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Are you part of The Tyee’s critical 1%?

Thanks for reading this article from The Tyee. I hope it added something to your day. If we haven't met yet, The Tyee is an independent, non-profit news outlet based in Vancouver, B.C. We've been around since 2003 and our team publishes original in-depth articles every single weekday.

You are able to access all of The Tyee's articles — free of charge — because our non-profit newsroom is supported by thousands of supporters of independent journalism. We call them Tyee Builders, and they contribute an amount that works for them.

Why do we call them "Tyee Builders"? Because they literally help build The Tyee. As our reader contributions grow, we invest all of it back into more original journalism, and adding more talented researchers, writers and editors to our team.

Only about 1 per cent of people who regularly read The Tyee contribute financially, but amazingly, that’s enough to cover half of our total budget. Just 1 per cent of people chipping in means that the other 99 per cent get to enjoy open access to fact-based journalism published by a trusted, independent news organization.

Public interest journalism is vital for our democracy, but the sad truth is that newsrooms across Canada are struggling, and laying off more and more journalists each year. Support from our readers means that we can keep our newsroom staffed, resourced, and showing up every day with new original stories that you won't read anywhere else. It also means that we are accountable to you first, not shareholders (we don't have any) or corporate backers (we don't have any of those, either).

Be a part of making Canadian media better and join Tyee Builders today. You choose the amount and frequency you give, and you can cancel at any time.

— Jeanette Ageson, publisher

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In ‘Invisible Prisons,’ a Survivor Finds Redemption Through Love

Lisa Moore takes on the reform school system with her harrowing, non-fiction telling of Jack Whalen, a boy held in solitary confinement.

Knopf Canada 24 Sep 2024The Tyee

A book cover reads ‘Invisible Prisons’ atop a cartoon silhouette of tall, dark trees. The book is placed at an angle on a blue-purple background.
Invisible Prisons by Lisa Moore and Jack Whalen is out now, published by Knopf Canada. Image by Chloe Ings.

In author Lisa Moore’s latest book, the question of justice — and the lengths victims must go to get it — is inescapable. Invisible Prisons, Moore’s debut book of non-fiction, makes an extraordinary collaboration between Moore and a reform school survivor named Jack Whalen.

In the 1970s, Whalen was held in solitary confinement for 730 days at a reform school for boys in St. John’s. Denied an education and deprived of the most basic human dignities, he survived. Through grit and perseverance, Whalen found love and managed to turn his life around as a husband and father.

More than 50 years later, Newfoundland and Labrador remains one of only two Canadian provinces that maintain a statute of limitations on child abuse lawsuits. At a young age, his daughter vowed to become a lawyer so that she could seek justice for him. Today, that is exactly what she is doing — and Whalen’s case is part of a lawsuit currently before the courts.

The story has parallels with Unholy Orders by Michael Harris, and with many other horrific accounts about residential schools across the country. Like those stories, the paternalistic state is exposed while society at large turns away.

Yet, two powerful qualities set this story apart.

As much as it is about an abusive system seizing children, it is also a tender tale of love between Jack and his wife Glennis, who has believed and loved him from the beginning. Every moment of Whalen's life is made vivid in these pages.

'Invisible Prisons' is out now from Knopf Canada. [Tyee]

Read more: Books, Rights + Justice

This article is part of a Tyee Presents initiative. Tyee Presents is the special sponsored content section within The Tyee where we highlight contests, events and other initiatives that are either put on by us or by our select partners. The Tyee does not and cannot vouch for or endorse products advertised on The Tyee. We choose our partners carefully and consciously, to fit with The Tyee’s reputation as B.C.’s Home for News, Culture and Solutions. Learn more about Tyee Presents.

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