Sept 3, 2015
Vancouver Sun – Tara Carman
Canada favours temporary residents to permanent: report – Former immigration minister Jason Kenney calls findings ‘complete rubbish’
Harsha Walia, a co-author of the report entitled Never Home: Legislating Discrimination in Canadian Immigration, charges that the federal immigration policy has some built in prejudices. There are now more temporary immigrants that permanent and those who are trying to get permanent immigration are in fact conditional. If a marital relationship ends within two years, for example, the permanent residency can be revoked. Jason Kenny accused the group behind the report, No One is Illegal, “of being a “Trotskyite, anarchist organization” opposed to any and all immigration laws. Still, the latest stats from Immigration Canada show that there are in fact more temporary workers than permanent immigrants: 279,565 temporary workers in 2013 vs 258,953 permanent residents. http://www.vancouversun.com/Canada+favours+temporary+residents+permanent+report/11333380/story.html#ixzz3kay33qEH
Scottish Detainee Visitors
Parliamentary debate on the detention inquiry, 10 September 2015
The Scottish Parliament has been told that immigration detention is expensive, inefficient and unjust and a group of Parliamentarians want an open discussion on the practices, following the Detention Inquiry Report published in March 2015. http://sdv.org.uk/parliamentary-debate-on-the-detention-inquiry-10-september-2015/ The Report of the Inquiry into the Use of Immigration Detention in the United Kingdom (A 76 page all party report in pdf) https://detentioninquiry.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/immigration-detention-inquiry-report.pdf Related article: Pro Bono News (Australia) Nauru ‘Not Safe’ – Senate (Nauru is an island immigration detention camp in Australia found to be experiencing rampant sexual abuse and rape against detainees. ) http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2015/09/nauru-%E2%80%98not-safe%E2%80%99-%E2%80%93-senate#
CTV News – Summer Ballentine, Associated Press
U.S. man sentenced to life in prison for marijuana charge freed after 20 years
Jeff Mizanskey had two previous convictions, one for the use of marijuana and one for the sale of marijuana when he was arrested in Missouri for conspiracy to sell six pounds of marijuana to a dealer connected with a Mexican drug cartel. The resulting life without parole was interrupted today and Mizanskey was set free after serving 20 years and at age 62. Lawyers think the case is a poster for reform of sentencing laws. http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/u-s-man-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-marijuana-charge-freed-after-20-years-1.2543725 Related article:
Los Angeles Times (US) Editorial (September 2, 2015)
California, finally coming out of solitary
Calling solitary “a degree of abuse that approaches torture,” the LA Times applauds the new limits on indefinite solitary confinement and hopes that, while acknowledging that solitary continues to be an acceptable practice, the new limits confronting the abuses of the past will eventually lead to a more humane treatment of inmates. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-0902-solitary-20150902-story.html Related article: The Sacramento Bee Editorial (Sept 2, 2015) State is right to end limitless solitary confinement http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article33265392.html Related article: N.Y. Times – Timothy Williams Prison Directors Group Calls for Limiting Solitary Confinement http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/09/03/us/prison-directors-group-calls-for-limiting-solitary-confinement.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=1&referrer=
Restorative Justice Council (UK)
Response to the Minister of Justice’s Improving the Code of Practice of Victims of Crime Consultation Paper
The UK government has a draft Code of Practice for Victims for which it has asked a response from the RJC. This seven page pdf is the response of RJC and offers four key recommendations for the improvement of the draft code in the light of restorative justice principles. https://www.restorativejustice.org.uk/sites/default/files/resources/files/RJC%20response%20to%20Improving%20the%20Code%20of%20Practice%20for%20Victims%20of%20Crime.pdf
Truth Out (US) – Elizabeth Schulte
The Pentagon Persecutes Chelsea Manning
Chelsea Manning is a whistle blower who was sentenced to 35 years in Leavenworth Prison for releasing several hundred thousand documents about civilian casualties during the war in Iraq. Manning’s case is a powerful example of what can happen once sentenced to a military prison when the military itself is determined to make life miserable. Manning is transgendered as well, also apparently viewed as an offense against good order in a military prison. http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/32619-the-pentagon-persecutes-a-political-prisoner