Representations of female prisoners and prison staff in Canadian penal history museums

• In Event: Uncovering Histories of Crime, Violence and Victmization

Abstract

(Submission to the Prison Tourism panel, chaired by Jacqueline Wilson, Federation University Australia)

Paper: Representations of female prisoners and prison staff in Canadian penal history museums

Relative to their male counterparts, little research has been conducted on public portrayals of criminalized and incarcerated women, and even less is known about depictions of women at popular penal tourism venues around the world. This chapter examines representations of female prisoners and prison staff in Canadian penal history museums. We provide an in-depth analysis of data collected from 45 small and large penal tourism sites across Canada. The findings of our study suggest the experiences of female prisoners and staff are considered the minority, and remain largely invisible across the carceral field. Themes of violence, adultery, deception, and mental illness dominate the narratives of female prisoners in Canadian penal history museums. Criminalized women are constructed as doubly deviant, first for having broken the law, and second for having transgressed the normative boundaries of femininity. The authors make the recommendation to challenge hegemonic notions of femininity and masculinity within the criminal justice system and acknowledge the gendered nature of women’s criminal offending through the continued development of gender-sensitive approaches within the contemporary penal system.

Authors

• Ashley Chen, University of Ottawa

• Sarah Fiander, Wilfrid Laurier University