Daniel Antonowicz and John Winterdyk
Due in part to the growing concern of in-custody deaths and limited response by corrections officials, in-custody deaths have garnered considerable attention both in Canada and internationally. While preventing all deaths in custody is not possible, there may be opportunities to intervene in order to prevent some of these deaths. Identification of the factors that may contribute to in-custody deaths could assist in the development of interventions to address this issue. This commentary proposes that a national database of in-custody deaths be established in Canada that collects detailed information on all deaths in federal, provincial, and police custody. This database would help to objectively inform custodial policies and practices and allow comparisons with other jurisdictions.