Incarceration, Community Corrections, and Justice
Origins of Prisons
Age of Enlightenment:
Emphasized rationality, free will.
Belief that criminal behavior could be changed.
Shift from public punishment to private incarceration.
Prisons aimed to control those threatening the capitalist system.
The Penitentiary
Penitentiary Act (1779, Britain):
Introduced solitary confinement for reflection and reform.
Focus on silent contemplation and productive labor as pathways to moral reform.
Central idea: Isolation leads to penitence.
Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon
Design Features:
Circular structure allowing surveillance from a central tower.
Aim: Inducing self-regulation through "permanent visibility".
Foucault's Perspective (1975):
Shift from punishing the body to punishing the soul.
Surveillance becomes internalized in individuals, altering behavior.
Competing Models of Prison Design
Pennsylvania System:
Emphasizes solitary confinement, silence.
Promotes religious reflection, moral introspection.
New York (Auburn) System:
Focus on group labor during the day and strict discipline.
Allows for communal spaces but maintains rigorous silence.
Racial, Gender, and Indigenous Incarceration
Socially constructed differences affect criminal justice outcomes.
Critiques by feminist and Indigenous scholars highlight the "white male offender norm".
Disparities for women, racial minorities, and Indigenous peoples:
Higher incarceration rates.
Unique needs and experiences within prison systems.
Indigenous Inmates
2016 Profile:
71% of Indigenous inmates had foster care experience.
96% connected offenses to substance use.
73% had connections with residential schools.
2020s Trends:
Over 30% of federal inmates are Indigenous (compared to only 5% of the population).
42% of federally incarcerated women are Indigenous.
Healing Lodges & Restorative Justice
Healing Lodges:
Spaces focused on Indigenous approaches to justice and spirituality.
Restorative Justice:
Emphasizes healing and community involvement.
Uses shame for accountability but has critiques on effectiveness and victim pressure.
Community Corrections & Bail
Community Corrections:
Alternatives to incarceration: bail, parole, probation, treatment.
Focus on supporting reintegration and reducing reoffending.
Exists pre, during, and post-sentence; less punitive but warns against over-reliance.
Bail in Canada vs. U.S.:
Canada:
Conditional or surety bail.
Majority released pre-trial; Charter rights applicable.
U.S.:
Cash bail system; higher inequality and risk-based denial.
Ontario Bail Trends:
65-70% in provincial jails are on remand.
Increase in failure to comply charges; barriers to compliance include health and economic factors.
Revolving Door & Pre-trial Custody
Pre-trial bail violations lead to further charges.
Black and Indigenous individuals face higher denial rates for bail.
Time spent in remand leads to:
Increased likelihood of pleading guilty.
Harsher sentencing outcomes.
Parole & Conditional Release
Parole:
Not a reduction of sentence; it's supervised conditional release.
Governed by the Parole Board of Canada (PBC).
Correctional Service Canada (CSC) supervises parolees.
Most parolees complete sentences successfully.
Myths Debunked:
Parole is not automatic or a method for reducing punishment.
Special Inmate Populations
Young Offenders:
Representation: 15% federally, 25% provincially under 25.
80% lack high school diplomas; debates about adult facility placements.
Transgender Inmates:
Since 2018, placements based on gender identity.
Ensures gender-inclusive language and privacy rights.
Mental Health in Prison:
High prevalence of mental illness among inmates; prisons seen as large psychiatric facilities.
Intersectionality
Framework for analyzing how different identities intersect (race, gender, class, sexuality).
Important for understanding disparities in criminal justice.
Alternatives, Justice, and Abolition
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG):
National Inquiry highlighted systemic violence and discrimination.
231 Calls for Justice aim for action across law enforcement sectors.
Alternatives to Incarceration:
Aim for community solutions; incarceration should be a last resort.
Use fines, restitution, and community programs instead of jail.
Restorative Justice (RJ):
Focus on offenders taking responsibility and involving the community.
Key principles include inclusion, accountability, and offering opportunities for healing.
Prison Abolition Movement
Angela Davis argues prisons are outdated tools for social control.
Points towards the Prison Industrial Complex driven by profit motives.
Decarceration Perspective (Clare Culhane):
Advocates that 80% of inmates could be released without risk to society.
Only 5% should remain incarcerated due to danger.
Final Exam Format & Prep Tips
Date: Monday, April 14th, 2025 — 7:00–9:00 PM
Location: ROZH 104
Focus Areas:
Lectures 10.1, 10.2, 11.1, 11.2, 12.0
Gorkoff Chapters 9–12.
Not cumulative, but overarching themes may appear.
Complete all Kahoots and review linked videos for comprehensive understanding.
Watch the Bridging Divides documentary as part of preparation.\
Revel
Dynamic Risk Factors
Characteristics associated with inmate needs that can be modified with programming and are often related to criminogenic risk
Gender dysphoria
A conflict between a person's physical sex and self-perceived gender
Hands-Off Doctrine
The idea that government and the public should leave corrections in the hands of experts
Healing Lodges
Facilities designed to meet the correctional needs of Indigenous inmates
Maximum-Security Facilities
Facilities reserved for those of the highest risk, who have a high likelihood of escape and of harming people if they did escape
Medical Model of Corrections
A therapeutic approach to prison policy, treating crime like a medical illness
Medium-Security Facilities
Facilities that are enclosed by fences but still allow some freedom of movement for inmates
Minimum-Security Facilities
Prisons that have no walls or fences, and inmates are free to walk around except at night, when they are locked in their rooms
Moral Architecture
The term used to describe the space and organization of the penitentiary to enforce order and morality
Pains of Imprisonment
The deprivations of daily life experienced by prisoners
Parole
The release of an inmate from a prison prior to the expiration of their sentence, subject to certain conditions and behaviours
Policy of Normalization
A set of correctional practices aimed at making inmates "normal"—in the sense of the law-abiding, morally appropriate, Christian citizen of Canada-through disciplinary practices
Prison Abolitionist
Someone who calls for the elimination of prisons and the prison system
Prisonization
The socialization process whereby inmates learn the accepted norms and values of the prison population
Reintegration
The process of assimilating someone back into society
Responsivity Principle
The concept that treatment must be delivered to the offender in such a way that they can benefit from it, taking into account each offender's abilities, experiences, and learning style
Segregation, or Protective Custody
The housing of inmates in units separate from the general population, for either disciplinary or administrative reasons
Static Risk Factors
Characteristics of inmates that cannot be modified with programming
Structured Intervention Units
Segregation units where individuals have access to space and programming, as opposed to being locked alone in a cell
Third-Generation Assessment Instruments
Empirically based tools using a variety of factors, including dynamic risk factors and criminogenic needs
Total Institutions
Places where individuals' movements, freedom, and daily thoughts are strictly controlled, such as hospitals, psychiatric facilities, schools, and prisons
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
A government inquiry organized to collect and share stories and experiences with Indian residential schools
Canadian Victims Bill of Rights
Legislation passed in 2015 outlining who is considered a victim of crime, what are the rights to information, restitution, protection, as well as participation in the criminal justice process
Community-Based Residential Facility
(CBRF) A halfway house that can be a stand-alone building, such as a supervised apartment, a hostel, a private home placement, or a community bed in an existing facility
Community Notification
The requirement to let a community know if a high-risk offender has been released into the community
Conditional Release
Methods for an offender to spend supervised time in the community before final release from prison
Conditional Sentence
A sentence allowing individuals to serve an incarceration order in the community under certain conditions
Day Fine
The calculation of a unit of a fine based on one's daily income, reducing it to a daily cost to be paid over time
Day Parole
A form of release from an institution whereby offenders are granted permission to spend days outside the facility for a variety of reasons
Detention Review Process
The process by which the detention of an accused is assessed to ensure that they are not needlessly detained
Electronic Supervision
(EM) Use of electronic or digital technology to monitor an offender
Escorted Temporary Absence
(ETA) Permission for an eligible offender to be escorted from the normal place of confinement for medical, administrative, community service, family contact, personal development for rehabilitative purposes, or compassionate reasons, including parental responsibilities
Expiry of Sentence
The date when a court-sanctioned sentence has run its full time
Fine Option Program
A program allowing offenders to work off their fines by performing community service or other types of work
Folk Devil
Any person or group perceived to pose a threat to the traditional values and institutions of society (McCormick, 2018)
Full Parole
A form of conditional release that allows an offender to serve part of a prison sentence in the community
Indigenous Cultural Advisor
A consultant who attends a parole hearing and who plays a key role in developing and implementing culturally appropriate release plans
Intensive Supervision Order, or Intensive Supervision Probation
(ISP) Probation that includes more restrictive supervision to individuals who are at higher risk of committing serious crimes
Net Widening
The inclusion of individuals in the criminal justice system by sentencing them to a community sanction, whereas without a community sanction, they would have been released
Pains of Probation
The emotional, economic challenges that probationers may experience while under probation supervision in the community (Griffiths, 2019)
Pains of Re-Entry
The difficulties that inmates released from prison encounter as they try to adjust to life in the community
Parole
A form of release from an institution whereby offenders serve part of their sentence in the community
Parole Board of Canada
(PBC) An independent administrative tribunal that makes decisions about conditional release, record suspension and clemency decisions
Recidivate
Committing a criminal act after being convicted and treated/punished for a criminal offence
Sex Offender Registry
A system whereby the government can track the location of sex offenders
Statutory Release
The requirement that federally sentenced offenders serve the final third of their sentence in the community, under supervision and under conditions of release similar to those imposed on offenders released on full parole
Supervision
The direct monitoring of and communication with offenders
Temporary Absence
A measure that allows an offender to be away from the incarceration facility for a particular period
Unescorted Temporary Absence
(UTA) Permission for an eligible offender to be away from the normal place of confinement for medical, administrative, community service, family contact, personal development for rehabilitative purposes, or compassionate reasons, including parental responsibilities without an escort
Work Release Program
A structured program of release of specified duration for work or community service outside the penitentiary, under the supervision of a staff member or other authorized person or organization
Age-Graded Levels of Criminal Accountability
The idea that individuals who are not adults should not be held to the level of responsibility that adults are
Child Welfare Approach
The idea that the state should act as a bridge between troubled kids and the help they need, with government intervention focused on treatment and protection
Diversion
An intervention strategy whereby young offenders must complete required programming that helps them deal with circumstances that lead to their offending and/or repairs harm caused by their actions
Doli Incapax
English common law doctrine stating that children under the age of 7 were incapable of doing harm and those between ages of 7 and 14 should not be prosecuted unless the Crown can effectively argue differently
Extrajudicial Measures
Criminal justice actions taken outside of the official criminal justice process
Intersectionality
The idea that various social characteristics, such as race, sexuality, social class, and gender, overlap and contribute to the lived realities of individuals lives
Juvenile Delinquency
The term popularized in the 1900s to describe violations of the law by those under the age of adulthood
Net Narrowing
The situation in which youth who have been diverted struggle to access adequate resources
Parens Patriae
A legal doctrine by which the state assumes the duty to act as parent for a child when the parents cannot control or care for them
Populist
Appealing to or aiming at popular concerns among the public. In the context of criminal justice, this may include tough-on-crime style legislation or policy (Popham & Antonowicz, 2020)
Responsible Person
An adult (other than a parent or guardian) who is willing and able to exercise control over a young person in order for them to be released prior to trial (Reid, 2017, p. 380)
Restorative Justice
A type of justice focused on seeking reconciliation between the offender and the victim and on restoring the offender to the community, based on a holistic philosophy suggesting that an offender, victim, and community are all connected
Youth Justice Committee
A committee made up of citizens empowered by the government to assist in any aspect of the administration of the YCJA and related services for young people on a case-by-case basis
Youth Justice Conference
A meeting convened by a youth justice court judge, police officer, justice of peace, prosecutor, or youth worker to make a decision required by the YCJA, such as an extrajudicial measure, conditions for release, sentences, or reintegration plans