Mapping Carceral Education Programs for Mature Students in Ontario: A Case for Collective Learning

• In Event: Access to and Equity in Canadian Higher Education for Mature Students Symposium

Abstract

Objectives
While mature students face a plethora of challenges in returning to school, pursuing education inside of correctional institutions is an especially challenging realm to pursue HE – programming happens within explicitly carceral (Foucault, 2019) sites which necessitate security is prioritized over learning. “Imprisoned people frequently cite ‘voluntary participation in education programs […] as the only positive experience one may encounter while incarcerated,” (McAleese & Kilty, 2020) which sounds like a glowing endorsement. It is incumbent upon us, however, to interrogate the offerings. This paper incorporates a mapping and analysis of educational programming in corrections and mature students’ explorations of more supportive programming, which the author argues is grounded in abolitionist pedagogies (Davis, 2003; Wang, 2018).
Theoretical Framework & Perspectives
This paper uses the school-to-prison-nexus (Meiners, 2007), racial capitalism (Melamed, 2015) and settler colonialism (Rustbelt Abolition Radio, 2018) to draw connections between violence inflicted through systems. Commons theories (Federici, 2011; Huron, 2015; Ostrom et al, 1999; Saunders, 2014) are employed to highlight the ways that incarcerated adults already uphold collective power over spaces under state-control; making way for abolitionist pedagogies within custody. Abolition asks us to “enlarge our field of vision” (Davis, 2020) to reconsider the ways society is organized and build ways to exist fully, in relation with one another (Gilmore, 2007) – vastly different from the individualism placed on MS by systems of imprisonment. The author uses Stovall (2018) and Jackson & Meiners (2010) to identify how power operates in conflict resolution, knowledge creation and validation, and constructions of classroom safety.
Methodology & Data Sources
A scoping review (Ziam et al, 2024) using critical discourse analysis (Van Dijk, 2015) identifies the ways HE is (un)available to MS across 32 provincial jails and federal prisons in Ontario. Analyzing Statistics Canada and government web-pages, the marrying of schooling structures and oppressive penal structures is highlighted. Through critical autoethnography (Iosefo et al., 2021), the author uses experience as an educator within provincial jails, federal prisons, and community programs with MS in HE, to draw conclusions.
Findings & Scholarly Significance
Mature students within correctional facilities pursuing basic, high school, and higher education face multiple barriers to success including a lack of program continuity, specialized support, funding and tools, offerings and anti-oppressive/affirming pedagogy. A closer look at the offerings highlights an emphasis on character education, with traits determined and taught by corrections staff, reflecting dominant ‘norms.’ Through observations of correctional units, the author considers the ways incarcerated people take ownership over a space that does not belong to them – creating a ‘commons’ of sorts. Collective learning models, demonstrated through these glimpses of collective life and a decentralization of state power (Ostrom, 1999) provide clear examples of abolitionist frameworks. Abolitionist pedagogy centres collective futures and reimagine education programs that move beyond reformist gap-filling (Ben-Moshe, 2018) and prison-expanding ventures (Rodriguez, 2019), towards transformative education that involves collective care-taking, interconnected futures, and building of networks, sites, and languages that facilitate self-determination and liberation (Meiners, 2016).

Author

• Dargine Rajeswaran, University of Toronto - OISE