Oct. 21, 2013
CBC News – Maureen Brosnahan
Prison inmates’ strike over pay spreads – Federal government has cut prisoners’ pay by 30%
Top pay per day is $6.90, first established in 1981 but only a few make the top pay; most these days are around the $3 per day mark. Now the federal government has introduced a 30% withholding – an attempt to recover costs – and Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan inmates are withholding their labour, essential for Corcan’s external contracts and for the internal operations of the prisons. http://www.cbc.ca/news/prison-inmates-strike-over-pay-spreads-1.1895065 Related story: Blogger: End the Prison Industrial Complex – Jarrod Shook (A Collins Bay inmate): Inmate Statement on Federal Prison Strike http://epic.noblogs.org/files/2013/10/jarrod-shook-october-2013.pdf Related article: CBC Radio Montreal Q&A: Prisoner on strike says inmates have rights too – Quebec inmate explains why prisoners at Canada’s federal prisons are protesting pay cuts http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/q-a-prisoner-on-strike-says-inmates-have-rights-too-1.1990743
CAMH (Ontario)
Mental Health and Criminal Justice Policy Framework
This 18 page pdf report is just released and attempts to bring the mental health responses to criminal justice issues to all levels of government. The report also attempts to provide a model for development and implementation of policy. The report addresses police as first responders, mental health courts, and NCR. Additionally the report offers some principles for a comprehensive approach to mental health and criminal justice issues. http://www.camh.ca/en/hospital/about_camh/influencing_public_policy/Documents/MH_Criminal_Justice_Policy_Framework.pdf
l’Association québécoise Plaidoyer-Victimes – Arlène Gaudreault
Commentaires soumis au ministère de la Justice Canada dans le cadre de la consultation sur la mise en oeuvre d’une Déclaration des droits des victimes au Canada
Un document de 41 pages (format pdf – publié le 18 octobre, 2013) a été soumis au gouvernement fédéral pour appuyer les droits des victimes au Canada. C’est une histoire des premiers pas pour les droits des victimes au Canada. Ce projet avec définitions, offre aussi une explication des recours. On décrit aussi les conditions essentielles de mettre en place ces principes. Finalement, suite aux références d’Arlène Gaudreault, vous remarquerez une célébration de trois décennies d’engagement au service des victimes d’actes criminels. http://www.aqpv.ca/images/stories/docs/2013_consultationDDV.pdf
Metro News.ca – John Cotter
Edmonton judge denies Omar Khadr transfer from federal prison
Khadr has been denied the application for transfer to a provincial jail because his sentence in Canadian law could only have been a youth sentence. The argument was that maximum security was inappropriate for a youth sentence. Lawyer Dennis Edney plans to appeal. http://metronews.ca/news/edmonton/827844/edmonton-judge-denies-omar-khadr-transfer-from-federal-prison/
Globe and Mail – Craig Offman
The problem with the term ‘cyberbullying’
Did you know that the term ‘cyberbullying’ is Canadian in origin? That does not change a fundamental problem for law makers in efforts to make laws around the activity. Given the problem of definition, many political observers think that the announcement by the feds in the throne speech is “more political sop than preventative measure.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/the-problem-with-the-term-cyberbullying/article14939234/
San Francisco Gate (US): Tim Talley, Associated Press
Okla. prosecutor wants ‘guilty but insane’ verdict
In the US, an accused who is found “not guilty by reason of insanity” is grating on some victims’ families and prosecutors. The new push is to acknowledge the guilt but also acknowledge the mental illness: “guilty but insane.” http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/Okla-prosecutor-wants-guilty-but-insane-verdict-4909822.php
The Guardian (UK) – Lizzy Davies in Rome and Philip Oltermann in Berlin
Europe urged to follow Italy’s lead on people-trafficking
The European Parliament is advising anti-mafia tactics and laws to fight the human trafficking that results in so much loss of life around Lampadusa, the island off the south coast of Italy where refugee boats have floundered. In its 28 member states, the EU estimates about 880,000 people in forced labour, 270,000 of which are in sexual exploitation, for an annual haul of over €25 billion. http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/oct/20/people-trafficking-europe-italy-anti-mafia
The Telegraph (UK) – Christopher Hope
Prisons now over 99 per cent full – official
In an era when costs of incarceration are foremost on the minds of governments, this news is hardly happy for the UK. Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “Cramming ever greater numbers of people into overcrowded prisons with fewer staff and less time out of cell is no way to transform rehabilitation.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10389947/Prisons-now-over-99-per-cent-full-official-figures-show.html
Daily Mail on-line (UK)
Armed robber runs away from open prison to get away from drug culture INSIDE jail
The jails are full and the inmates are running away to get away from the drug culture available on the inside. Are we getting to the absurd, way beyond credibility about the effectiveness of jail as deterrent when we read this sort of story? Or the one last week about fight clubs inside our Canadian jails? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2465714/Robber-ran-away-open-prison-away-jail-drug-culture.html#ixzz2iIOx4NLd