Implementing a Gender-Sensitive Approach in Canada’s Women’s Prisons: Issues and Challenges

For several years, a strong consensus has emerged that the realities of incarcerated women differ fundamentally from those of men, as do their experiences within the justice system. These differences have contributed to calls for gender-sensitive interventions that better address women’s specific needs. Drawing on focus groups with 60 correctional personnel working in Quebec provincial facilities, the study examines staff perceptions of the challenges involved in adopting gender-sensitive practices. Findings reveal how institutional constraints shape everyday practice, including a gap between reform mandates and their implementation, the continued reliance on gender-blind approaches among staff assigned to women’s units without specific preparation or interest, and the ways in which gender-sensitive principles are taken up but ultimately reshaped to fit existing correctional practices. Three main implications for correctional policy and practice are discussed.