Women in Prison: Liberty, Equality, and Thinking Outside the Bars

Abstract

, a judge of the Saskatchewan Provincial Court dismissed an application by the Crown to have Marlene Carter declared a Dangerous Offender. 1 Marlene is Cree, a member of the Onion Lake First Nation. She experienced horrific physical and sexual abuse as a child. At 13, she tried to shoot herself. Since then, she has attempted suicide several times, once by stabbing herself in the stomach. She has spent much of her adult life in prison, having received her first custodial sentence for robbery of a convenience store at the age of 17. Like too many Indigenous women, she accumulated numerous new charges from incidents in prison, thereby lengthening her sentence. In seeking the dangerous offender designation, the Crown relied on numerous charges of assault, all committed while Marlene was in prison. Only one of the assaults resulted in serious injuries. In corrections-speak, Marlene has very poor "institutional adjustment," meaning she did not become compliant in prison, but rather, engaged in resistance including repeated acts of self-harm. 2 She has a history of drug and alcohol abuse. Her mental health deteriorated sharply in prison to the point that Marlene compulsively bangs her head violently. Correctional staff use force, restraint, and extended periods of segregation to control her. As reported by the CBC on the day of the Provincial Court decision, Marlene "appeared via video link, strapped in a chair to keep her from harming herself. There was also a square patch of gauze covering her forehead. At one point, [she] used a free hand to remove the gauze. Beneath it there was a large red sore." 3 After the court ruling, Marlene was transferred to a psychiatric hospital 1 R v Carter, 2014 SKPC 150 (Whelan J). A person who is designated a Dangerous Offender by a sentencing judge, in accordance with the requirements of s. 753 of the Criminal Code, receives an indefinite prison sentence with limited eligibility for parole. It is an extreme sanction and only a handful of women have been declared Dangerous Offenders since the provision's enactment in the 1970s. See Dominique Valiquet, "The Dangerous Offender and Long-term Offender Regime,

Governing Through Remorse: The Discursive Framing of Dangerous Offenders in Canada

“…Marginalized life circumstances tend to be funneled within a logic of risk management as factors that equate with higher risk-assessment scores for Indigenous criminalized people. This is especially the case for Indigenous women who may be pathologized as victims and criminalized due to biased risk assessment processes (Balfour 2012; Parkes 2016). Parkes (2016) argues that applying a “neutral” risk classification tool or DO regime to Indigenous women does not produce a just result, as life experiences and strategies of survival and resistance have been shaped by profound inequality and trauma flowing from colonial state policies and practices.…”

“…This is especially the case for Indigenous women who may be pathologized as victims and criminalized due to biased risk assessment processes (Balfour 2012; Parkes 2016). Parkes (2016) argues that applying a “neutral” risk classification tool or DO regime to Indigenous women does not produce a just result, as life experiences and strategies of survival and resistance have been shaped by profound inequality and trauma flowing from colonial state policies and practices. Media reporting does not speak to this complicated reality in the court arena.…”

Looking Back, Looking Forward

“…Since at least the 1990s, feminist scholars have turned a critical eye on the extent to which feminist-inspired law reforms to address violence against women have been absorbed or co-opted by punitive agendas and contributed to increasingly criminalized societies (Bumiller, 2008;Snider, 1994). Some feminists, including Debra, have developed anti-carceral feminist analyses following these insights (Baldry et al, 2015;Davis, 2003;Monture, 2006;Parkes, 2016). As described by Carlton, anti-carceral feminism is a unique voice within the prison abolitionist movement, one 'grounded in intersectional feminist critiques, strategies, and actions driven to struggle against and undermine structures of oppression that give rise to violence and injustice' (2016: 3), engaging strategically with reform efforts in pursuit of decarceration and structural change.…”