In an effort to extend understanding of the employment concerns faced by former prisoners released into the community, we draw from the voices of 24 individuals released from federal prison in Canada. We explore how the stigma imposed on individuals with prior experiences of incarceration interacts with the employment programming government and community-based agencies offer; particularly within the current climate of precarious employment. Findings evidence that participants, too often, attain employment involving manual labour and report experiencing low-wage and non-gratifying jobs, despite participation in pre-employment programming, which drives their re-evaluation and re-creation of career aspirations. We show how the conditions underpinning the movement toward employment for former prisoners can encourage the potential exploitation of their labour within both formal and informal job markets.

Current neoliberal ideology in Western society encourages individuals to self‐monitor their body to control population health. The resulting self‐surveillance includes weight management, promoted as a marker of health. Disordered eating, like anorexia, is framed as a health disorder. However, weight loss is framed as a health initiative; we argue that these framings are engaging with the same body project, encouraging thinness as a marker of health and good bio‐citizenry. Using content analysis to compare online blog context created by individuals engaged in weight loss and individuals who identify as pro‐anorexia, we argue and evidence that both groups are engaged in body projects with shared parameters. Findings suggest each group is striving to embody a thin ideal through weight management. Specifically, weight loss bloggers and pro‐ana bloggers demonstrate similar diet and exercise behaviours in online diaries detailing their weight loss experiences. Thus, weight loss and anorexia exist on the same spectrum of responsible bio‐citizenry.

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Carceral spaces such as prisons are designed to restrict freedoms and keep inhabitants confined and under surveillance through various mechanisms. As a result, prisons are spaces where movement is restricted through confinement, while prisoners’ ability to move is conflated with freedom. We aim to move beyond this dichotomy and consider a complex rethinking of the body in criminological theory and practice through dance in carceral space. In doing so, we explore under what conditions movement represents agentic practices. Understanding these nuances requires an interrogation of prisoner agency, including prisoners’ subtle maneuverability of power dynamics within the prison. We explore these dynamics using feminist and arts-based methods, specifically dance workshops delivered to twenty participants incarcerated in a Canadian provincial women’s prison. We find that movement and expression in prison may create moments of agentic freedom for incarcerated women under certain conditions. We argue that more nuanced understandings of incarcerated women’s agency can be found in their daily negotiations of time and space, and movement can provide numerous meanings. Our findings suggest arts-based approaches within prison environments create opportunities for women to express their identity and sexuality through movement in ways otherwise not permitted in prison. For many incarcerated women in this study, this sense of freedom may be associated with the ability to focus and take care of themselves while confined.