Feb 12, 2013 – Prison reform…
Global News – David Fraser. The Canadian Press
Watchdogs, MPs slam Canada’s prison officials on treatment of Black, Indigenous inmates
The link is to an extensive account of people who monitor what happens in the Canadian prison system, outsiders to the usual Corrections Canada (CSC) commentary when a death or wrongdoing is reported. “Two House of Commons committees honed in on the state of Canadian prisons this week, with MPs from all parties offering a scathing rebuke of the prison system.” Even Canada’s auditor general, Karen Hogan, a long a critic of the practices in Canadian prisons has real objections to the consistent resistance to change from the CSC: “The over-representation of Indigenous and Black offenders in custody has worsened with higher security classifications, the late delivery of correctional programs and the delayed access to release on parole,” her May report said. “Hogan’s office had raised similar issues in reports delivered in 2015, 2016 and 2017.” https://globalnews.ca/news/9480097/federal-watchdogs-mps-prison-officials-treatment-black-indigenous-inmates/ (Links within the article are worth following as well.)
Canadian Bar Association will advocate to end use of NDAs in abuse and harassment cases – The association will advocate for only using NDAs in specific circumstances and lobby for legislation to be enacted at the provincial and federal levels of government.
The famous non-disclosure agreement (NDA), originally intended to protect intellectual property, was transported into settlement contracts prohibiting settlement disclosures after lawsuit, witness the Trump era, but in Canada as well. The Canadian Bar Association has passed a resolution in its AGM to end the NDA in abuse and harassment cases. CBA resolution sponsor and Vancouver-based lawyer Jo-Anne Stark says: “If anything, we’re hoping that it will stop the cycle of abuse, bullying and harassment that many people are reporting quietly behind closed doors, within institutions and within organizations. By being able to speak out about it, it stops the perpetrator from continuing with that type of misconduct.” https://www.thespec.com/ts/news/canada/2023/02/09/canadian-bar-association-will-advocate-to-end-use-of-ndas-in-abuse-and-harassment-cases.html
John Howard Week – Feb 13 – 17, 2023
The week of Feb 13 – 19 (2023) John Howard is inviting people to discussions and conferencing around justice issues in Canada, with public participation with its speakers and commentary. The week starts off on Feb. 13 with an effort to see what adult system can learn from the Young Offenders Act. Tuesday will see sessions on how to access correctional information. Wednesday will turn to seeing what the Norway correctional system has to offer Canada when the topic becomes: Can the Nordic Reintegration Approach Help Reduce Recidivism in Canada? Thursday brings former Correctional investigator Howard Sapers who updates on the Special Intervention Unit implementation – he is chair of that panel. Friday turns attention to those who are managing the records suspension programs.
JOIN US each day at 1 pm EST – https://meet.goto.com/JHSC There are some materials and other events on the John Howard web page: https://johnhoward.ca/
Blogger Russell Webster (UK)
New resources for justice professionals
Webster introduces the Butler Foundation and its new resource, The Knowledge Exchange, an on-line resource center for anyone working in the justice arena. “The Knowledge Exchange is an online library of guidance and examples of best practice. The resource encourages users to suggest examples of best practice and guidance and allows users to search content by both source and sector. There are now over 550 resources instantly available for download.” https://www.russellwebster.com/new-resources-for-justice-professionals/ Link to the Knowledge Exchange: https://www.theknowledgeexchange.uk/
JSTOR Daily (US) / American Prison Newspapers: 1880-2020
The First Famous Football Team Behind Bars – Sing Sing’s football team, The Black Sheep, ascended to fame even though its players were incarcerated. One player was so good, he signed with the Eagles. https://daily.jstor.org/the-first-famous-football-team-behind-bars/?utm_term=Read%20More&utm_campaign=jstordaily_02092023&utm_content=email&utm_source=Act-On+Software&utm_medium=email
Tweet from Christiane Sadeler Christiane Sadeler: “Is anyone monitoring how budgets across the country support or (mostly) not support prevention and how this compares to votes on police budgets?”
(https://twitter.com/ChrisSadeler/status/1623889872955269120?t=xTbXPbUWxmxysFQsMA4PXw&s=03)
Tweet from John Howard Society – On evidence of recent crimes: “Recent violent crime caused ‘notable shift’ in public view of criminal justice: Lametti ‘there is a need to restore trust in Canada’s justice system and address Canadians’ worries about recent violence’: Evidence of recent crime/effectiveness of changes?”
(https://twitter.com/JohnHoward_Can/status/1624038391544180739?t=M4s3VWtYRqa8n35c33CcPg&s=03) Related article: National Post – Anja Karadeglija Recent violent crime caused ‘notable shift’ in public view of criminal justice: Lametti – The Conservatives have been pressuring the Liberal government to address what they term a violent crime wave https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/recent-violent-crime-caused-notable-shift-in-public-view-of-criminal-justice-lametti
The Atlantic (US) – Madiba Dennie
Originalism Is Going to Get Women Killed – A federal court has ruled that a law barring domestic-violence offenders from owning firearms is unconstitutional.
Originalism is the name given to the belief that the US constitution should be interpreted according to the minds of those who wrote and agreed to the document. The issue is the power of the second amendment that in turn allows people who are domestic abusers to own and carry guns. Originalism is “the theory of constitutional interpretation known as originalism—the idea that a law’s constitutionality today is dependent on the Constitution’s purported “original public meaning” when the relevant constitutional text was enacted. Its adherents market originalism as fair and free from favor or prejudice—but its effects are not and will not be fair at all. By its very nature, originalism threatens women and other minority groups who were disempowered at the time of the Constitution’s adoption. We must instead develop a new constitutional interpretative method that protects all Americans as equal members of our democratic society.” https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/originalism-united-states-v-rahimi-women-domestic-abuse/672993/?s=03