Exploring if Indigenous cultural programming in prison could influence a decline in the rate of incarceration of Indigenous women in Canada?

Abstract

This thesis explores the notion that if principled programming was fittingly available in Canadian prisons, a sense of healing may be gained for incarcerated Indigenous women thus giving rise to esteem in their life. Principled programming is thus defined as instances of learning which echoes opportunities to gain understanding and skill by using of a method which may resonate from inherent knowledge. I investigate if the insight acquired from participation in programming in prison is enough to transcend the impositions from the legal system which prevails over the high rate of incarceration of Indigenous women in Canadian prisons: Hence women finding their voice. The overall research examines if culturally fitting programming in Canadian prisons has enough promise to influence a decline of the future over-representation for Indigenous women. The primary objective is to identify to what extent the use of programming may contribute to a life of meaning for Indigenous women prisoners. The secondary objective is to identify barriers such as financial and political narratives that may demonstrate that a priority other than a common good for the women is at the forefront, thus contributing to a lower rate of incarceration. Indigenous storying method and auto-ethnographic inquiry are used to navigate the discourse and personal insights urging an analysis of the barriers that Indigenous women in prison encounter. To summarize, if the methods used within the current framework of criminalization are sufficiently bestowed, there may not be an incentive to change the judiciary’s, or the state’s methods in the incarceration of Indigenous women.