Prisoners’ Stories – 2: Nine lives, 6 months, and 21 days
I.M. GRENADA “Well?” My question pounces with all the subtlety of the Spanish Inquisition. Its target, my 62 year-old cell-dwelling neighbour, Gaton (name changed to protect identity), had just returned from 2 hours and 40 minutes of cerebral ping pong...
Read MoreUnder Lock and Key: The Don Jail
Lorna Poplak Since the mid-1800s, the Don Jail has left its stamp on the skyline, and the psyche, of Toronto. Over the years it developed a fearsome reputation as a dehumanizing snake pit where tuberculosis and other diseases caused by...
Read MoreFederal Prisoners Call for Reform
Prisoners have a lot of useful things to say, even if they are rarely asked, about how to improve the criminal justice system. Here’s a slightly edited version of a good recent example: October 19, 2017 (Algonquin Territory / Ottawa)...
Read MoreThe worrying state of Canadian prisons
A previous post referenced the important work done by the Office of the Correctional Investigator, which gives an outside perspective on the state and problems of federal prisons in Canada. The previous Correctional Investigator, Howard Sapers, is now leading an...
Read MoreWomen need health care to stay out of prison
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Patricia Jansen, Mo Korchinski, Ruth Elwood Martin, all from the University of British Columbia “What I have done is not who I am. Most of us are emotionally...
Read MoreRace, Crime and Justice in Canada
We have a lot of data showing that Indigenous and Black people are the subjects of unfair treatment throughout the criminal justice system, from contact with police to sentencing and parole. That evidence is well summarized in a recent (2014)...
Read MoreInequality in Who Gets Arrested
There is much evidence that the likelihood of being arrested for or charged with a crime is affected by skin colour, location, and other factors. This post illustrating that inequality is drawn from a Toronto Star feature on July 6,...
Read MoreThe New Cannabis Laws: Good and Bad News
Annamaria Enenajor The colossal failure of Canada’s “war on drugs” is a key reason that the federal government has proposed to replace prohibition with legalizing and regulating the production, distribution and sale of cannabis (Bill C45 and Bill C-46). The...
Read MoreThe Perils of Prediction: Evidence on the Limitations of Tools for Predicting Recidivism
In the media coverage of the recent attack in Edmonton on a police officer and several civilians, questions were asked about why this man was able to commit such a crime given that he had been questioned by police several...
Read MorePrisoners’ Stories: Sisyphus Gets a Sidekick
Sisyphus gets a sidekick I.M. Grenada This is the first of many posts we plan to publish by current and former prisoners about their experiences in the criminal justice system. “Why a cat?” I looked up at the weathered wisp...
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