Sitting across from a man she might’ve never met outside prison walls, Hillary Andru, HealthSci ’27, felt an unexpected sense of certainty.
“I felt like, in that moment, that is what I was meant to be doing,” Andru said. “There are few moments in my life where I’ve felt so secure and okay, this is exactly where I need to be.”
Andru was facilitating a session of the 7th Step program at Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security federal prison in Kingston, a program adapted by Queen’s Correctional Service Volunteers (QCSV), focuses on emotional growth, accountability, and future planning. For Andru, the moment she had during the session captured why she and dozens of other Queen’s students choose to volunteer in correctional institutions each year.
That same motivation drove QCSV to host its first-ever conference on Jan. 24 and 25, bringing together students, professionals, and community members to discuss rehabilitation, stigma, and systemic issues within Canada’s correctional system.
“This [conference] is something QCSV has been talking about for a number of years, and this year, it finally came to fruition,’ Andru said, who helped organize the event alongside co-presidents Kyra McGovern, Markella Filtsos and other club members.
About 50 people registered for the event, with roughly 30 QCSV members in attendance alongside students who are new to the association.
The two-day conference featured speakers including a forensic psychiatrist, a researcher studying wrongful convictions, and a former correctional service professional. Attendees also participated in a case competition centred on systemic discrimination in corrections and a workshop led by CorrectMed, a Queen’s medical student group.
“We wanted to spread our message and get as many people involved as possible,” said Rushil Dutta, HealthSci ’27, a club member. “QCSV’s serving a very unique group of people, and a lot of times they’re stigmatized.”
Based on what Andru described as the “prison capital of Canada,” Kingston is home to several prisons where QCSV volunteers run weekly in programming. The club works in facilities including Henry Trail Community Correctional Centre, which has 40 beds, Collins Bay Institution which has a maximum security capacity of 96, medium security capacity of 482 and minimum security capacity of 182. And Millhaven institution, capacity being 496.
At Henry Trail, volunteers focus on social interaction to support reintegration. At Collins Bay, they run workshops on practical skills such as obtaining identification, navigating technology, and creative expression. At Millhaven, in addition to workshops, students help facilitate the 7th Step program and make phone calls to individuals in the Structured Intervention Unit, where meaningful human contact can be limited.
“A lot of these are very basic tasks that we take for granted in our lives, but in correctional institutions might not necessarily be there,” Dutta said. “It’s getting them feeling like they’re part of society and helping set them up with practical things they’ll need post-release.”
Before entering institutions, volunteers undergo security clearances and training, including modules from Correctional Service Canada. New members are paired with experienced volunteers during their first visits.
Despite the intimidating image many people associate with prisons, both Andru and Dutta emphasized how different their experiences have been.
“I’ve never felt unsafe,” Andru said. “We laugh; we bond over things. You always have more in common with people than you would think.”
For Dutta, one conversation with an incarcerated participant about his efforts to change left a lasting impression.
“It just honestly inspired me that despite all the hardship that this man has gone through, he’s still here to this day trying to change,” he said.
Through QCSV conferences and workshops, members hope to challenge assumptions about who incarcerated people are.
“We want everyone to know about how great our experiences have been,” Andru said. “It’s a huge privilege to do this work.”
Tags
7th Step program, Collins Bay Institution, CorrectMed, Henry Trail Community Correctional Centre, Millhaven institution, QCSV, Queen’s Correctional Service Volunteers
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