Everything you were never taught about Canada’s prison system
This post is about 700 words and takes 3 minutes to read. About a year ago, a website called intersectionalanalyst.com published a piece on Canada’s prison system. The website describes itself as “Making sense of complex social problems through information...
Read MoreCrime rates don’t affect police or prison numbers; minority population does
This post is 500 words and takes about 2 minutes to read. Most of us presume that cities have more police when there is more crime. We also assume that more people in prison is a result of more crime. ...
Read MoreSeeing crime as a public health issue: Gregg Caruso
This post is about 950 words and will take 4-5 minutes to read. Gregg Caruso’s short and readable book, Public Health and Safety: The Social Determinants of Health and Criminal Behavior, available free online, makes the argument for thinking about...
Read MoreLess supervision of released prisoners gives better results
This blog is about 600 words and will take 2-3 minutes to read. Here’s an irony: Extensive research shows that more intensive supervision of people released from prison actually yields worse results – more recidivism, higher costs, and less public...
Read MoreWalls to Bridges: The Positive Effect of Education in Prison
This post is about 900 words and will take 4-5 minutes to read. For many prisoners, education can be a key component of building a better life as well as making jail a less negative experience. Yet education opportunities have...
Read MoreSuicide in prisons: An international comparison
This post is 700 words and will take 3 minutes to read. Suicide rates among people in prison are dramatically higher than those in the general population, although this varies greatly among countries. This is the conclusion of a recent...
Read MoreThe Prison Book Club
Ann Walmsley’s book, The Prison Book Club, is about her experience with a book club that began at Collins Bay Institution and then extended to several other federal prisons Book clubs have become integral parts of many prisons in several...
Read MoreRehabilitation can work
Why do we send people to jail? Although jail is taken for granted as a punishment for many crimes, people often don’t think much beyond that. Someone does something wrong, the response is punishment, and the common punishment is time...
Read MoreThe Killing of Matthew Hines
By Catherine Latimer, Executive Director, John Howard Canada On April 25, 2018 two correctional officers pled not guilty to criminal charges relating to the tragic prison death of Matthew Hines at Dorchester Penitentiary. They are entitled to a fair trial...
Read MorePrisontalk.com: A great information source on all things having to do with imprisonment
Reliable information on Canadian prisons and jails is hard to come by. You would think that an institution that deals with many thousands of people each year plus their families and friends, almost always involving a high degree of anxiety,...
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