Critical theorists consider schools as sites of ideological struggle. The following is an account of Suzette's (pseudonym) attempts to define the educational practices in a women's prison according to the democratic principles suggested in the Task Force Report on Federally Sentenced Women: Creating Choices, (Correctional Service of Canada, 1990). This report led to the construction of five new prisons for women across Canada. Suzette's case illustrates how ideological struggles are experienced personally, and how they contribute to her burnout-disillusionment and resignation. Habermas's critical research program and his concept of system and lifeworld undergirds this interpretation of this teacher's resistance to the correctional ethos at the New Prison for Women (NPW).