7.2 Profile 2

This woman was clear in her opinion that any training presented within correctional institutions would only prepare women for "pink collar ghettos". "A woman should have the skills to earn a living wage when she hits the street," she said, adding that this would help to break the cycle of repeat offenses and incarcerations. Without adequate skills and income, "you are condemning the woman to a life of poverty," she asserted. One solution to this problem, she felt, was that prisons ought to provide state of the art equipment such as computers, so that any skills that are acquired are immediately marketable.

Discussing Adult Basic Education or literacy programs is very threatening to women in prison, since it feeds into low self-esteem and serves as an unpleasant reminder of what they are not able to do. "Many of us have had real bad experiences in school," she said, "and to talk about school now is real bad."

She reinforced the opinions expressed by many Executive Directors, noting that woman in conflict with the law are in "survival mode" when they get out of prison, making long-term planning extremely difficult. Only when women are ready with community supports and good resources will they be able to consider upgrading their literacy skills.

7.3 Profile 3

This client spoke of serving close to 15 months in a provincial institution. She described a complete lack of programs in prison, which offered no skills training and no literacy programming. She reflected that there was absolutely no encouragement for inmates to study, and that even if there had been programs, there was no physical space available for studying. The library in this prison was open once per week for one hour only.

The only programs available to prisoners were Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, with occasional short-term courses such as pottery, knitting or sewing offered by various outside organizations. Women interested in attending these courses were charged $2.00, as well as the cost of supplies.

The interviewee stressed that women should be paid to attend literacy or computer courses, not penalized for wanting to learn. The only way "women can make it on the outside is to develop marketable skills while they're doing time," she emphasized. The system must be prepared to motivate women, so that after serving a two- or three-year sentence they will be prepared "to do something other than work in a kitchen".

She felt it was highly unlikely that women would enter literacy or upgrading courses once they had been released. The pressures on women who have just come out of prison are immense, and they have very few supports. Parole orders may state that women must work as a condition of parole, forcing women to take any jobs they can got in order not to have parole revoked.