The fight…

July 14, 2022

CBC Radio – The Current with Catherin Cullen
Her brother begged for mental health, addiction support in prison. After he died, she took up his fight

The incident prompting this examination happened in 2021 but is ideally suited to present the typical events surrounding a death in custody, even though the incident involves provincial and not federal prisons.  The practice is for the prison authorities to inform the next of kin of the death and normally they offer no details, no cause of death, no information other than the death itself.  Later, usually fairly long after the death, there is a coroner’s inquest into the death and recommendations made about avoiding future incidents.  The recs are not legally binding and are mostly ignored by the correctional people.  In this case, a man on bail for addiction offences, Gregory Pike, suffered a relapse and had his bail revoked.   “His family believed he needed rehabilitation, not incarceration, and set about finding the treatment they say was not readily available inside the prison… “We finally got him accepted into a five-week treatment program, and he was denied the bail to do it — and he committed suicide two days later,” Courtney (Pike) his sister and a nurse in St. John’s.  “They’re offering people time off their sentences for intolerable conditions in the HMP (Her Majesty’s Penitentiary), but yet my brother is passed away … it don’t make sense,” she said. “My brother did not need jail; he should still be here.”  The incident accentuates the difficulty of getting mental health services to the incarcerated and the stubborn resistance of courts to divert the incarcerated and expedite the mental health treatment.  Surprisingly stats around the incidence of prison deaths are difficult to come by.  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-july-12-2022-1.6517763/her-brother-begged-for-mental-health-addiction-support-in-prison-after-he-died-she-took-up-his-fight-1.6518189   CTV News – Canadian Press  N.L. inmate who died by suicide needed mental health care not jail: family  https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/n-l-inmate-who-died-by-suicide-needed-mental-health-care-not-jail-family-Related article: The Crime Report (US) – Stanley Richards  What will it take to stop inmate jail deaths?  https://thecrimereport.org/2022/07/13/what-will-it-take-to-stop-inmate-jail-deaths/  Related article:  IndigiNews – Odette Auger   One year after RCMP killed Wet’suwet’en man, loved ones push for justice – Jared (Jay) Lowdnes was shot by ‘Campbell River’ RCMP in 2021 — his friends and family members are still seeking systemic change by turning ‘rage into action,’ ‘pain into power’ https://indiginews.com/vancouver-island/one-year-after-rcmp-killed-wetsuweten-man-jared-loved-ones-push-for-justice   Related article: The Lawyer’s Daily – Pamela Cross  Making systemic change through an inquest   https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/criminal/articles/37853/making-systemic-change-through-an-inquest-?nl_pk=40ed8ea4-637a-4d76-870f-04f0eeae7de8&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=criminal

 CBC News (Cape Breton) – Tom Ayers
CBRM seeks online crime reporting system to ease police burden – Municipality issues tender for new system that would use smartphones and computers to report some crimes

People may wonder how the crime stats are collected and reported.  The collection is facilitated by local police agencies for the most part, sometimes rather faithfully and accurately, sometimes not.  Cape Brenton’s municipality is looking for use computer technology based in smart phones to relieve the tasks of the frontline police constable for other demanding duties.  Additionally, the system should allow the submission of reports while by-passing the police with the on-line police reporting system, mostly for non-emergencies.  No target date for the development but Halifax already has such a system for certain reporting.  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/cbrm-seeks-online-crime-reporting-system-to-ease-police-burden-1.6515666

 The Conversation (Queen’s) – Sean Carleton and Jackson Pind
Canada’s reckoning with colonialism and education must include Indian Day Schools

The basis of the article lies in the realization that Indigenous children were not only victimized in residential schools but also in federally run day schools where over 200,000 children attended between 1870 and 2000.  The same philosophies and practices from the residential schools – to take the ‘Indian out of the child’ – informed the day schools but those day schoolers are not included in any of the settlements around the residential schools.  “If Canada is serious about putting truth before reconciliation, then the history and ongoing legacies of all kinds of colonial schooling need to be acknowledged and addressed.”   https://theconversation.com/canadas-reckoning-with-colonialism-and-education-must-include-indian-day-schools-185464?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20July%2013%202022&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20July%2013%202022+CID_060ec6c72d4228e3ae0d89cdef13bee9&utm_source=campaign_monitor_ca&utm_term=Canadas%20reckoning%20with%20colonialism%20and%20education%20must%20include%20Indian%20Day%20Schools   Related article: Nunatsiaq News:  Deadline to file could be extended for federal day school lawsuit claimants – Extension related to $1.47-billion class action suit settled with federal government  https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/deadline-to-file-could-be-extended-for-federal-day-school-lawsuit-claimants/   Related article:  The Conversation (Queen’s) – Tiffaney Dionne Prete   Pope’s visit to Canada: Indigenous communities await a new apology — and a commitment to justice  https://theconversation.com/popes-visit-to-canada-indigenous-communities-await-a-new-apology-and-a-commitment-to-justice-185555?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20July%2013%202022&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20July%2013%202022+CID_060ec6c72d4228e3ae0d89cdef13bee9&utm_source=campaign_monitor_ca&utm_term=Popes%20visit%20to%20Canada%20Indigenous%20communities%20await%20a%20new%20apology%20%20and%20a%20commitment%20to%20justice

The Crime Report (US) – TCR Staff
Control over Contraband Devices Eludes Prison Authorities: Report

With this report the failure of interdiction techniques when a prison is in shut down raises the reality that smuggled goods – in this case cell phones and electronic devices but in other cases illegal drugs – still get inside the prison with ease and lots of supply.  The report is suggesting that the only real screening mechanism under practice in most prisons is the screening that takes place for hiring guards, and is pronouncing that practice an abysmal failure.  https://thecrimereport.org/2022/07/12/control-over-contraband-devices-eludes-prison-authorities-report/   Full Report:  Interdiction Technologies and Strategies for Contraband Cell Phones –  Bryce Peterson, KiDeuk Kim, Rochisha Shukla,  Megan Mizzort   https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2022-07/Interdiction%20Technologies%20and%20Strategies%20for%20Contraband%20Cell%20Phones.pdf

 CBC News – Jason Viau
Stress, burnout among police in Canada ‘pretty terrifying,’ researcher says

This research, commissioned by the Canadian Police Association and dating from May 2021, is defining ‘presenteeism’ or showing up for work when physically or mentally unwell:  “To better understand these issues, the CPA participated in a study that surveyed more than 1,000 officers across Canada. The survey says 35 per cent of them went to work when mentally unwell, while 31 per cent did so when physically ill, which is known as presenteeism.”  The projected hope from the study is for structural change that could address the current emphasis on work or family.    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/systemic-issues-in-policing-across-canada-1.6464175   Related tweet: Alex Karakatsanis (US) offers a perspective on journalistic and academic protocols around the articles about police and crime:  “THREAD. This is a thread about how the New York Times uses “experts” to manipulate the views of readers to support police and incarceration. What the New York Times is doing is profoundly dangerous at a time of rising and unprecedented authoritarian surveillance.” (cf String)   https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1547268256465006592?s=03

 An Anthropological Reflection on Personhood:

The Conversation (Queen’s) – Robert Launay, Professor of Anthropology, Northwestern University   What does it mean to be a ‘person’? Different cultures have different answers https://theconversation.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-person-different-cultures-have-different-answers-186015?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20July%2013%202022&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20July%2013%202022+CID_060ec6c72d4228e3ae0d89cdef13bee9&utm_source=campaign_monitor_ca&utm_term=What%20does%20it%20mean%20to%20be%20a%20person%20Different%20cultures%20have%20different%20answers