Between community and contempt

Narratives of carceral food provisioning

Authors

  • Amanda Wilson Université Saint-Paul

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v12i1.693

Keywords:

carceral food systems, prison food, Canadian prisons

Abstract

This narrative piece presents eight vignettes from formerly incarcerated individuals, reflecting on their experiences of food and food provisioning within federal prisons in Canada. The stories and insights shed light on the negotiation and dynamic interplay between the imposition of unjust policies and the everyday creativity and persistence of those subject to its harmful carceral logic. In reading these vignettes we can also see how one might create greater moments of freedom and autonomy for incarcerated individuals, as part of a broader project of dismantling and re-imagining responses to harm and trauma.
Title reads: Carceral Food Systems under an image of a tomato plant and a chain intertwined. The tomato plant appears to break through the chains.

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Published

2025-05-09

How to Cite

Wilson, A. (2025). Between community and contempt: Narratives of carceral food provisioning. Canadian Food Studies La Revue Canadienne Des études Sur l’alimentation, 12(1), 36–48. https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v12i1.693

Issue

Vol. 12 No. 1 (2025): Exploring carceral food systems: Tensions, experiences and possibilities

Section

Themed Section

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Amanda Wilson

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