Mental Health, Violence, and Corrections Canada: A Critical Discourse Analysis of 2 Reports Published by CSC on Mental Health in Federal Corrections

Abstract

This critical discourse analysis aims to explore the construction of discourses on mental health inside of Canadian federal corrections through analysis of two reports published by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). Simultaneously utilizing Mad and Critical Disability studies as a theoretical framework, I engage with the material to examine the ways that individuals with mental health concerns are constructed in the texts. Results indicate that CSC relies on medical and individual understandings of mental health and (re)produce discourses of violence and risk as well as individual deficiency or otherness within their texts. Ways in which CSC operationalizes these discourses are explored and include violent treatments for those with mental health concerns such as segregation, forced medication, labelling, and restraint or use of force. An analysis of the ways in which CSC maintains their power and domination over discourse regarding mental health concerns in Canadian corrections is examined, including critiques of the ways they ensure erasure and silencing of mental health consumers as well as their lack of attention to historical, political and social implications in their texts. This research reveals how CSC uses negative discourses, namely discourses of violence or risk and medical or individual deficiency, to authorize various violences on those with mental health concerns within federal corrections.