Guidelines for Advocacy
Section IV - Areas of Advocacy

• Poverty is a major contributing factor in recidivism. Marketable skills could assist the former prisoner to support herself/himself and his or her family in an adequate manner
• Education to attain those skills is a necessary requirement
• Creative and critical thinking are attributes necessary for an evolution towards positive coping skills. (The "on-site" university program was canceled by the CSC June 30, 1993)¹

Some reasons for advocating for educational and vocational needs

• Many of the activities that brought people to prison were activities carried out for economic purposes. The expectations that these people would consider working at a job paying the minimum wage are unrealistic.
• Many prisoners lack a sense of control over their lives, and have very low self-esteem. Lack of choices linked to poverty is an important factor. Many of these people have never earned enough money to pay for essential items of living and/or believed that they could better their standard of living.
• Some prisoners are products of generations of people on welfare, people who have succumbed to living at a bare minimum level. Role models of independence are absent in their lives.
• 40% of prisoners are functionally illiterate and 40% of prisoners are not in relationships

Though various prison regimes offer their version of "programming" there are only a very few programs that might qualify as viable entry requirements for accredited positions outside of prison. Additionally:

• very few prisoners "qualify" for these programs and some programs are available only on a ½ day basis
• Programs such as welding for men and flower arranging for women provide questionable credentials so that gaining a job once released through completing these prison programs may be an unreasonable expectation.
• Prisons offer education to grade ten levels and/or GED while most apprenticeship programs require grade twelve graduations.
• Correspondence programs for university level courses are expensive and difficult to complete due to the absence of enabling study space and equipment and the impossibility of adequate research abilities particularly in the area of literature reviews.
• Any gains and/or knowledge the prisoner may achieve in any program is limited due to:

1. the dearth of the extent and/or duration of that program,
2. a lack of qualified instructors and
3. an inability for the prisoner to have expectations of continuity should s/he be transferred to another prison.

Over 10 years ago, in June, 1989 the Council of Europe adopted recommendations from its final activity report on education in prison. This was a result of seven meetings held over a four-year period by select experts from nine European countries (1991:3).

The predominant theme was FIRSTLY that the education of prisoners must, in its philosophy, methods and content be brought as close as possible to the best adult education in the society outside, and SECONDLY that the education should be a constant seeking of ways to LINK THE PRISONERS WITH THE COMMUNITY OUTSIDE and to enable both groups to interact with each other as fully and as constructively as possible. These recommendations were made in concert with the philosophy that the whole person in the totality of his or her social, economic and cultural context is taken into consideration.

1. Provide updated educational and vocational information for prisoners
2. Liaison with Employment agencies, Vocational Schools and Universities
3. Advocate for prisoners in their desires to obtain sufficient study space, materials and equipment, sufficient study time and seminar areas in a separate area of the prison
4. Advocate for outside guest speakers and tutors for motivation and specialty learning

1. equivalent pay levels for all “programs” with prisoner participation whether they are the usual prison programs like kitchen worker or academic education
2. Full payment to prisoners for their labour and work products by ensuring there is no differentiation between “work programs” and “cottage industry.” If need be the payments could be paid to an outside trust fund. (At present some prison authorities utilize prisoner’s labour to benefit the operational budget of the prison and deny the prisoner the ability to “save” money for her or his release needs and/or families’ benefits – i.e. BCCW ceramics and flower shops)
3. educational, vocational, and self-help programs such as “survivor” programs to include community participation in each class in order to promote a better understanding of the similarities of each other’s needs. These programs would include First Nations’ language and life skills. (Costs for these classes could then be shared with the community and would therefore be affordable by the prison industry.) (tip: research how this was accomplished at Matsqui Prison for Men with university classes in the 80’s)
4. a Women’s Studies program to be implemented on an ongoing basis that would:
   • help to educate women about many of the historical struggles for economic independence and liberty by women over the globe.
   • assist in motivating women in prison towards the understanding of how difficulties can be overcome through education, skills training and networking
   • how financial independence for the women and their children may result
5. an immediate cease to the practice at the BCCW of the use of women to sew men’s prisoner’s uniforms in BCCW in favour of implementing sewing programs which are designed to provide women with accredited skills which lead to employment and to women being paid for their labour
6. university level programs to be included in the educational agenda and that graduates be sought out to form an on-campus advocacy group (i.e. the Canadian Federation of University Women)
7. prisoner attendance as audit students for women who have incomplete educational requirements for entry
8. prisoners to attend programs in the community when programs are not cost-enabled within the prison setting
9. accredited fine arts programs be included (such as those conducted by the Emily Carr School of Art and the Simon Fraser University film, video and theatre programs be available along with Aboriginal creative arts such as carving, beading and leatherwork)
10. a national education and job coordinator to be appointed who will:
    • search out, advise on and implement regionally beneficial programs for women in prison
    • coordinate the delivery of these programs to all disadvantaged women in that community, and
    • to seek support and advocacy from the National Action Committee on the Status of Women
11. the participation of all incarcerated women in the formulation of programs and policies which may affect them, as is lawful under Bill C-36, The Service shall provide inmates with the opportunity to contribute to decisions of the Service affecting the inmate population as a whole, or affecting a group within the inmate population, except decisions relating to security matters²

June Callwood once said that freedom without economic security is not liberty.

1. National Prisoner’s Union to be formed, with regional representatives comprised of women serving a minimum of a five-year sentence . Representatives could be nominated by the prison population from any of the boards of the Prisoners’ Committee, the Native Sisterhood, the Student Council or other groups from every prison facility which houses federally-sentenced women.
2. positions of regional representatives to be deemed permanent, paid jobs
3. communication lines via telephone fax and/or modem to enable liaison between regions and community union organizations be established and protected
4. the rights of such National Prisoner’s Unions to negotiate terms of pay, job conditions, training and upgrading, holidays, and similar such matters as exist in Canadian society

Through participation in a Prisoners’ Union, the prisoner might be better positioned to return to society as a ready, willing and able contributor

1 Bedford, Pam. Ed. 1991. EPEA- Newsletter. Vol.1 No.1.March. European Prison Education Association:Kent.
2 Bill c-36. Item 74.

Referential Reading:
Davidson, Howard S. ed. 1995. "Schooling in a "Total Institution" Critical Perspectives on Prison Education." Critical Studies in Education and Culture Series, ISSN 1064-8615. Westport: Greenwood Publishing.
Duiguid, Steve and Hendrik Hoekema, Eds. University Education in Prison. A Documentary Record of the Experience in British Columbia 1974-1986. Burnaby: Simon Fraser University. November, 1986.
Duiguid, Steve. Ed. 1989. Yearbook of Correctional Education. Burnaby: Institute for the Humanities, Simon Fraser University .
Faith, Karlene. Ed. & contributor. 1972. Field Preparation Manual. Santa Cruz: University of California.
_____. 1988. "Dialogue: Gender as an Issue in Distance Education," in Journal for Distance Education III (I) (Spring) : 75-9.
_____. 1995. "Santa Cruz Women's Prison Project, 1972-1976." In H. Davidson (Ed.), Schooling in a Total Institution. Westport: Greenwood Publishing.
Pate, Kim. 1989. "National Literacy Project Report". Calgary: The John Howard Society of Canada.
Taylor, Jon Marc. 1993. "Pell Grants for Prisoners." (I.F. Stone award [advocacy journalism] winner) In The Nation. Jan.25, 1993. NY: The Nation Institute.

See also:
Gaucher, Bob, John Lowman, Brian MacLean, Liz Elliott, Howard Davidson, Ruth Morris. Eds. Series. 1987-2000. The Prisoners Journal on Prisons. Ottawa: University of Ottawa. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba.