HEED THE ALARM

May 1, 2018

The John Howard Society is in need of resuscitation! The traditional heartbeat of John Howard is failing. Across the country, more and more JHS branches are reducing or stepping away from adult justice services and service for prisoners and advocacy for prisoners’...

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Enough is Enough: Time to Reform the Criminal Records Act

November 6, 2017

Samantha McAleese In January 2016, Public Safety Ministry Ralph Goodale told CBC news that reforming the Criminal Records Act would be a priority for the newly elected Liberal government. He, along with many others, agreed that the elimination of Canada’s...

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Under Lock and Key: The Don Jail

November 2, 2017

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...

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Federal Prisoners Call for Reform

October 30, 2017

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)...

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The worrying state of Canadian prisons

October 29, 2017 |

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...

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Women need health care to stay out of prison

October 23, 2017

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...

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Inequality in Who Gets Arrested

October 17, 2017

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,...

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