An Exploration Into the Pains of Women's Federal Imprisonment in Canada

Abstract

The literature on women’s federal imprisonment in Canada is extensive and consistently highlights the Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC) failure to adequately address the unique needs and experiences of federally sentenced women. Despite the formal adoption of a women-centred approach to imprisonment following the release of the “Creating Choices” task force report in 1990, federally sentenced women continue to face many of the same hardships and deprivations that have historically characterized their imprisonment. Mobilizing Sykes’ (2007/1958) conceptualization of the “pains of imprisonment”, this thesis examines the deprivations associated with prison life as experienced by federally sentenced women in Canada through examining their written publications. By conducting a thematic analysis of a sample of publications retrieved from the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons, Cell Count magazine and prisoner newsletters available on the Penal Press website, this master’s study found that federally sentenced women have not only continuously experienced an array of deprivations associated with Sykes’ framework such as the deprivations of liberty, goods and services, romantic and desired intimate relationships, autonomy and security, but have also experienced other pains of imprisonment, including dehumanization, inadequate institutional services, and a lack of cultural and spiritual resources. In taking these harms of imprisonment into account, this study concludes that CSC has consistently failed to meet the needs of federally sentenced women, depriving them of opportunities for rehabilitation and meaningful change.