Carceral-capital-charitable politics in Kingston, Ontario: analyzing relationships of embeddedness and indebtedness

AbstractThis paper investigates the partnership between Correctional Service Canada, the City of Kingston, and United Way, which has transformed the decommissioned Kingston Penitentiary into a site central to the growth of local tourism, film and charitable industries in Kingston, Ontario. In particular, we examine the political and social implications of this prison-municipal-charitable partnership for the institutions involved, marginalized and criminalized people in the region, prison tourists, and penal policy in Canada. Investigating neo-institutional and network relationships, we argue that features of “embeddedness” and “indebtedness” between these institutions reinscribe neoliberal policy responses to social harm and economic challenges. We contend this partnership—which constitutes a regional growth machine—undermines the stated efforts of the aforementioned partners to reduce inequ ality and improve the lives of people pushed to the margins, thus perpetuating and further entrenching the penal status quo.
Source: Crime, Law and Social Change - Category: Criminology Source Type: research