Canada's ‘Open Prisons’: Hybridisation and the Role of Halfway Houses in Penal Scholarship and Practice

Abstract

This article analyses the role, form, and function of halfway houses (often referred to as re-entry centres) in contemporary Canadian punishment. Building on studies of Nordic ‘penal exceptionalism’ and open prisons, I argue that criminologists can usefully study and conceive of halfway houses as a form of open prison. Thinking of halfway houses as open prisons (rather than re-entry centres or post-prison institutions), I suggest, is not only more reflective of these houses’ workings and dynamics but is also more productive. Conceptually, it positions halfway houses in opposition to walled prisons, thereby redirecting attention from the post-prison stage to how halfway houses could present a real existing alternative to closed or walled prisons.