Municipal Police Officers Exposed to Critical Incidents

Police officers are exposed to critical events as part of their duty which can affect their well-being. The present study examines the relationships between risk and protective factors and health outcome following critical incident exposure among police officers. Person-oriented analyses were applied to questionnaire data from a sample of 509 Italian municipal police officers. Two groups with different patterns of risk and protective factors were found by cluster analysis. One group (resilient officers) had higher levels of protective factors such as self-esteem and social support and lower levels of risk factors such as peritraumatic distress and perceived threat in comparison to the other group (non resilient police officers). The resilient group reported fewer traumatic stress reactions than the non resilient group in spite of a similar degree of exposure to critical incidents and better health than expected in spite of severe abuse. The two groups differed according to sleeping pills use but not for alcohol and smoking habits. Risk and protective factors could offer an explanation of resilience as an outcome.     

Informing Police Response to Intimate Partner Violence: Predictors of Perceived Usefulness of Risk Assessment Screening

Substantial research has demonstrated the value of using risk assessment tools for the prediction and management of violence risk, including for intimate partner violence (IPV) (Mills, Kroner, and Morgan 2011). Such tools have been advocated for use by police officers (Hilton, Grant, and Rice 2010), but little is known about police officers’ perceptions of using these tools to inform their decision-making. Using a sample of 159 Canadian police officers (73% male, M age =?41.8 years, SD?=?8.9), the current study examined police officer’s experiences with IPV risk tools, their attitudes about using such tools, and identified predictors of these attitudes using an online survey. Most of this sample had previously used an IPV risk tool, which was most commonly the Brief Spousal Assault Form for the Evaluation of Risk (64.1%). Most police officers rated use of risk tools as at least somewhat to extremely helpful (73.5%), and 67.4% indicated that they would use a risk tool with sufficient training on it. Regression analyses indicated that police officers’ perceived IPV risk tool usefulness was significantly predicted by older respondent age and greater perceived need for guidance in responding to IPV calls. In conclusion, most police officers view IPV risk screening as valuable for informing their responses to such calls for service and are likely to embrace such decision-aids with sufficient training on their potential impact for enhancing safety.     

Individual and Environmental Influences on Prison Officer Safety

Prison officers are exposed to violence and other safety risks at rates higher than workers in most occupations are, and indicators of workplace safety have been linked to a number of negative health and occupational outcomes among officers. Yet, few researchers have examined the sources of prison officer safety. Using data collected from over 1,800 officers working in 45 prisons, we apply a multi-level opportunity framework to examine the individual and environmental influences on objective and subjective measures of officer safety. Our analysis revealed that officer safety is affected by officers’ routines (e.g. frequency of contact with inmates) and characteristics that might reflect officers’ suitability as targets (e.g. age, race). We also observed that indicators of both micro- (e.g. coworker support) and macro-level (e.g. architectural design) guardianship influence prison officers’ safety.     

Reports call for end to harms caused by Criminal Code prohibitions surrounding prostitution

The sale of sexual services between consenting adults is legal under Canadian law, yet the Criminal Code prohibits many activities related to prostitution and the sex trade. As a result, many people who work in the sex trade come into conflict with the law. In recent reports, two Canadian organizations have called for the repeal of the current Criminal Code prohibitions on activities related to the sex trade. Pivot Legal Society's report, "Voices for Dignity: A Call to End the Harms Caused by Canada's Sex Trade Laws," was released in March 2004. The Conseil permanent de la jeunesse, a 15-member advisory panel to the Québec government, released "Prostitution de rue: avis" in April 2004.     

Extent and characteristics of woman batterers among federal inmates

Efforts to identify men who batter women in clinical settings have increased in recent years, but batterer research in United States federal prisons is lacking; low security federal prisons are logical places to consider batterer screening and treatment given the number of men, the domestic violence "risk markers" associated with these men and the likelihood they will be released and return to female partners. This study examined intake assessment data for 115 low security federal inmates. The inmates evidenced high levels of risk markers for woman battering, one in three (33%) acknowledged recent physical violence against women partners, 1 in 10 (13%) admitted severe violence, and the self-identified batterers showed more substance use and personality problems than other inmates. The findings suggest that batterer screening and treatment may be needed in federal prisons and that more research is warranted with a burgeoning male population that ultimately returns to society.     

White collar offenders under community supervision

This article presents an analysis of the beliefs held by federal probation officers concerning their role in supervising white collar offenders. The major finding is that this supervision is regarded by most officers as “going through the motions.” It is suggested that this attitude is in part due to the class standing and lifestyle of the typical white collar offender as it is perceived by probation officers. The question raised is whether community supervision of white collar offenders makes any sense, especially given the interactional patterns that typically develop between white collar offenders and their probation officers, which may facilitate denial of criminality by these offenders.     

Gender differences in occupational characteristics of Canadian correctional officers

As women have increasingly become employed as correctional officers in prisons for male offenders, questions have been raised as to how they may, or may not, differ from their male counterparts. To examine this issue questionnaires were sent to all 866 correctional officers who directly supervised male offenders in five prisons operated by the Correctional Service of Canada. Responses were obtained from 339 officers (39%), 86% of which were male and the remaining 14% female. Female officers were more likely to be unmarried, better educated, less interested in the custody aspect of the correctional officer role, younger, have less experience as a correctional officer, have higher levels of job satisfaction, and be more accepting of women as correctional officers than were their male colleagues. No gender related differences were found in the variables of race, rank, security level worked, stress level, and quality of the working relationship experienced with coworkers. Implications of the findings are discussed     

The loss of local control over prison administration

The present analysis argues that state governments lack the capacity to administer prisons, and that this lack of capacity explains the loss of local control over prisons more fully than does overcrowding or judicial activism. Administrative deficiencies among state governments include a lack of commitment and ability to comply with federal court orders, an unwillingness to institute certifiable grievance systems, and a lack of legal defense expertise. Characteristics of state governments which help to explain administrative deficiencies also are identified. Among these are a lack of gubernatorial power, high degrees of administrative autonomy and instability, and failures to treat prisons as limited resources. It is concluded that political development is required before state governments can regain control over prison administration.