Captive Minds in Expulsion: Carcerality in the (Mis)Education of Young Black Males

Black male students are excluded from school at rates that exceed their representation in the school population. Additionally, school disciplinary sanctions are associated with academic failure, incarceration and anti-social behaviour among Black students. This study explored the experiences and outlooks of excluded Black male youth and how they are constructed in the Ontario education system. It also delved into the ways in which the identities of Black male youth shift as a result of their time in spaces of exclusion, such as expulsion programs. A qualitative Critical Race Methodology was used to formulate deep understanding of subjectivity as it pertains to school excluded Black males. The sample consisted of 13 self-identified Black males (n=13) between the ages of 18-28 years old, who had either graduated from an Ontario Safe Schools expulsion program, completed their term, had been otherwise demitted or decided not to attend. The sample also included two Black mothers (n=2) of the participants. Individual interviews were conducted using a life history method combined with visual timelines. The findings showed that participants experienced expulsion programs as carceral spaces. The spaces significantly influence young Black men’s self concepts and impose upon them what I call carceral identities. Furthermore, in reflecting on their interpretations of hegemonic masculinity, participants revealed a fundamental ontological rupture: the ubiquity of the carceral in the lives of Black boys for whom prison techniques and concentrated disciplinary power have permeated exclusive school spaces, causing a type of dissonance that I refer to as carceral dislocation. The conclusion of this work contributes to theorizations that in addition to establishing a direct path from schools to prisons, these programs are carceral spaces situating the prisons inside of the schools apropos of the school-to-prison pipeline. While this study was conducted prior to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education system, the findings of this study combined with the mainstream shift to virtual schooling make a case for a radical revisioning of school discipline and uncovering the anti-Blackness inherent in education practices in Ontario.