OCNews

The following article was written by OC student Sacha Alfonzo Villafuerte.

In the fall of 2021, during my second year at Okanagan College, I had the opportunity to work on a SSHRC-funded project with Prof. Melissa Munn. While I had spent the previous summer working as her research assistant, coding Canadian penal press material, this new project would specifically focus on those publications produced in British Columbia. Written and produced by prisoners, these historical documents, which have been preserved in an open-access digital archive by Professor Melissa Munn and retired professor Robert Gaucher, are an important ethnographic source that provide insight into how convicts view the penal justice apparatus, its policies and practices.

Utilizing the materials from the archive, which span over 70 years, as well as interviews and correspondence with current and former editorial staff and contributors, the B.C. Penal Press Project takes you inside the walls of British Columbia’s federal penitentiaries and uncovers first-hand accounts of the carceral experience. As part of this project, Melissa and I designed and created a vibrant and engaging 3D exhibit which provides a brief history of the B.C. penal press and its production and highlights key issues and people involved with its creation and preservation. It is available for loan, at no cost, to any institution or library in B.C. Additionally, I built a website to feature the work of the B.C. penal press and this project. Interviews, a digital version of the display, and other bonus material can be viewed online: www.BCPenalPress.com.

Through my work on this project, I came to see the importance and value of the penal press as a source of “history from within” and an example of how marginalized groups can bring about reform.

The exhibit will be displayed in the Library foyer at the Kelowna campus until Feb. 26. For information, e-mail Melissa Munn.