ZINE: How criminalization is driving homelessness in Peterborough

Our “Park Stories” zines share the stories we heard from people experiencing homelessness in Peterborough when we interviewed them last summer. Issue One focuses on people’s stories about jail.

The City of Peterborough is a forty-minute drive from the Central East Correctional Centre, a provincial jail in Lindsay, Ontario. For many people experiencing homelessness in Peterborough, the Lindsay jail looms large — lack of housing has been shown to expose people to increased criminalization. 

Of the 48 people with experience of homelessness we interviewed last summer, 20 shared that they had spent time in jail, and almost all of those specified that their time was spent in Lindsay. A handful more shared experiences of criminalization and police-involvement, but didn’t share whether it had landed them in jail or not.

We’ve collected the stories we heard about jail into the first issue of our Park Stories zine series. You can read it online now by clicking the link below.

Click here to read Park Stories: Jail in a PDF.

One common observation that surfaced during our interviews was that there are insufficient supports for inmates to help them find housing while they’re in jail. It’s not surprising, then, that nearly everyone we spoke to about their experiences in jail described being released straight into homelessness — even if they had been housed before going to jail.

“Every time I come out of jail, I’m homeless,” said Daniel.

“The day you get out of jail, you don’t know where you’re gonna sleep that night,” said Stan.

“They give you a ride to the bus terminal from Lindsay. And they just let you go,” said Aiden.

In the summer of 2022, the Research for Social Change Lab interviewed 48 people with experience of homelessness in Peterborough as part of our review of the local Coordinated Access system. We’re sharing the stories we heard during those interviews in a series of zines called Park Stories. Please follow the lab as we’ll continue to release the zines through the summer of 2023. If you prefer print copies, please get in touch and we can arrange a pick up or delivery.