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

ABSTRACT

• 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data made available by authorities works as a knowledge mobilization and research strategy to help reveal previously unpublished information critical to better understanding prison policy, practice and outcomes.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.