Post-docs

Current projects

Trans+ People in Canadian Prisons

Correctional Services of Canada

The Trans+ People in Canadian Prisons Project is working to better understand the experiences of transgender, non-binary, Two-Spirit, and other gender-diverse individuals (also called Trans+ people) within Canadian Federal Prisons. Our study examines how current policies and procedures for Trans+ prisoners are being carried out and what challenges are arising at different levels throughout the process.

Research like this is crucial for protecting the human rights of gender-diverse people in prison and in all people currently incarcerated in Canadian correctional institutions. It will also help the broader population better understand the experiences of Trans+ people in Canadian Federal Prisons, about which very little is known.

We are currently piloting the project in British Columbia before launching it nationwide. Our research will include interviews and focus groups with currently and formerly incarcerated Trans+ people and cisgender individuals who have lived in prison with gender diverse people, Correctional Services of Canada (CSC) staff and administrators, and community members with experience and vested interest in the topic. 

We hope that the results of this project will affect future Correctional Services of Canada (CSC) policies, practices, and operations. It is also my personal hope that this project can reduce the harm caused by incarceration for our larger Trans+ family. 

“Joining the Chair in Transgender Studies has been a wonderful opportunity to meet and work with other community engaged researchers and people doing critical scholarship to improve the conditions of Trans+ people through the world.  As we launch the Pacific pilot of our research project, I look forward to also making connections with our incarcerated Trans+ family across prison walls.”

Sarah M. Steele, PhD, (they/them) is a postdoctoral scholar for the Chair in Transgender Studies at the University of Victoria, BC with a PhD in Sociology from the University of Illinois, Chicago. Sarah’s academic work, activism and research interests lie at the intersections of race, sexuality, and trans and queer politics.  Their dissertation, based on three years of ethnographic community engaged research, examines the experiences, opportunities and challenges faced by contemporary trans and queer activists taking on issues of state violence and neglect in the City of Chicago. This work was awarded an Honorable Mention for the 2021 American Sociological Association’s Sexuality Section, Dissertation Fellowship Award. You can find some of Sarah’s work published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, Social Currents, and the Journal of Homosexuality. Sarah also spent many years building community with incarcerated LGBTQ/HIV+ folks in the United States before moving to Victoria to work on The Trans+ People in Canadian Prisons Project.