VICTIMIZED. 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...
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...
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