Rachel Fayter is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa where she holds a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. She completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in community psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University. While incarcerated at Grand Valley Institution for Women, Rachel engaged in the Walls to Bridges (W2B) prison education program and has been active in the alumni collective since 2014. Since her return to the community, Rachel has been advocating for prisoner rights and social justice-oriented policy changes through publications, panel discussions, public education, and media interviews. Her work has been published in the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons, Canadian Journal of Sociology, Citizenship Studies, and Canadian Psychology, along with various book chapters. Rachel’s doctoral research focuses on the strengths and resiliency of criminalized women despite histories of trauma and imprisonment, and documenting how prison policies and practices actively inhibit solidarity and asset-based coping among women.
