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Prison and Its Afterlives: Haunting and the Emotional Geographies Of Prison and its Afterlives: Haunting and the Emotional Geographies of Formerly Incarcerated People’s Reintegration Experiences in Kingston, Ontario, Canada By Sophie Lachapelle A thesis submitted to the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada September 2020 Copyright © Sophie Lachapelle, 2020 This work is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence. To view a copy of the licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ii Abstract Kingston is undeniably a prison town. As the venue for Canada’s first prison and current home to nearly twenty percent of the nation’s federally incarcerated people in seven penitentiaries around the city, prisons undoubtedly influence the economic, political, and social life of Kingston. While Kingston’s identity as a prison town is touted by the local municipality as beneficial for the community, people who have been incarcerated and released into Kingston have a different story to tell. Reintegration – the process of leaving prison and re-entering the community – is inevitable for the majority of incarcerated people in Canada. However, people who are released from prison into Kingston have reported significant difficulties maintaining lasting or successful reintegration despite the overwhelming presence of local prisons, their supporting administration, and an extensive network of non-profit and charitable service providers. Reintegration into the community is not only a physically exhausting experience, but one that is emotionally fraught with feelings of anticipation, uncertainty, fear, anger, and boredom. Based on twenty-three interviews with formerly incarcerated people in Kingston, I argue that attending to the emotional geographies of reintegration in Kingston, where people both struggle with and resist violent reintegration discourses of risk and responsibility, is critical to developing a more equitable reintegration praxis. I contend that understanding how people with prison experiences feel in the community not only brings the ethics of current reintegration practices into question; it also reveals how neoliberal discourses of risk and responsibility extend beyond the walls of the prison, prolonging the haunting effects of the settler-colonial carceral state in the everyday lives of formerly incarcerated people. iii Acknowledgements First, I acknowledge that this research has taken place on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Nations and without the consent of these people or their Elders. Since the invasion of European colonizers, Indigenous people have been forcibly incarcerated and researched on reservations, in residential schools, and in the child welfare system, among other forms of confinement, on their own land. The incarceration of an increasingly large number of Indigenous people, especially Indigenous women, in our federal prisons over the last few decades is not a coincidence, but yet another manifestation of the systemic violence of the Canadian settler-colonial state against Indigenous nations. Abolishing the carceral state necessarily means abolishing settler-colonialism as the operational logic of Canada. I write in solidarity with these movements, and with the conviction to privilege Indigenous voices as I continue to learn about my own role in these oppressive systems. To my supervisor, Sammi, I am forever grateful to you for providing me with the support to grow, learn, and heal in one of the most intellectually challenging and emotionally tumultuous times of my life. Thank you for challenging me to push the boundaries of this project further than I ever thought they could go. I am truly grateful for your mentorship. To the people who graciously and generously offered their stories to this project with the hope that they would help to create a better experience for others, thank you. Thank you to Vicki, Steve, Tom, Emera, Jamie, Jack Spratt, Trav, Eddie, Rooster, Shanadora, Sara, Violet, Henry, Cam, Pedro, Billy-Bob, Chip, Brandi, Frank, Charlie, Chris, Dylan, and Stan. Your stories have changed my life, and the lives of many others, and will continue to shape the work that I do for as long as I continue to do it. For that, I will be forever grateful. iv To the staff and volunteers at all of the organizations who help me with this research by recruiting participants, distributing posters, and encouraging me in so many other ways. I would like to give special thanks to the Elizabeth Fry Society of Kingston and the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Kingston, thank you for warmly welcoming me into your communities. The time I spent in your agencies was transformative, not only for my research, but also for my personal perspective. I hope that this work only bolsters your powerful conviction to continue the necessary work that you do in our community. To Sera and Angela, I truly wouldn’t have been able to do any of this – ‘this’ not only meaning my thesis, but also more broadly, life – without you. Sera, I will always be grateful for the care that you gave me, the encouragement you blessed me with, and space you generously made for me to feel during my Master’s. I will always cherish these moments as the beautiful foundation for our friendship. Angela, (cue the Lord of the Rings soundtrack), the amount of time that you have given towards this thesis project is epic, not only through your incredible intellectual abilities, but also in the ways that you have advocated for and loved this research, even when I felt like I couldn’t. What an incredible blessing it is to be your friend. To my friends and colleagues, each of you has contributed to this project, as well as my health and wellbeing, in immeasurable ways. I hope I have the opportunity in the future to return the favour to each of you many times over. To my Mom, Dad, sister, and family, this thesis is a labour of your love as well, for if it wasn’t for you and the way you have loved me, I couldn’t have produced this monstrosity of a thesis. Mom, thank you for your unconditional encouragement. Dad, thank you for your academic ally ship. Tara, thank you for regularly checking in with me and giving me the space to v step away from my thesis by inviting me into your home every week. I love you each of you very much. To Jake, my partner (in life and crime), my gratefulness to you and your support of me over the past two years is beyond words. Thank you for respecting my time and passion for this work, while also consistently reminding me that my health and wellbeing come first. Your drop- everything-without-notice kind of support is what has sustained this thesis project in the midst of both overwhelming sadness and incredible joy. Thank you. I love you. vi Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... iv List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... ix Prelude .......................................................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Context ....................................................................................................................... 8 Carceral Pasts ............................................................................................................................ 12 Carceral Presents ....................................................................................................................... 15 Chapter 3: Literature Review .................................................................................................... 27 Critical Reintegration Studies ................................................................................................... 28 Risk Discourses in Reintegration .............................................................................................. 35 The Emotional Geographies of Prison ...................................................................................... 41 Chapter 4: Methods .................................................................................................................... 45 Complex Personhood ................................................................................................................ 46 Volunteering ............................................................................................................................. 49 Interviews .................................................................................................................................. 57 Narrative Inquiry ....................................................................................................................... 63 Chapter 5: Productive Denial .................................................................................................... 68 “When you’re in the system, it’s cause something happened
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