Flooding the zone, challenging state secrecy: Newsmaking criminology in the pandemic era

• Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian jurisdictions have varied in terms of their reporting of COVID-19 cases amongst prisoners and prison staff. By engaging with the literature focused on the policing of criminological knowledge and prison opacity, this paper examines how multiple approaches to newsmaking criminology in the form of blog posts, op-ed writing, the publishing of reports, and expert commentary can challenge state secrecy in ways that help generate proactive disclosure of additional information regarding the impact and management of the coronavirus behind prison walls. We explore how "flooding the zone” of public debates on pandemic management with the limited and incomplete data made available by authorities works as a knowledge mobilization and research strategy to help reveal previously unpublished information critical to better understanding prison policy, practice and outcomes. In so doing, we highlight the value of newsmaking criminology not only as a means of communicating and mobilizing criminological knowledge, but also of generating it in the service of emancipatory research and advocacy. © The Author(s) 2022.

Policing Criminological Knowledge on Imprisonment in Pandemic Times: Confronting Opacity and Navigating Corporatization in Prison Research

Thousands of prisoners and prison staff have been infected by COVID-19 across Canada. Deteriorating conditions of confinement have become commonplace, with segregation-like measures imposed in the name of preventing COVID-19 transmission. While prisoners, their loved ones, advocates, and researchers have discussed trends regarding infection, public health restrictions, and even vaccination behind bars, less explored is the deterioration of government transparency related to incarceration during this pandemic. Engaging with literatures on the policing of criminological knowledge, access to information, and state corporatization, this article examines how Canadian government authorities have limited access to records about imprisonment during the pandemic. We examine how the recent centralization of freedom of information request processing, which reshapes government services to mirror corporate entities, has altered what can be known about penitentiary, prison, and jail policies, practices, and outcomes. In so doing, we highlight the need for social science researchers to contest information blockades and create pathways to promote state transparency. © Canadian Journal of Sociology/Cahiers canadiens de sociologie