In this post I’ll be talking about a podcast called Prison Family. It’s an 11 episode podcast available wherever you stream, and I highly suggest listening to it. The hosts, Madeline and Gail Bury, bring on several incredible guests to discuss what it’s like to have a loved one going through the prison system. 

The podcast brings up a lot of important talking points- many of which I didn’t consider before listening. One of the points that hit home with me first was the aspect of nutrition. I thought back to how many times I’ve heard someone eat a really bad meal and immediately compare it to prison food. The thing is- good nutrition is so essential to mental health support and rehabilitation. So why isn’t our government investing in something so basic? 

Photograph taken by activist and photographer, Daniel Griffin.

Graphic was created by me for the Prison Family Podcast.

I won’t go into too much detail about the podcast, because I would rather you just listen for yourself. I do, however, want to highlight one key thing about this podcast. In episode one, they acknowledge that a lot of the people being discussed have actually done some really bad things. As we all know, we can and should live in a country that holds each other accountable. However, prison does not do that. If someone does go to prison, chances are they will be abused, and will experience a lot of inhumane conditions that often don’t set people up for life after release. Even basic necessities as simple as nutrition gets swept under the rug by our government. Mental health support plays a key role in inmate rehabilitation and yet is often ignored. Madeline and Gail do an excellent job of highlighting these issues, and reporting on real changes our government can make to support the personal growth of inmates, rather than exploiting and abusing inmates. 

In my next post, I’ll start to compare our prison system in Canada to the prison system in other countries to see if there is anything Canada can learn, or vice versa. In the meantime- listen to the first episode of Prison Family and let me know what you think!