The 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 MorePrisoners’ Stories 3 – Here, Kitty, Kitty…
Note: Parts 1 and 2 of this story appeared last fall. By I.M. GRENADA “When?” For prisoners, that’s the cosmic question. On the civilized side of the fence, common folk regularly rate each other in cash (“So, what do you...
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 MoreThe OCI: Insight into Canada’s prisons
Jails and prisons are out of the public eye; what goes on there tends to get very little scrutiny unless something very dramatic occurs. However there is much evidence (for example the famous Stanford Prison Experiments) that in places where...
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