Punished for Aging
Vulnerability, Rights, and Access to Justice in Canadian Penitentiaries
Vulnerability, Rights, and Access to Justice in Canadian Penitentiaries
Building on an original study with almost two hundred older incarcerated individuals, this book explores systemic problems that infiltrate the body of the Canadian federal correctional system and other institutions that engage with prisoners.
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Wow, I'm angry. But, hopeful? Perhaps that's naive.
I really appreciated the structure of this book. Taking the first section, near 80 pages to discuss the findings of a study based on interviews with nearly 200 inmates over 50 years old, the unique ways they are vulnerable, at higher risk, and shortchanged by existing carceral policy which was not developed with an aging, (or chronically ill, or disabled) population in mind.
From there the author broke down the types of reform needed, and then goes into chapters of how, based on the way the system is NOW, various options for prisoners to attempt to push reform, or even just improve their situations of the moment, and the various downsides.
I was simultaneously dispirited and encouraged by her detailed scenarios, because they point out the historical failures as well as the current options.
Iftene is very clear on all the ways the Correctional Service of Canada, the broader justice system and the Government of Canada has failed not just the more vulnerable subsection focused on, but prisoners in general, and continues to do so; the regulatory bodies that need to be given more authority to help independently push for reform because these institutions cannot be trusted to do it themselves.
While reading memoirs or studies focused primarily on prisoner experience has been valuable, reading that material makes me want to find books like this: mostly focused on outlining solutions, backed by a lot of knowledge, including forms of release, particularly those that would apply to a senior population.
I'm still on the lookout for books that go in depth on the practical steps for prison abolition, but short term, I'll take evidence that there is a way forward that acknowledges the many mistakes of the past and pushes for better in the future.
