Carceral Intersections of Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation and Trans Experience in Confronting GBTQI+ Anti-Black Racism and Structural Violence in the Prisoner Re-entry Industrial Complex. SSHRC - Race, Gender and Diversity Initiative. 2022-2026
This study was reviewed by the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (OTU) Research Ethics Board on [Dec 21, 2022].
Principal Investigator Dr. Wesley Crichlow. Funded by SSHRC but not a project of SSHRC.
Introduction
Participants were invited to participate in the first national bilingual study funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) on Understanding the Community Re-entry Needs of Formerly Federally Incarcerated Black Men who have a range of same-gender experiences, including same-gender sex, desires, relationships, identities, who enjoy and love other men, including Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Gender-Diverse, Nonbinary and Queer Men. We asked participants to share their re-entry experiences to to better understand: What worked? What did not work? and What changes you would make given the opportunity for improvements? We also want to know how you negotiated stigma, stress, notions of sexualities, gender expressions and trans identity while accessing services and supports in community re-entry. Focusing on one community, we can offer a deeper understanding of their needs for re-entry supports for men into their respective communities across Canada based on a better understanding of what re-entry was like for this community of people. We are interested in this because nothing in Canada is documented and known about how Black gay, bisexual, trans, and queer men (BGBTQM), Black men who have sex with men (BMSM), and Black same-gender-loving men (BSGLM) re-unite with friends and family, acquire housing, access mental health and medical services, seek employment, and the means to have a purposeful and meaningful life in the re-entry process.
Purpose & Description of Research
Background
The project investigates community re-entry experiences for former federally and provincially incarcerated Black gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and non-binary Men (BGBTQM) and Black men who have sex with men (BMSM) including same-gender sex, desires, relationships, identities, and love for other men, with the aim of advancing Black GBTQM+ justice.
This group is one outcome of the first national bilingual study in Canada, led by Dr. Wesley Crichlow at Ontario Tech University for the period August 2023 to April 2024, investigating the intersectional matrix effects of homophobia, transphobia, stigma, systemic trauma, and anti-Black racism on justice impacted re-entry needs for BGBTQM and BMSM. This study seeks to expand extant understandings of injustice and multiple marginalization’s experienced by Black FFI BGTQM, BMSM, gender nonconforming and nonbinary people to include their perspectives on re-entry after being incarcerated.
Research Findings
The research demonstrates the limits of the current Black community criminal justice approach by challenging the erasure of Black GBTQM+ bodies from the narrative. This research, conducted during COVID-19, surveyed over 200 formerly incarcerated BGTQM individuals and interviewed more than 25 others over 9 months about their hopes and experiences re-entering the community. It is the first national bilingual study in Canada to explore the intersectional impacts of homophobia, transphobia, systemic incarcerated trauma, and anti-Black racism on the re-entry needs of these individuals. Our findings highlight the urgent need for tailored employment mentoring support systems, and housing, addressing the unique challenges faced by formerly incarcerated Black GBTQM+ people with diverse gender identities. The project highlights key findings from the survey and interviews. The study revealed significant gaps in support systems for this demographic, demonstrates the importance of tailored re-entry programs and community resources to facilitate successful rehabilitation and integration.
Dr. Wesley Crichlow Lead Researcher: “Our findings underscore the critical need for tailored support systems to address the unique justice impacted and re-entry challenges faced by formerly incarcerated Black men with diverse gender experiences.
From our surveys and interviews about their immediate needs and hopes for after leaving prison, the gay and trans Black men we spoke to repeat the same wishes, over and over. They seek “a job, job training skills, education, legal rights post-incarceration and to find a home” were top priorities. They also “wish they had support in the court during their trial, wish they knew more about pre-sentence reports for judges to assist them in sentencing, needed to know more about who to obtain support from once released, needed more support accessing medical care, including gender affirming and psychiatric, programming for Black LGBTQ justice impacted individuals, would have liked to meet other Black LGBTQ justice impacted folks for peer support or have a Black LGBTQ criminal justice support group for support, phone cards and phones for reaching family and making appointments, support to attend probation and parole appointments and more”. Unlike most research on white gay criminology which focuses on identity, for Black GBTQM+ it is about survival in which immediate needs, for livelihood/employment and for housing, overwhelm all other considerations as they consider their futures after prison. Clearly, the right to housing and jobs is rooted in the intersections of race and sexual orientation. Taking up these concerns demands that we move beyond the concept of race alone to consider the interactions of race, sexual orientation, gender expression and being justice impacted, on access to housing and jobs.
Addressing vital, immediate need for housing and jobs and employment training is an immediate pathway to addressing the needs of justice impacted Black GBTQM+ individuals, requiring centred supports that challenge Black LGBTQI+ anti-Black racism and related discriminations. If we are to open the political horizons of these men and genderqueer individuals, this demands that we first meeting immediate needs for gainful employment and housing.
This project was rooted in the very first national bilingual study in Canada to investigate the intersectional matrix effects of anti-Black racism, stigma, systemic trauma, homophobia, transphobia, and sexuality on re-entry for BGBTQM and BMSM.
The Meaning of Sankofa
This project was inspired by Sankofa, which originates from the Akan philosophical tradition, translated to mean, “return and fetch it,” speaks to the importance of returning to our roots, and applying it to present moments for positive advancement (Prendergast, 2011).
Sankofa is a concept drawn from the West African Akan communication system called Adinkra (Temple, 2010). There are hundreds of Adinkra that are represented by both symbol and proverb. Sankofa praxis informs us that (a) There is no shame in going back to claim (or remember) that which has been forgotten, and (b) Go back to fetch that which is forgotten in order to move forward.
Looking back to fetch the formerly federally incarcerated men at risk of being left behind: our project asks what goes into the Sankofa praxis and calabash gourd to facilitate the changes and provide the supports that were missing in the lives of formerly federally incarcerated Black Men who have a range of same-gender experiences, including same-gender sex, desires, relationships, identities, who enjoy and love other men, including but not limited to Gay, Bisexual, Gender-Diverse, Nonbinary, Trans and Queer Men.
