Fatality Inquiry Report on Jessie McAdam’s 2013 death in an Administrative Segregation Cell: Cultural Resistance
Excerpt from Report to the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Public Fatality Inquiry Into the July 2013 death of Jessie McAdam, in an administrative segregation cell at Edmonton Institution, Dated March 15, 2018 DECONSTRUCTION OF ADMINISTRATIVE SEGREGATION Correctional resistance...
Read More‘Desperate Measures’ or Abuse?
The May 1, 2018 article in the National Post by Adrian Humphreys chronicles the 20-year efforts of the police to validate their belief that Mr. DeMaria is ‘a ‘top mafia boss’ involved in traditional organized crime. What is described in...
Read MoreVICTIMIZED. LEGALLY.
Imagine what would happen to you if someone took you, against your will, and locked you, incommunicado with your family and friends, in a bathroom for one day. When you would be rescued and released, everyone would assume that you...
Read MoreCRIMINAL RECORDS : CREATING A NEW ‘DANGEROUS’ SUB-CLASS
The 10 % of Canadians with a criminal record are part of a new and dangerous sub-class. No, these men and women are not dangerous in that they are more of a criminal threat to our society. In fact, research...
Read MoreCanada Needs the John Howard Society
How we treat and assist prisoners and former prisoners, like myself, is critically important to all citizens of Canada. If we are interested in public safety, and in being fiscally responsible and morally upright as Canadians, we must ensure the...
Read MoreHEED THE ALARM
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’...
Read More3% Doing Time for Murder Didn’t Do Crime: James Lockyer
Heidi Riedner At least 3 per cent of convicted murderers in prison are innocent, according to one of the country’s most prominent social justice activists. “That’s a lot of people in Canadian prisons for murders they didn’t commit,” lawyer James...
Read MoreEnough is Enough: Time to Reform the Criminal Records Act
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...
Read MorePrisoners’ 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...
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