About

Sophie was born in Ka’tarohkwi/Kingston, Ontario on the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Nations. She was raised by her parents, Kevin and Christine, in Trenton, Ontario on the lands of the Huron-Wendat Nations in Treaty 57 territory.

Sophie returned to Kingston in 2014 to pursue a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Health Studies and Global Development Studies at Queen’s University. It was during a research internship at the Centre for Environmental Health Equity that she first became interested in abolitionism and carceral geography.

Following her undergraduate degree, Sophie continued her education at Queen’s University, beginning her graduate studies at the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies under the supervision of Dr. Sammi King. In 2020, she graduated with a Master of Arts in Sociocultural Studies of Health. Her thesis, Prison and its afterlives: Haunting and the Emotional Geographies of Formerly Incarcerated People’s Reintegration Experiences in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, is a scathing theoretical critique of local reintegration politics, featuring stories from 23 formerly incarcerated people about their post-prison experiences in Kingston. Based on these stories, Sophie argues that understanding how people with prison experiences feel in the community not only brings the ethics of current reintegration practices into question; it also reveals how neoliberal discourses of risk and responsibility extend beyond prison walls, prolonging the haunting effects of prison in the everyday lives of formerly incarcerated people.

In January 2021, Sophie began working as a Research Assistant at the University of Ottawa on a SSHRC-funded project called Feeling the Carceral. This project, under the leadership of Dr. Jennifer M. Kilty, explores how incarceration shapes the emotional experiences of incarcerated people and correctional staff in Canadian federal prisons.

Sophie continues to advocate for the rights of incarcerated people both in- and outside prison walls as a PhD student in the Department of Criminology at the University of Ottawa, under the supervision of Dr. Kilty. Her PhD dissertation will explore the emotional geographies of homelessness in Kingston, specifically the criminalization of unhoused people living in public spaces.

In her spare time, Sophie enjoys photography, reading science-fiction and fantasy novels, and camping. She currently lives in Kingston with her partner, Jake and her dog, Kylo.