Research Programs

This participatory action research explores the impact, current and potential, of education on Indigenous people in the carceral continuum, which ranges from prison to the various institutions that promote socio-community reintegration. 

It is part of a two-stage decolonial approach: upstream, an innovative methodology and research partnership; downstream, social innovations designed for and with Indigenous people. The research will serve to break down the perceptions and practices of the various education stakeholders in the carceral continuum such as detention facilities, school service centres, community organizations and social rehabilitation services, and half-way houses.

Based on the principle that education in prison includes both school programs and initiatives developed by community organizations or Indigenous communities, we will document innovative practices in education, identify the positive aspects and challenges encountered by Indigenous people, based on their perception of these services. Finally, we will be speaking with Indigenous people who are incarcerated, or who have been incarcerated in the past, to get their views on education services, whether they have attended them or not.

Then, we will co-construct tools for organizations and intervention settings with partners, based on a better understanding of the needs of Indigenous people. Our multidisciplinary and collaborative approach will promote the improvement of services from a cultural safety perspective that includes both the decolonization of environments and the valorization of Indigenous cultures and knowledge. The project will integrate the perspectives of social reintegration stakeholders and First Peoples to develop a social innovation model that will help improve the programs offered by prison institutions and promote the implementation of programs that respond to the socio-economic and cultural realities of First Peoples.

Research Team

• Frédérick Armstrong, UNESCO Chair in Prison Education, Principal Researcher, Cégep Marie-Victorin
• Marc-André Lacelle, co-holder of the UNESCO Chair for Education in Prisons, Principal Researcher, Cégep Marie-Victorin
• Anne-Andrée Denault, Professor of Sociology, Cégep de Trois-Rivières
• Mylène Jaccoud, Full Professor of Criminology, Université de Montréal

Partners and collaborators

• Ministère de la Sécurité publique (MSP)
• Secrétariat aux relations avec les Premières Nations et les Inuit
• Sûreté du Québec
• Transition Centre-sud
• Maison St-Laurent
• Centre résidentiel communautaire Abitibi-Témiscamingue Nord-du-Québec (CRCANTQ)
• Renée Brassard, École de travail social et de criminologie, Université Laval
• Lisa Ellington, École de travail social et de criminologie, Université Laval
• Services parajudiciaires autochtones du Québec (SPAQ)
• Makivvik
• Centre de guérison Waseskun
• Centre de Justice des Premiers Peuples de Montréal
• Centre Gilles Jourdain Kapatakan
• Jean-Pierre Mercier, Éducation et formation spécialisées, UQÀM
• Justin C. Tetrault, Sociology and Indigenous Studies, University of Alberta
• Marie-Ève Marchand, Sentinelle Nord – Université Laval

Lyne Bisson and Frédérick Armstrong, 2024

Several studies show that education in prison has positive impacts on society and on the individuals who take part in it by contributing to their social and community reintegration. Most of these studies attempt to measure the associations between program participation and recidivism or employment integration. In this context, the impact of the various educational activities in prisons is considered positive if they contribute to reducing the recidivism rate and if they enable ex-prisoners to find employment. However, while these studies are important, they do not identify :

1. why the programs work or not;
2. how learners persevere despite the harsh conditions of prison life;
3. Why do some people not have the opportunity, motivation or resources to enroll or complete a program?

In addition, these studies generally do not give a voice to incarcerated learners.

We believe that one of the first steps in improving education services in prisons is to paint a picture that draws on the experience and knowledge of the key stakeholders: the learners. To begin this portrait, we interviewed 46 people (28 men and 13 women incarcerated and 5 professionals in the field of education in prison) in order to report what they think is the meaning and effects of education in prison. These individuals were interviewed between November 2021 and April 2023 in five provincially regulated detention facilities: Hull, Laval (Leclerc), Montréal, Québec City and Saint-Jérôme.

The content of the semi-structured interviews with each of the participants was the subject of a qualitative analysis that highlights trends, common themes or significant elements of the experience of education in prison. We note that access to formal or non-formal education programmes is sometimes difficult because of the security constraints inherent in prison life, but also for institutional and situational reasons that could be avoided. For example, currently available programs do not meet the needs of people who already have a high school diploma or who are not sufficiently literate. Despite this, the experience of education in prison is generally positive for learners who say that school is a safe haven that significantly reduces the suffering of confinement and gives meaning and usefulness to the time spent in detention. The successes and positive relationships built with teachers help to (re)build the kind of self-esteem and sense of competence that contribute to looking to the future with more hope and that can play a role in the process of self-isolation of learners. These effects are manifested even in people who say they follow programs simply to "pass the time" and who do not have a great motivation for learning as such. Finally, it is also interesting to note that many of the people who spoke to us do not see education in prison as a right and that they feel privileged to have access to training. This does not weaken our beliefs in the right to education of incarcerated people, but it does lead us to reconsider how these programs are presented to encourage participation. 

This qualitative portrait offers our community and institutional partners a unique perspective that, we hope, can contribute to innovation in prison education, to an improvement in the offer of training in prisons and to an increase in the participation and retention rate in training. We also believe that we will provide our partners with a report that can lead to the following benefits :

1. review of prison education practices;
2. improvement of the training offer in prisons;
3. increased participation in prison education programmes in all their forms;
4. Placing prison training in a continuum of rehabilitation that goes from prison to the outside.

Keywords : Prison education, adult education, desistance, social reintegration, provincial prison environment, Quebec

Link to the full report
Link to a summary of the report
Link to presentation of the project at the 2023 ACFAS Congress
Interview on the Isabelle Richer show on RDI

Frédérick Armstrong, Lucie Alidières and Nathalie Auger, LHUMAINE, (1)

Link to the article

Summary

Vulnerability is an issue at the heart of our humanity, whether physical or psychological. In the digital age and advanced technologies, it seems that the tools offered often aim to overcome vulnerabilities, disabilities, for example. More recently, people who can empirically be described as vulnerable, such as prisoners or migrants, have benefited from digital technology. However, things may not be so simple. After a problematization of the notion of vulnerability, a discussion based on these two types of audiences will allow us to discuss both the concept of vulnerability and the uses of digital technology.

Frédérick Armstrong

In Gagnon, B., Hamrouni, N., Paradis Simpson (2022). La justice, la vulnérabilité et le politique autrement. Presses de l’Université Laval. https://books.scholarsportal.info/en/read?id=/ebooks/ebooks7/upress7/2022-10-20/1/9782763757841

In his commentary on the work of the French philosopher Marie Garrau, an expert on the concept of vulnerability, Frédérick Armstrong draws on the reality of education in prison to demonstrate the importance of recognizing and assuming the political functions specific to different conceptions of vulnerability.

After commenting on Garrau's work and showing its relevance and limitations when it comes to understanding the notion of vulnerability in different politically charged contexts such as prisons, Armstrong concludes that people who care about education in prison and who use the concept of vulnerability to report urgent situations should be inspired by a critical politics of vulnerability such as Marie Garrau's. For example, the principle of protection of vulnerable persons, which drives the desire to contribute to the social reintegration of incarcerated persons, including through education in prison, must be balanced by two principles of recognition: first, we must acknowledge the inevitability of vulnerability as a capacity to suffer and, second, recognize the particular vulnerabilities to which certain individuals are exposed.

Frédérick Armstrong

This reflection on the future of knowledge mobilization, commissioned by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, explores the unique challenges of education in a prison setting.

Indeed, while it is always delicate, even difficult, to create solid links in the Researchers-Decision-Makers-Practitioners axis, research fields such as education in prisons, which are interested in the fundamental rights of a marginalized population, bring into play conflicts of values and ideological differences that complicate the dynamics of knowledge mobilization.

Frédérick Armstrong drew on the content of interviews with people interested in education in prisons working across the researcher-decision-maker-practitioner axis, on the scientific literature and on his experience to identify contributing factors for knowledge mobilization in this kind of field. First, there is a need to cultivate healthy and effective communication between researchers and practitioners by trying to "popularize research and theorize practice." Second, we must not neglect the importance of examples and testimonies as key contributors in raising awareness and, ultimately, mobilizing knowledge. We must also recognize the importance of political sensitivity in the construction of networks. To do this, those engaged in knowledge mobilization or in the promotion of education in prison must be aware of the existence of disagreements about the primary function of the penal system. Finally, we must find ways to change the image of prisoners in the imagination of the public and the various people who work with them. In other words, it gives correctional service staff the opportunity to see people in the criminal justice system as participants in a meaningful educational project that promotes citizenship in the making.

Armstrong also concludes that the context of education in prison shows the importance of thinking about knowledge mobilization beyond the Researchers-Decision-Makers-Practitioners axis. Part of the knowledge mobilization efforts must indeed be directed towards the general population, for example by promoting the dissemination of research in mainstream media and by giving a voice to incarcerated people.

Link to the publication

Geneviève Perreault and Jean-François Meilleur

Summary

The first systematic inventory of educational services offered in Quebec's provincial detention facilities, Perreault and Meilleur's report shows that most people who work in the correctional sector consider that education in prison effectively serves the process of social reintegration. It also shows, however, that education in prison is often negotiated more as a privilege than a right, a context in which incarcerated people are confronted with the application of a principle of double bind [...]: “if he does not behave well, he will not be able to access it, but at the same time, if he does not participate, he will not be able to demonstrate his willingness to reintegrate.”

Finally, Perreault and Meilleur emphasize the importance of more systematic monitoring of training activities offered in Quebec correctional facilities, taking into account various indicators, such as the nature of the programs offered and basic data on participation (number of participants, age, education, etc.).

This report was produced as part of a research project of the UNESCO Chair in Applied Research for Education in Prison at Cégep Marie-Victorin, in partnership with the Ministère de la Sécurité publique (MSP), the Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (MELS) and the Ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (MESS). This report was written and formatted by Geneviève Perreault, principal investigator, and Jean-François Meilleur, researcher. Also contributing to the work were Dr. Paul Bélanger, President of the International Scientific Committee, Jean-Pierre Miron, Chairholder, Jean-Pierre Simoneau, Director of Operations, and François Lett, teacher and collaborator.

Link to the full report