The percentage of Indigenous inmates in federal women’s prisons has risen steadily over the last 20 years, hitting about 50 per cent overall and at least 72.3 per cent in Edmonton, the IJF has found.

“With our federal prisons designated for women having 50 per cent of the people incarcerated identifying as Indigenous, that represents to us a problem of mass incarceration,” said Emilie Coyle, executive director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.