Canada: "we cannot do anything without the community."

Elizabeth Fry Society of Quebec. Generally speaking, it really depends on the ties that existed prior to imprisonment, as well as the sentence itself. The longer the sentence, the more difficult it is to maintain and re-establish relationships. Women encounter specific difficulties because they are a minority group. That means there are not many women’s prisons. Women are often imprisoned more than 200 km away from their homes. For this reason, women often have few visits. Each visit entails travelling time, plus the cost of transport and accommodation. Some women prefer not to see their children: they find it too heart-breaking to have such irregular contact, to see them only now and then. They do not want to put their children through that.

Prison administrations and staff have grown more aware of the difficulties that women experience in maintaining relationships. Significant progress has been made since the 1970s. In Quebec, two facilities are reserved for women: the Joliette Institution for Women, a federal prison, and the Leclerc prison in Laval, a provincial prison¹. Both of these facilities offer a mother-child accommodation programme.

At Joliette, for example, babies can be brought in to stay with their mother, as soon as they are born. An assessment is carried out beforehand by youth protection services, which determines whether the mother is fit to live with her baby. The partner’s consent is also required. A childcare programme has also been established at this facility, and staff are trained to work with the children and with the women to help them develop their parenting skills. The facilities also offer family visit programmes.

Distance is not the only reason for the breakdown in relationships. Socialisation of women is still heavily focused on “caretaking.” This means that women entering the criminal justice system meet with particular disapproval, and women prisoners are much more stigmatised than men. In some cases, family relations break down when the offence is committed. Finally, a number of women have already experienced a rift in their relationships prior to their detention. Many of them come from disadvantaged backgrounds and have difficult, sometimes traumatic, family lives. Before prison, some experienced homelessness and/or substance use disorders. In these cases, the ties were already fragile or broken.

EFSQ. Halfway houses, or community residential centres, first appeared in Quebec in the 1960s. At that time, they were developed for a male population. The first transitional housing for women opened in 1980. Today, two of the approximately 40 halfway houses are for women and are managed by the Elizabeth Fry Society. They are largely funded by the Correctional Service of Canada and the Quebec Correctional services. These houses accommodate women prisoners who have already served between one-sixth and one-third of their sentence. Integrating into a community environment while under supervision allows them to prepare for their social reintegration and release.

While entering prison is often a shock for women, their release is also a very challenging time. Prison can often feel like a hiatus. But when prisoners are released, they realise that life on the outside has continued. Sometimes nasty surprises await them: a partner breaks up with them, or parents are reluctant to re-establish contact. Women sometimes idealise their return to the community. But once they are released, they realise just how much they have lost. Everything that landed them in prison is still waiting for them. They have to face it.

The problem is not in prison, it is in the community. It is important for these women to come together in the halfway house: they are guided and supported, and spend their day-to-day lives with other women who are also going through the same thing. There is a sense of mutual support and togetherness.

Maintaining family relationships is often the biggest issue for women, bigger even than finding work. They feel guilty for not having met society’s expectations in this area, and for not having been there for their children. So, when they move into a halfway house, they put a lot of energy into rebuilding their relationships.

Each woman is assigned a clinical counsellor. The counsellor assists the woman in complying with the conditions set by the parole services and helps her with any steps she wishes to take. The halfway house does not receive families, but women may go and stay with them.

The work is always tailored to the needs of the women. Some of them have spent long periods of time in prison and, for them, rebuilding relationships may mean, for example, restoring ties with their siblings. They need to take it one step at a time: after spending several years in prison, it can be hard to spend a weekend with the family. Some women have lost their parental rights. If they want to regain custody of their children, the counsellor can support them in the process. This involves helping them find legal representation to understand their rights, and to navigate the various stages of what can be a very painful process.

EFSQ. Long-term support is essential. We always tell women that from the moment they arrive, the halfway house will always be here for them. We are lucky enough to be able to operate 24/7, so women can call us whenever they need to after their stay is over. Sometimes we also arrange brief readmissions so they can take a breather. In the end, the halfway house is a bit like a crisis centre.

Part of our mission is also to raise awareness about the reality of women in the justice system, to raise community awareness, and to dismantle prejudices. We are developing a whole section on defending women in the justice system. For example, we regularly meet with the director of the Joliette facility to take stock of the situation and discuss complaints that women have shared with us. Our aim is to propose solutions and try to change practices.

When it comes to keeping people connected, we cannot do anything without the community. The entire community is responsible for reintegrating people. A woman leaving prison cannot reintegrate if she is judged, stigmatised or discriminated against in seeking employment. As a society, we still have a long way to go.

We need to work on our own biases. We also need to acknowledge the ability of the women we work with to change their ways. Sometimes, they completely alter their social networks and give up the habits that may have led them to prison in the first place. They are enormously resilient. As a society, we need to recognise this. We need to help, listen, talk, and build bridges.

Often, we focus on the person’s individual responsibility: she has committed an offence, she must be held accountable, and must change in the future. Societal responsibility is never questioned. What is our responsibility as a society? We need to feel a greater collective responsibility and investigate the factors that led to incarceration, especially poverty. For women, that might even be the main factor. Their bodies are marked by poverty. Their bodies say “I’ve had a hard life”.