Overview

Disruptive Prisoners reconstitutes the history of Canada's federal prison system in the mid-twentieth century through a process of collective biography one involving prisoners, administrators, prison reformers, and politicians. This social history relies on extensive archival research and access to government documents, but more importantly, uses the penal press materials created by prisoners themselves and an interview with one of the founding penal press editors to provide a unique and unprecedented analysis. Disruptive Prisoners is grounded in the lived experiences of men who were incarcerated in federal penitentiaries in Canada and argues that they were not merely passive recipients of intervention. Evidence indicates that prisoners were active agents of change who advocated for and resisted the initiatives that were part of Canada's ""New Deal in Corrections."" While prisoners are silent in other criminological and historical texts, here they are central figures: the juxtaposition of their voices with the official administrative, parliamentary, and government records challenges the dominant tropes of progress and provides a more nuanced and complicated reframing of the post-Archambault Commission era. The use of an alternative evidential base, the commitment of the authors to integrating subaltern perspectives, and the first-hand accounts by prisoners of their experiences of incarceration makes this book a highly readable and engaging glimpse behind the bars of Canada's federal prisons.

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9781487508531

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A fascinating new analysis of Canadian prison history, with a focus on the voice of federal prisoners. The newsmagazines of the incarcerated - the 'penal press' - offer us a riveting window into how 'progressive' reforms played out on the ground. This is a critical contribution to our ongoing debate over 'prison reform' or 'prison abolition.' - Constance Backhouse, Distinguished University Professor and University Research Chair at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa

A fascinating new analysis of Canadian prison history, with a focus on the voice of federal prisoners. The newsmagazines of the incarcerated - the penal press - offer us a riveting window into how progressive reforms played out on the ground. This is a critical contribution to our ongoing debate over prison reform or prison abolition. - Constance Backhouse, Distinguished University Professor and University Research Chair at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa By giving a voice to long-silenced prisoners, Disruptive Prisoners may be the first genuine social history of the prison. By far the most original, engrossing, and important work in historical criminology in decades, this groundbreaking study should forever change the way the story of prison is told. - Shadd Maruna, Professor of Criminology, Queen's University Belfast This is a striking interdisciplinary work that centres the voices of imprisoned people in a history of penitentiaries in the twentieth century. Clarkson and Munn use an incredible range of newly discovered sources to write resistance and struggle into prison history and illustrate Canada's complicated legacy of failure and reform. A remarkable contribution to Canadian prison history. - Ted McCoy, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Calgary

Author Information

Chris Clarkson is a professor in the Department of History at Okanagan College. Melissa Munn is a professor in the Department of Sociology at Okanagan College.

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