The high rate of Indigenous incarceration is a well-documented problem throughout Canada. Within mainstream discourses, this problem is often framed as the legacy or effects of colonialism, which has resulted in the systemic racism and cultural and socio-economic deprivation experienced by Indigenous people today. An increasing body of scholarly literature is challenging the assumption that colonialism is something of the past by looking at how its structures and logics persist today. Thus far, however, little consideration has been given to the colonial context and emergence of Indigenous incarceration in Canada. By tracing the historical links between modern colonialism and the emergence of the Canadian penitentiary into the present, this research reveals some of the hidden connections that contribute to the current rates of Indigenous incarceration and the relationship that continues to exist between colonialism and the penal system today. These findings highlight a socio-politics of incarceration that go beyond a crime and justice framework.

In 2020, while states worldwide were instituting large scale lockdowns and physical distancing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, those in penal and detention systems remained one of the most invisible and vulnerable populations to its spread. With limited resources and support, exposure for incarcerated and detained persons is heightened within confined spaces, lack of access to protective and sanitizing equipment, and grossly inadequate healthcare. Amid the pandemic, abolition groups and individuals emerged as a community of advocacy, resource, and support for those confined behind the walls. This contemporary comment shares some of the important organizing of abolitionists and anti-carceral groups throughout the land now known as Canada during the pandemic. These initiatives and activities included solidarity strikes and actions, twitter and social media campaigns, fundraising initiatives, news releases, conferencing and interviews, videos and online speaker panels, educational awareness and tools, caravans and rallies, and legal interventions among many others.

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Drawing on findings from prison inquiries and commissions, correctional policies and practices, news media accounts and prisoner testimonies, this article reconsiders the prevalence of violence against women in Canadian prisons. By adopting a broader conceptualization of violence, particularly as enacted and legitimated by the state, the article reveals how the prison setting generates a landscape of violence through the languages of gender and security, along with routine practices that come together to facilitate and heighten the conditions for violence to occur in seemingly, normal, benign, and necessary ways. This can include high risk designations, higher classifications, involuntary and forced transfers, deportation, strip-searches, administrative segregation, suicide watches, dry cells, transfers to men’s prisons, lack of medical attention, and the denial of support or service – all of which are often experienced in violent ways and can culminate into self-harm, suicide, and death. The more violent aspects of the prison system are made less visible through routine practices and a normal politics that minimize, obscure, or ignore violence. Given its inherently violent character, we have to question the use, necessity, and relevance of incarceration to enact justice.

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