Résumés
Abstract
Lack of access to mental health care in Canadian correctional facilities is a serious and longstanding issue. Telepsychiatry, which entails the usage of information and communications technologies to provide remote mental health care to patients, has been demonstrated to be an effective model of mental health care provision in correctional facilities. The right to health care, including mental health care, of inmates is recognized in both international and domestic law. However, mental health conditions remain suboptimal in Canadian correctional facilities and are far below the standards which exist in the general community, leading to significant mental health disparities for inmates. Telepsychiatry can be viewed as a vector for increasing mental health equity in the correctional system and provides a promising opportunity for correctional facilities to meet their legal obligations to provide inmates with health care, including mental health care. This article explores the legal frameworks governing the provision of mental health care services in Canadian correctional facilities and highlights the role telepsychiatry can play in the fulfillment of these legal frameworks. It also explores the legal challenges facing the implementation of telepsychiatry in correctional facilities. Ultimately, despite these challenges, it argues that telepsychiatry should be more widely implemented in correctional facilities to ensure mental health equity for inmates.
Résumé
Le manque d’accès aux soins de santé mentale dans les établissements correctionnels canadiens est un problème grave et de longue date. La télépsychiatrie, qui consiste à utiliser les technologies de l’information et des communications pour fournir des soins de santé mentale à distance aux patients, s’est avérée être un modèle efficace de prestation de soins de santé mentale dans les établissements correctionnels. Le droit des détenus aux soins de santé, y compris aux soins de santé mentale, est reconnu dans le droit international et national. Cependant, les conditions de santé mentale restent sous-optimales dans les établissements correctionnels canadiens et sont bien en deçà des normes qui existent dans la communauté générale, ce qui entraîne des disparités importantes en matière de santé mentale pour les détenus. La télépsychiatrie peut être considérée comme un vecteur d’amélioration de l’équité en matière de santé mentale dans le système correctionnel et offre une occasion prometteuse aux établissements correctionnels de respecter leurs obligations légales de fournir aux détenus des soins de santé, y compris des soins de santé mentale. Cet article explore les cadres juridiques régissant la prestation de services de soins de santé mentale dans les établissements correctionnels canadiens et souligne le rôle que la télépsychiatrie peut jouer dans l’accomplissement de ces obligations juridiques. Il explore également les défis juridiques auxquels est confrontée la mise en oeuvre de la télépsychiatrie dans les établissements correctionnels. En fin de compte, malgré ces défis, l’article soutient que la télépsychiatrie devrait être plus largement mise en oeuvre dans les établissements correctionnels afin d'assurer l’équité en matière de santé mentale pour les détenus.
Parties annexes
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