The Life Sentences of Rik McWhinney

Rik McWhinney (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

304 Seiten

2022
University of Regina Press (Verlag)
978-0-88977-897-9 (ISBN)

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Through poetry, letters, essays, and interviews, The Life Sentences of Rik McWhinney relates the harrowing experiences of a man who spent nearly thirty-five years in the Canadian prison system. Rik McWhinney spent thirty-four years and four months in Canada's federal penitentiaries—sixteen of those in solitary confinement. His incarceration began in the 1970s, as a system-wide war was raging over the implementation of penal reforms. Though he was physically confrontational during the early years of his imprisonment, resulting in his segregation and medical torture, McWhinney eventually turned to writing to combat the conditions of his confinement. The Life Sentences of Rik McWhinney collects his poetry, essays, grievance forms, letters, and interviews to provide readers with insight into the everyday life of incarcerated individuals, amplifying the lives and voices of a demographic that society would rather ignore. McWhinney relays the horrors of solitary confinement and provides a vivid account of the violence and psychological turmoil that he endured while incarcerated. Ultimately, McWhinney's words are an indictment of the prison system, a system that institutionalizes individuals, subjecting them to an environment that manufactures post-traumatic stress rather than fulfilling its mission of rehabilitation and reform.

Richard "Rik" McWhinney spent his childhood in Toronto and began a life of incarceration at the provincially run Cobourg Reform School at the age of nine. He was an avid reader and animal lover. He passed away peacefully in Regina, Saskatchewan, on January 19, 2019, at the age of sixty-seven Jason Demers is an assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of Regina. He resides in Regina, SK.

Acknowledgements
Introduction

Initiations
Solitary Confinement and Special Handling Units
Advocacy and (a) Prison(er's) Choice
Prison Culture in the Time of the Code
The Keepers and the Kept
The Bodies of the Condemned
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Opportunities and Restorations

Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography

Erscheinungsdatum	27.09.2022
Reihe/Serie	The Regina Collection
Verlagsort	Regina
Sprache	englisch
Maße	120 x 190 mm
Gewicht	380 g
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Allgemeines / Lexika
	Recht / Steuern ► Strafrecht ► Kriminologie
ISBN-10	0-88977-897-3 / 0889778973
ISBN-13	978-0-88977-897-9 / 9780889778979
Zustand	Neuware