Dec 23, 2022
Lawyer’s Daily – John L. Hill
Christmas cards from jail
Jails and prisons defy the forced cheerfulness of the commercial Christmas season and many incarcerated persons are so adversely impacted during Christmas that they basically ignore special disruption of the normal routine says Hill. “I compiled a list of all the inmates I had represented in the preceding year and sent Christmas cards to my inmate clientele. For this, I was sharply rebuffed by prison administration. I was admonished for creating undue work for Visits and Correspondence staff who were required to open and examine each card before delivery to the prisoner. In subsequent years, I found an easy solution to remedy the situation. I would address each card and affix the notice on the outside of the envelope: “Solicitor-Client Correspondence — privileged.” Such material could be given directly to the inmate without examination… One year, I asked for an inmate with some artistic aptitude to design a cover for my card. I received the artwork and had it reproduced in Christmas card form. It was obvious the perspective of the artwork was of someone doing time inside. The notable difference in this depiction was that the artwork portrayed someone looking out from inside a cell rather than looking in. “Because that’s the way we see the world,” the artist explained.” https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/criminal/articles/42471/christmas-cards-from-jail-john-l-hill?nl_pk=40ed8ea4-637a-4d76-870f-04f0eeae7de8&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=criminal
Tweet from Andrew Baback Boozary MD (@drandrewb) Christmas housing This Christmas please don’t say we can’t afford housing for all. We can no longer afford the cruelty of the status quo. A month in provincial jail costs: $9,400 Month in hospital: $20,100 Month in shelter: $6,600 Social housing per month: $2,500 Housing is a human right.
https://twitter.com/drandrewb/status/1605962911397990409?t=3dgpdyUEli9XJLP5A5qj7A&s=03
Tweet from Brandi Morin (@Songstress28) Indigenous females in Canadian Prisons
I made this chart-Money maker much? These stunning disproportions come down to systemic racism, inadequate socio-economic opportunities, lack of investment in2 resources 2 heal from residential school legacy & fallout of violent assimilation tactics via colonialism to name a few https://t.co/DDmKVC2Aff
(https://twitter.com/Songstress28/status/1605981084960833540?t=y2MDBwEsczqvekFKLryt6A&s=03
Tweet from #FreeChristianReichert (@TinaReichert7) 38 years for pot (US) “If you think a young man that has no criminal history is benefiting from a excessive sentence of 38yrs for weed and has done almost 7 now, no priors, no violent charges is helping you couldn’t be more wrong. I’m seeing the changes in my son. It’s made us both harder. The damage… (cf string)
https://twitter.com/TinaReichert7/status/1605909544391086082?t=8Qll5xdEnaxkOgNf1p6ogQ&s=03
Tweet from Critical Criminology (@critcrim) Lip service reform “The big problem we see in police services across Canada today is there’s a lot of lip service paid to equality for our community. But when you look at what’s happening on the ground…with our community, it’s often quite a different story.”
https://t.co/HCIhZL7CU2
(https://twitter.com/critcrim/status/1606010243137572864?t=765q4fXqS8dv9U63kzuf6Q&s=03 Related article: CBC News – Tyler Cheese Toronto police have implemented just 10% of missing persons’ cases review recommendations – 100 more recommendations in progress, some say change can’t come soon enough https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-police-missing-persons-review-update-1.6694246?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar&s=03
Tweet from Jonathan Friedman 📚 (@jonfreadom) On the how silly can crime get: “If the news that this TX library is getting privatized b/c ppl didn’t like their pride month & banned books week displays is not outrageous enough– read the part about a police officer at the circulation desk vetting books ppl could read… #SaveLibraries https://t.co/BPpWFgsfvp
(https://twitter.com/jonfreadom/status/1605747574631194626?t=3jJP46RlboJSkgttRHtF0g&s=03
Toronto Star – Shiri Pasternak and Ted Rutland
The disconnect between growing police budgets and public consciousness has never been greater – Across Canada, police budgets have increased since the 2020 protests set off by the murder of George Floyd, despite the opposition of most Canadians.
“There is a good reason people called for systemic change to police power rather than more reform. Reforms like diversity hiring, body cameras, and anti-racism training have been implemented since the 1980s. They have failed for decades to reign in structural racism, misogyny and violence in local, provincial and national forces, or to introduce meaningful accountability measures should the worst happen.” https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/12/22/the-disconnect-between-growing-police-budgets-and-public-consciousness-has-never-been-greater.html Related article: The Guardian (UK) – Leyland Cecco The daughter fighting to recover her mother’s remains from a landfill https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/22/canada-cambria-harris-indigenous-mudered-women-remains?CMP=share_btn_tw&s=03
Global News – Heather Yourex-West
An intellectually disabled woman needed help. She went to jail instead
(Jessica) “Stuckey is 24 years old and has a genetic chromosomal abnormality called Smith-Magenus Syndrome. She lives with a permanent intellectual disability…She is kind of paused at a developmental stage at about six years old,” said Deanna Harris, Stuckey’s lawyer. “Normally, she would have a lot of community support, which would keep her out of trouble.” The support services she needed disappeared when Covid arrived and when she leaned that she needed to make threats to get help, she threatened two mental health workers and was arrested, remanded for psychiatric assessment only to be imprisoned for want of capacity at the hospital. https://globalnews.ca/news/9358863/saskatchewan-intellectually-disabled-woman-jailed/
CBC News – Canadian Press
Man charged with murder of fellow inmate at Gravenhurst, Ont. Prison – Man, 54, has been charged in death of Leslie Ma, 31
Federal Beaver Creek Correctional Institute in Gravenhurst was the site of the murder of Ma and John Howard wants to know what motivated the murder. OPP and Correctional Services Canada are investigation the murder but are charging a 54 year old also incarcerated person with the murder. Few details are available at this point. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ont-prison-death-1.6696162?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar
Lawyer’s Daily – Andrew West and Lea Keren
One less brick in the wall: John Howard Society v. Canada
The context of the experience of the Covid virus among incarcerated persons is also the context for a John Howard examination of the response by Corrections to grievances from those incarcerated. “People who are incarcerated in Canada have extremely limited, if any, access to computers. This means they rely on written communication to submit formal inmate grievances. The inmate grievance system is an internal mechanism that is intended to ensure lawfulness within these institutions. However, they rarely lead to effective forms of redress, and often never see the light of day. This makes it critical for organizations like the John Howard Society of Canada to be able to access those complaints via federal privacy laws so that it can carry out its mission in advocating for the human rights of incarcerated people.” https://www.thelawyersdaily.ca/criminal/articles/42467/one-less-brick-in-the-wall-john-howard-society-v-canada-?nl_pk=40ed8ea4-637a-4d76-870f-04f0eeae7de8&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=criminal
(Ed note: Your newsletter will become less frequent over Christmas and New Year for vacation. See you in the New Year! Happy Holidays!)