Journal of Co-operative Studies 54(2), 31-44

Abstract

Although the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that education is a human right, there is limited access to university education at either provincial or federal carceral institutions in Canada. Inspired by the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Programme in the USA, the Walls to Bridges programme in Canada offers courses that bring campus enrolled and incarcerated students together to study behind the prison walls. In 2014, the University of Winnipeg faculty began teaching courses for credit at correctional facilities in the surrounding areas of Winnipeg as part of this programme. Two of the courses offered are focused on co-operatives. Based on a case study of higher education at Stony Mountain Institution (Manitoba), we support the claim that education on co-operatives in prison could shift the prison culture from “maintenance mode” to a “community correctional mode” and would facilitate the development of co-operatives that support people inside the prison and in the community, post-release.

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