Handing Over the Keys - by Linda Mussell (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

An urgent examination of the intergenerational imprisonment of Indigenous people in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

Generations of Indigenous people have experienced the injustices wrought by institutional confinement. Widespread criticism calls Canadian prisons the new residential schools and Australian ones a national tragedy. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the government itself has suggested the Maori people may be the most incarcerated people in the world. Handing over the Keys compares three countries with enduring records of confining Indigenous people.

Intergenerational imprisonment--the legacies of institutional confinement in an array of settings--leaves a long shadow. Linda Mussell seeks the keys to transformative change through rigorous policy analysis and interviews with frontline practitioners, policy professionals, and people who have lived experience of imprisonment. Her goal is policy transformation to address both Indigenous hyper-imprisonment and intergenerational impacts.

This necessary study proposes ways to hand over the keys that unlock the doors of confinement for future generations.

Review Quotes

"Extensive fieldwork that centers Indigenous lived experience, combined with rigorous theoretical and historical analysis of carceral institutions, makes Handing Over the Keys a highly engaging contribution to the growing field of research on local Indigenous sovereignty in the criminal justice space."-- "Thalia Anthony, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney"

"Linda Mussell's Handing Over the Keys offers essential insights into the enduring impacts of residential schools, land theft, and child welfare and correctional systems across Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, advancing strength-based pathways toward justice and healing."-- "Marlyn Bennett, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Children's Wellbeing, University of Calgary"

About the Author

Linda Mussell is a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury in Otautahi, Aotearoa.