Parole in Canada

Gender and Diversity in the Federal System

Just as Canada’s population has changed in the past four decades, so too has its prison population. The increasing diversity among prisoners raises important questions about how we punish those who break the law. Parole in Canada is the first book to explore how concerns about aboriginality, gender, and the multicultural ideal of “diversity” have been interpreted and used to alter federal parole policy and practice.

Using the Parole of Board of Canada as a case study, this book shows how certain facets of offender differences are selectively included for “accommodation,” while fundamental institutional structures, practices, and power arrangements remain unchanged. Sarah Turnbull argues that, as the current approach fails to challenge outdated notions about gender, race, and Aboriginality within the penal system, instead of addressing concerns around diversity, these measures end up contributing to further exclusion and discrimination within the system. By tracing the organizational approaches to gender and diversity in Canada’s federal parole system, this important book advances our understanding of penal change and highlights the challenges and complexities of accommodating offender diversities in the pursuit of a more “fair” and “appropriate” penality.