Write a six to nine-page (1500-2250 words) essay that relates and applies the course material found in Module Eight to two of the online videos.
Videos:
● Behind the Wall; 2010 (video; 49:00 CC) https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2675576109
● Life Inside Out; 2005 (video, 1:13:29 CC) https://www.nfb.ca/film/life_inside_out/
Module 8, Section 8.1:
“Canada doesn’t have to execute people anymore, just sentence them to neglect.”Allan
Fotheringham, Maclean’s, October 18th, 1976 (Module 8, Section 8.1, Section 8.1: The pains
of Imprisonment)
“The society has stated that the offender is unfit to live with others. The offender cannot be
trusted to behave properly and has been told in official terms, that society demands he/she be
caged and controlled.” (Module 8, Section 8.1, Section 8.1: The pains of Imprisonment)
Every period of incarceration is a slow-motion death penalty. One year in an American
prison takes two years off a person’s life, and five years in a US prison increases a person’s
chances of dying by 78% during that period (Widra, 2017). Similarly, Canadian inmates are
said to be “aging 10 years faster in the prison community than in the regular community”
(Cooper, 2021). The average age of death for a Canadian federal inmate is around 60 while
the average outside is 78 for men and 83 for women (Dimatteo, 2016). (Module 8, Section
8.1, Health Effects)
The results of self-report surveys indicate that victimization in prison is substantially higher
than that revealed by official data collected on security incidents. One survey of 117 inmates
recorded 30 assaults, 23 threats of violence, 6 sexual assaults, 4 robberies, and 3 extortions –
with weapons present in about one third of the cases (CSC, n.d.).(Module 8, Section 8.1,
Violence and Overcrowding)
This acceptance of violent ‘prison justice’ has meant that the sexual assault of inmates enjoys
a type of public approval and even comedic value (e.g., “Don’t drop the soap”), resulting in a
culture that frames sexual assault as an appropriate part of prison life (Struckman-Johnson,
2006). A public opinion poll in the Boston Globeshowed that half of the respondents
accepted sexual assault as a part of the pains of imprisonment (Sennot, 1994). This attitude
makes the public complicit in brutal sexual assaults, although several factors have begun
shifting public opinion on this topic. (Module 8, Section 8.1, Sexual Violence)
The transformation of a persons’ identity to that of prisoner’s can trigger a radical
re-evaluation of their own self-worth and can include mourning for their lost previous
identity in a manner that resembles the traditional five stages of grief in the Kübler-Ross
model of accepting a serious loss: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
(Module 8, Section 8.1, Social and Psychological Damage)
Solitary confinement is the physical and social isolation of an individual for 22 to 24 hours a
day, and it is considered to be a form of psychological torture. Known as a “prison within a
prison,” segregation is harsh, punitive, and a long-identified risk factor in suicide (Office of
the Correctional Investigator, 2014). (Module 8, Section 8.1, Solitary Confinement and
Segregation)
Between 1999 and 2009, there were an average of 91 deaths per year in Canadian
correctional institutions, with 35% being ‘non-natural’ – meaning they occurred due to suicide
(15%), overdose (10%), or homicide (10%) (CSC, 2011). An average of 18 ‘non-natural’
deaths occurred every year in federal prisons. Of the 150 cases of attempted suicide and
self-harm, an average of 13 Canadian prisoners will die every year (12.5 males and 0.5
females) resulting in a suicide rate of approximately 70 to 80 per 100,000. This rate has
dropped since the 1980s’ high of 103 per 100,000 population, and remains much higher than
the general population rate of 10 suicides per 100,000. (Module 8, Section 8.1, Suicide)