Substance use frequency, device-sharing, and used substances in Canadian prisons: results from Correctional Service Canada’s National Health Survey Available to Purchase

Daniella Filoso is a Research Officer at Correctional Service Canada (CSC). She graduated with a Master of Science degree in Forensic Psychology from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (2021) in Oshawa, Canada. She also has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, with a concentration in Forensic Psychology (2019), from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Her research interests include substance use and health needs of people who are incarcerated. Some of her previous research has also focused on eyewitness memory and lie-telling among children and youth.

Kayla A. Wanamaker, PhD, is a Research Manager at CSC. She received a Doctorate degree in Psychology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada (2020). She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology (2012) and a Master of Arts degree in Psychology (2015) both from Carleton University. Her research interests include risk assessment and programming for justice-impacted women and strengths and protective factors.

Marie-Pierre Gendron is a Senior Research Officer at CSC. She received a baccalaureate in pharmacology from Université de Sherbrooke and a master’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences – medication and population health from Université de Montréal. She worked as an Epidemiologist for the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada before joining CSC in 2021.

Sara Johnson is the Senior Research Manager responsible for managing the Interventions and Women Offenders portfolio within the Research Branch at CSC. She has been conducting social science research within the federal public service, primarily in the area of criminal justice, since 1996. She has conducted research in diverse areas such as community corrections, addictions, women offenders, correctional programming and offender assessment. Ms. Johnson holds a master’s degree in Experimental Psychology from Carleton University, with a concentration in forensic psychology.

Wardah Mahboob graduated with a Master of Arts degree in Psychology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. She joined CSC in 2022 and is currently working as a Technical Analyst in the Policy Sector.

Jonathan Smith began his career as a public servant working in National HIV, STI, TB and retrovirus surveillance after obtaining a Master’s of Science in Epidemiology in 2000. Jonathan began working with CSC in 2004, first as an Epidemiologist on loan from Health Canada, and in 2010 he officially joined the Health Service Sector at CSC. He has been working in the area of HIV/HCV prevention for over 20 years, and more recently on policy implementation related to harm reduction and recovery for people who are incarcerated with substance use health needs.

Shannon M. Thompson is a PhD candidate at the University of Ottawa in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health. She received Bachelor’s degree in behaviour, cognition and neuroscience at the University of Windsor (2012), and Master of Neuroscience at the University of Ottawa (2018). She is currently employed by CSC. Her research interest is on co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorders in forensic populations.

Roger Martin is a Nursing project Manager. As a registered nurse who graduated in 1999, he originally worked in the community before entering CSC in 2002. Roger has extensive site experience as a frontline nurse, mentor and manager. It is in 2018 that he joined CSC’s health quarter and is now a part of substance use and harm reduction efforts mainly involved in the prison needle exchange programme and the overdose prevention service.

Lynne Leonard, PhD, is a recently retired Associate Professor in the School of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Ottawa where she founded and directed the HIV and HCV Prevention Research team. An active research investigator primarily focusing on harm reduction programmes for people who use and inject substances, Dr Leonard conducts research with and for the community. As a firm proponent of the necessity to transfer research findings to drive policy reformulation and programme change and development she has served as a member of many international, national, provincial and regional committees. As an independent academic evaluator and Principal Investigator, she is currently evaluating the acceptability among inmates, and feasibility among correctional and programme staff of two harm reduction programmes currently implemented in federal Institutions across Canada – the Prison Needle Exchange and the Overdose Prevention Service.

Paul Sandstrom, PhD, received his doctorate from the Department of Immunology at the University of Manitoba where he conducted research on the regulation of tumour progression by the immune system. After completing his post-doctoral research on immune cell regulation and responses to oxidative stress in North Carolina, Dr Sandstrom joined the HIV/AIDS and Retrovirology Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, as a research scientist. Since returning to Canada in 2002, he has been the Director of the National HIV and Retrovirology Laboratories, Public Health Agency of Canada. In this role, he has been responsible for planning, directing and managing laboratory research, surveillance and clinical testing programmes as part of the Federal Initiative on HIV/AIDS.