April 13, 2023 – UN and human rights…
Amnesty International –
“In March 2023 Chief Na’Moks, a hereditary chief of the Wet’suwet’un nation, met with Francisco Cali Tzay, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In this short video, Chief Na’Moks describes what he told the Special Rapporteur about Indigenous rights violations, the destruction of the land, air, and water, and the need to hold Canada accountable.” Link to a brief video: Chief Na’Moks of the Wet’suwet’un nation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHQ75KW9XL4
Links for Amnesty International: “Wet’suwet’en Indigenous Peoples face surveillance and arrest by the RCMP and the provincial and federal governments in British Columbia. The source of their struggle: Coastal GasLink’s pipeline that will divide their land in two. We need your help to stop these human rights abuses! https://takeaction.amnesty.ca/page/98880/action/1?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=wetsuweten-online-action-resend-unopened&utm_content=Wetsuweten+Online+Action+April+11+2023+resend+unopened
CBC News – Caitlyn Gowriluk
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs wants to create First Nations courts to reduce incarceration – As governments ‘continue to tinker’ with existing justice system, grand chief says what’s needed is overhaul
“Cathy Merrick, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, says there’s an urgent need for a First Nations-led justice system in the province… The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs is reimagining what a justice system could look like for First Nations people in the province, with plans to try out courts in two communities with processes based on First Nations’ legal traditions…As Indigenous people continue to make up a disproportionate number of people in custody, get jailed younger, be denied bail more frequently and receive parole less often, the need for such a system in Manitoba is urgent, Grand Chief Cathy Merrick said.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/assembly-of-manitoba-chiefs-justice-courts-initiative-1.6807291
The Maple – Simon Ralston
What Does A Major Drop In Detained Youth Mean For Canada’s Carceral System? The drop in the number of young people in custody during the pandemic “suggests we are over-using custody in the first place.”
Ralston is reflecting on the reported Stats Can precipitous drop of 40% in the number of youth in custody from 2017-2018 to 2021-2022. Ralston thinks it important to note that custody contributes to youth crime since it removes all the supports available to youth from family and community. While noting disproportionate Indigenous youth incarceration, Ralston is also ascribing a serious role to the covid in these results, among other reasons. https://www.readthemaple.com/what-does-a-major-drop-in-detained-youth-mean-for-canadas-carceral-system/
Crime on the subway in Toronto: A news report and analysis of the data by Jean Piché
Fewer transit safety incidents after Toronto police boost, TTC data show – Police have since ended the extra patrols and the force has said on-duty officers are now patrolling the TTC as part of regular proactive patrols – Canadian Press
Tweet from Jean Piché, Ph.D., (University of Ottawa) on data analysis: News: “Fewer transit safety incidents after Toronto police boost, TTC data show” Let’s dig into the numbers (imperfect and incomplete as they are)… https://t.co/jZMotr4OTR
(https://twitter.com/JustinPicheh/status/1645614764477775872?t=GjK4unS4ECGTUXywgZVsbA&s=03)
Tweet from Jean Piché, Ph.D., (University of Ottawa) on Deaths of Police Officers 1962-2023: CPEP 1/4 Since 1962, 409 on duty police officers have died, including 4 this year.
https://t.co/DHzfHYnBCa
(https://twitter.com/JustinPicheh/status/1645539562306031617?t=pRQ-1KsMSRGU3U2GAAyC6Q&s=03) (cf string)
The Indiana Lawyer.com – Alexa Shrake
Web Exclusive: Indiana incarcerated women research, publish historical book on Indiana Women’s Prison
The historical text was written by incarcerated women and called: “Who Would Believe a Prisoner? Indiana Women’s Carceral Institutions, 1848-1920,” It has since won acclaim as an instrument for bringing all sorts of abuses to light and offers insights into the process for redress of prison policies and problems and other legal ethics in prison. The book, published April 25, 2023 (A Kindle book), also offers a perspective on the statistics of incarcerated women state by state and some of the legal cases prompted by the problems. https://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/web-exclusive-indiana-incarcerated-women-research-publish-historical-book-on-indiana-womens-prison
Life Lessons from Behind Bars The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio)
“There are those who, when they stop to think about people incarcerated in this province, don’t want anything to do with them. That is not the case with Phyllis Taylor. She is a certified life and mediation coach who has worked with Ontario’s Ministry of Correctional Services for the past 10 years and she’s counselled thousands of people behind bars. Her new book is called, “The Prison Lady: True Stories and Life Lessons from Both Sides of the Bars.” Paikin interviews the ‘Prison Lady’ from Brampton who is an advocate for education and programming for the incarcerated in a provincial jail where she trades on decisions by the incarcerated not to pursue early release.
CNN (US) – Paradise Afshar and Andi Babineau
A man with schizophrenia died after being kept naked and malnourished in solitary confinement at an Indiana jail for nearly 3 weeks, lawsuit says
The statement of claim says that in 2021 Joshua McLemore, 29, was held in Jackson County Jail (Indiana) “in a windowless, padded isolation cell, where he remained “confined, naked, alone, and in a constant state of psychosis for the next 20 days… McLemore’s cause of death was “multiple organ failure due to refusal to eat or drink with altered mental status due to untreated schizophrenia,” according to a coroner’s report…” Medication of the incarcerated is also an issue in this case. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/13/us/jackson-county-indiana-jail-death-schizophrenia-solitary-confinement/index.html
The Conversation (Queen’s) – Rashmee Singh
The grieving mother of a murdered teen pleads for a stronger social safety net
16-year-old Gabriel Magalhaes was killed last week on the Toronto subway. Angela Magalhaes, his mother and a nurse, “urged them to stop thinking the crisis can be solved by adding more police officers, locking more people up and solely blaming the individual… She was resolute in her assessments of what government should do instead: tackle the root causes of crime by improving the social determinants of health, which the World Health Organization defines as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age” and the “fundamental drivers of these conditions.” https://theconversation.com/the-grieving-mother-of-a-murdered-teen-pleads-for-a-stronger-social-safety-net-203286?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20April%2013%202023&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20April%2013%202023+CID_0cc056d4856fe5fd72643be2ec60e979&utm_source=campaign_monitor_ca&utm_term=The%20grieving%20mother%20of%20a%20murdered%20teen%20pleads%20for%20a%20stronger%20social%20safety%20net