The veneers of empiricism: Gender, race and prison classification

Abstract

Gender-based approaches to security classification ought to be responsive to qualitative and quantitative research that demonstrates the gendered socio-cultural histories and experiences of women. Additionally, gender responsivity necessitates an intersectional understanding of how gender inequalities are compounded for certain groups of women and girls because of their age, ethnicity, race, mental health needs and/or disabilities. However, many correctional systems continue to use a single classification instrument to assign security levels to both men and women, even though many of the factors which predict male behaviour do not operate similarly for women. This paper analzyes the security classification of federally sentenced women in Canada to examine how generic classification tools continue to be used and considered valid within epistemic contexts in which gender- and racial-neutrality are taken to be plausible and possible. Second, we argue that because the criteria used in tools fail to conceptually and methodologically account for gender and race, women are often overclassified. The impacts of this over classification are especially acute for Indigenous women, who are overrepresented in both the federal women's prison population and in maximum security, which has the most restrictive conditions of confinement. Finally, we argue that because racially neutral contexts do not exist, holistic security assessments that are explicitly attentive to race and gender, are preferable.