Prisons and Penal Matters

Fact Sheet -- overview and information on the situation of women in prison in Canada, by the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.

Forum on Corrections -- a Canadian journal with on-line editions back to 1989. Full articles on everything from community corrections, sex offenders, women in prison, education & employment inside to juvenile delinquency, long-term offenders etc.

Southam's Prison Menu -- archive of Southam newspaper stories about prisons & penal affairs.

The Justice Net Prison Issues Desk -- "progressive and radical information and resources on prisons and the criminal prosecution system". It's refreshingly critical.

Penal Lexicon -- a very comprehensive British site. It's huge already, but they are working on adding more links relevant to the North American context. An excellent site.

OHFADS -- Ohio Families Against Disparate Sentences: an Ohio-based advocacy group for prisoners' rights; get involved or check out some of their interesting links to U.S prison-related sites.

North Carolina Department of Correction: Division of Prisons -- lots of information about the penal system in NC; how they assess and classify prisoners, the types of programmes available to them, daily routine of prisoners etc; also lets you take a tour of their main maximum security joint.

A State Behind Bars: California's Prison Boom -- a journalist's account of California's sprawling prison system; it's a series of articles (and photos) based on interviews with prisoners, their family members and professionals.

Survival Guide -- read this to find out how to cope inside, written by an African-American prisoner.

Prisoner's Dictionary -- prison slang from the U.S., but at least some of it applies to Canada as well.