Smart Justice Network

Dec 11, 2023 – Game changer…

(Ed note: For some time, we have been unable to post the newsletters on the website after sending them directly to you.  We have resolved the technical difficulties and have again begun to post the newsletters under ‘In the News’ on the site.  The posts are searchable by key word. Cf  www.smartjustice.ca )

National Criminal Justice Association (US)

‘Game Changer’ CA Inmate Re-Entry Plan Will Pay Ex-Prisoners $2,400

Ottawa’s Dr. Irwin Waller signals a game changer and has a one-up on a significant idea:  Why not incentivize the formerly incarcerated with cash for achievement after the prison release such as getting a job or a certificate of qualification or such?  Waller thinks that the notion would work much better if it were in place before the crime, conviction and sentence expiry.  “The (California) center said the money will be paid incrementally upon reaching milestones including engaging in employment interview preparation meetings with a jobs coach; making progress toward earning an industry credential or certificate; and creating a budget and opening a bank account. Schaeffer said the new program is a “game changer” and the first of its kind in the nation, one he hopes other states will copy.”  https://www.ncja.org/crimeandjusticenews/game-changer-ca-inmate-re-entry-plan-will-pay-ex-prisoners-2-400  Blog from Waller on the incentive plan: “Game changer to reduce recidivism. Money will be paid to “men released from prison” incrementally, upon reaching milestones including engaging in employment interview preparation meetings with a jobs coach; making progress toward earning an industry credential or certificate; and creating a budget and opening a bank account. Why not also before they get arrested?”  https://x.com/IrvinWaller/status/1733206271728263649?s=20  Related article: VOCM Radio News (St. John’s) – John Howard Society Highlights Increased Barriers Former Inmates Face Finding Housing  “Cindy Murphy, Executive Director of the John Howard Society, says you can have all the support services in the world but if a former inmate does not have proper housing, they are at greater risk of falling back to previous ways.”  https://vocm.com/2023/12/09/corrections-system-housing-john-howard-society/

The Conversation (Queen’s) – Benjamin Perrin

Inquest into Soleiman Faqiri’s death at an Ontario ‘super jail’ reignites calls for reform…

Faqiri’s death at the hands of the guards at the Central East Correctional Centre, a “super jail” in Lindsay, Ont., has ignited “…concerns surrounding the use of force and deaths in custody of people experiencing mental health distress. This tragic case serves as a poignant reminder that our current approach to dealing with mental health issues within the prison system is deeply flawed, and demands immediate attention and reform from federal, provincial and territorial governments.”  The problem is not this unacceptable death of a person with known mental illness but the fact that so many of these inquests have laboured over recommendations calculated to avoid repeats but without implementation.  The recs simply gather dust on the shelf since there is no legal obligation to do anything with them.  Perrin, a UBC law professor and author of the recent book Indictment,  concludes:  “The tragic stories of those like Faqiri demand that we reevaluate our approach to mental health in the community and in prisons as we strive for a system that promotes healing rather than perpetuating harm. Faqiri’s death must not be in vain. His family deserves answers, justice and accountability.”  Perhaps change needs be added.  https://theconversation.com/inquest-into-soleiman-faqiris-death-at-an-ontario-super-jail-reignites-calls-for-reform-218821?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20December%209%202023&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20December%209%202023+CID_c2cef3ecf4b5da1f8807497f82e52ff6&utm_source=campaign_monitor_ca&utm_term=Inquest%20into%20Soleiman%20Faqiris%20death%20at%20an%20Ontario%20super%20jail%20reignites%20calls%20for%20reform

Amnesty International –

Criminalization, Intimidation, and Harassment of Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders: “Removed from Our Land for Defending it.” 

This report is an 82+ page report on the recent flare-up between the Wet’suwet’en Nation and the big pipeline oil industry: The pipeline, owned by Coastal GasLink Pipeline Ltd. and TC Energy Corporation (formerly TransCanada), is meant to transport natural gas extracted from the Dawson Creek area in British Columbia (B.C.) to a liquified natural gas (LNG) export facility near Kitimat, B.C. If construction of the 670-kilometre-long pipeline is completed, it will divide Wet’suwet’en territory into two.”  The dispute is further complicated by the active participation of a special squad of RCMP.  “ Amnesty International considers that the consultation process regarding the CGL pipeline did not meet the criteria developed by international human rights law and standards, breaching the Wet’suwet’en Nation’s collective right to consultation in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent.”  https://amnesty.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/wetsuweten-report.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=engagingnetworks&utm_campaign=utm_wetsuweten_report&utm_content=Wetsuweten+Report+-+December+11+2023 (The report has an executive summary on pp 5,6.)

The Canadian Press – Sarah Smellie

Canada has a secretive history of adoption, and some want it brought to light – Canada’s painful history of adoption still felt…

The National Film Board documentary “A Quiet Girl” by Montreal director Adrian Wills is a performance that really is cathartic with the audience in Newfoundland.  Wills, who was searching for his own birth mother in Newfoundland, says:  “What people said to us afterwards was, ‘My God, this is my cousin’s story, this is my sister’s story, this is our story…  It was really emotional … so many people want to tell you their stories.” The film recalls pregnant women living in small but deeply Christian towns who surrendered their babies to be raised by adoptive parents.    The practice often involved girls who were pregnant moving considerable distance away for anonymity to have the child and produced  shame and emotional upset.  https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/national/canada-has-a-secretive-history-of-adoption-and-some-want-it-brought-to-light/article_2aa8114b-3921-5816-bb88-a522d24d3a5e.html?utm_source=thecanadianpressnews.ca&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter%2Foptimize%2Fdaily-newsletter%2F%3F-dc%3D1702222233&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read%20more

Blog from Prison Policy Initiative on prison health: “At least 28 states disenroll people from Medicaid when they go to prison- an unnecessary policy that creates heaps of unnecessary paperwork and health risks for formerly incarcerated people. States can fix this NOW.”  https://x.com/PrisonPolicy/status/1733504524545900933?s=20

CNN – Heros (US) – Laura Klairmont

This CNN Hero’s nonprofit offers scholarships and support to make college more accessible to children of incarcerated parents.

The link offers some insight to the struggles children of incarcerated parents face with ordinary things but especially with education, often thought the most effective way of breaking the generational impact of crime on families.  “So, in 2010, when she – Yasmine Arrington – was 16, she created the nonprofit ScholarCHIPS – with CHIPS as an acronym for Children of Incarcerated Parents – to help young people like herself with scholarships, mentoring and a network of support.”  $450,000 and 80 scholars later, the ScholarChip program applicants also acknowledge that the app is often the first time their shame acknowledges the circumstance.  Says Yasmine: “I never talked about it in school. It becomes a thing where someone can stereotype you or you can be stigmatized. So, most of the time we’re very silent about it. A lot of times it can get you down, get you depressed…  And so, when I became a teenager and a young adult, I really was looking for love in all the wrong places. I was still very insecure in a lot of ways.”   https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/12/us/washington-dc-college-scholarship-parents-incarceration-cnnheroes/index.html

Toronto Star – Emily Fagan

‘You never know what one phone call can do’: An inside look at how Toronto’s newest emergency service tackles mental health crises – Teams of trained mental health workers respond each day to crises across the city — here’s what it looks like…

A substitute for wellness calls by police, some 10% of 911 calls are better suited to response by the crisis team.  Sometimes the call is on the 211-crisis number and then caller is assessed and, if thought critical, a pair of mental health workers goes to the caller’s home.  ““There’s no situation that (we) can’t de-escalate with some conversation and just being kind to somebody on a human level — unless there’s any risk of violence,” said Heaven Teklehaymanot, one of the crisis workers.”  The four crisis centres are hoping for additional funds to expand the services.  https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/you-never-know-what-one-phone-call-can-do-an-inside-look-at-how-toronto/article_b54ebe8e-c7d7-5313-9456-77112bd9843a.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a07&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=404CAADEF7EB839FC77B1B04F0C251E1&utm_campaign=lng_205184

Blogger Russell Webster (UK)

Move to curb imprisonment of pregnant women… 

The Sentencing Council published on Nov. 29, 2023, a proposed revision of the sentencing guidelines, including a welcomed concession that prison is no place for pregnant women.  “The consultation is published within the context of the Government promising a presumption of community sentences instead of short (under 12 months) prison sentences and an ongoing campaign against the imprisonment of pregnant women which has gathered force since the tragic deaths in prison of two newly born babies in 2019 & 2020. We must almost remember Aisha and her mother Rianna Cleary and Brooke and her mother Louise Powell.”  https://www.russellwebster.com/move-to-curb-imprisonment-of-pregnant-women/   Full report:  DRAFT Imposition of community and custodial sentences – revised – for consultation only  https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/overarching-guides/magistrates-court/item/imposition-of-community-and-custodial-sentences-revised/