Sarah Speight Memorial Scholarship

This time last year, we lost our friend and comrade Sarah Speight. Sarah was an RA with Dr. Alexander McClelland on the ICCJ on the Tracking (In)Justice Project, and hoped to become a post-doc with us upon completing her dissertation. In her memory, the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project, Tracking (In)Justice and the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons have setup the Sarah Speight Memorial Scholarship housed at uOttawa where she was a student, to carry on her work and see through her vision. We are seeking donations to make the scholarship sustainable.

HOW TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION

Visit the uOttawa Giving webpage at: https://www.uottawa.ca/giving/donation-form

From there, under “Designate my gift to”, click “Other designation” & then in the “Other designation” field write “Sarah Speight Memorial Scholarship Fund (c/o Faculty of Social Sciences).

SCHOLARSHIP DESCRIPTION

The Sarah Speight Memorial Scholarship was established at uOttawa in honour of Sarah Speight, who passed away unexpectedly as she was completing a doctoral thesis in the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics at the University of Ottawa. Her PhD thesis was entitled “Jails and Prisons Kill: Geographies of Inquest, Redress, and Injustice in Ontario”. Sarah was a fierce advocate for prison justice and carceral abolition, who was involved in several initiatives like the Jail Accountability & Information Line, the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons and the Tracking (In)justice Project aimed at reducing and, ultimately, ending the use and harms of criminalization and incarceration.

The memorial scholarship will be awarded annually to a student at uOttawa who is conducting research and/or involved in advocacy that advances prison justice and carceral abolitionism or who has lived experience of criminalization (including as loved ones of criminalized people).

Thank you for supporting the Sarah Speight Memorial Scholarship, along with research and advocacy towards decarceral futures.

We miss you Sarah.