ISSUE #14 – SPRING 2019 Spring 2019 Women's Prison Network Issue #14

WOMEN’S PRISON NETWORK ISSUE #14 – SPRING 2019 Spring 2019 Women's Prison Network Issue #14 Editor’s Note: Contents: Welcome to Issue #14 of Women’s Prison News …………………..………... 3-7, 10-12 Network, a magazine by and for women, Poems ……………......………….……… 8-9 trans and youth prisoners in Canada. Resources…………………….…...….. 13-16 This is a safe space to share art, poetry, Cover Artwork: news, thoughts, conversation, connections ... Arthur Tyler We send copies into all Women & Youth prisons in Canada. Artists: Cover Artists will receive a $25.00 donation. Send your art, poems, short stories, Thank you so much for your work! comments, articles, etc, to Women's Prison Let us know how & where you would like Network if you would like to be a part of the the donation sent to & where you would like next Issue. – Thanks! your art returned to. Please note: this magazine is for women, Women’s Prison Network trans and youth from all cultures, so please PO Box 39, Stn P do not send religious imagery. Toronto, ON, M5S 2S6 Thank you for your art! Writers: ‘Women's Prison Network' is produced One column is only 300 words, so do choose 4 times per year. your words carefully. It is sent out for free to Women, Trans & It must be short & to the point. Youth in Prisons in Canada. Poems that are tight & give space for others are the first in. If you are on the outside or part of an Thank you for your words! organization, please consider a donation!!! Donors for this Issue: Editor: aliyyah Publication: Women’s Prison Network Very special thanks to: Agnes & Elle A.! Publisher: PrisonFreePress.org PO Box 39, Stn P Ancestral Territorial Acknowledgment: Toronto, ON, M5S 2S6 Circulation: 350+ We respectfully acknowledge that the land on Recirculation: ?,??? which Prison Free Press operates is the Traditional Territory of the Wendat, the [email protected] Anishnaabeg, Haudenosaunee, and the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. All original artwork, poems & writings are the sole/soul property of the artist & author. The first all-solitary-confinement prison in Fair Dealing & the Canadian Copyright Act the U.S., in Auburn, New York, was shut Sections 29, 29.1, 29.2: down in 1822, after only 18 months of “Fair dealing for the purpose of research, operation, when the governor visited and private study, education, parody, satire, saw that every one of its 26 prisoners had criticism, review, and news reporting does become psychotic. not infringe copyright.” - 2 - Issue #14 Women's Prison Network Spring 2019 NEWSNEWSNEWSNEWSNEWSNEWSNEWS "Many resort to their own abuse of themselves," she said. "There's a lot of addiction, self- Half of Canada's prisoners were abused mutilation, self-harm, and suicide, which again, as children, McMaster study suggests are all indications of having suffered a lot of trauma. PTSD is something you see when you About half of Canada's inmates were abused as work with this population." children, suggests a new study out There have been some great programs over the of McMaster University. years to address trauma among people who Medical student Claire Bodkin led a team that commit crimes, she said. But the funding comes studied data from 30 years of research into and goes. Canadian inmates. Their work was published in On the whole, there aren't enough free resources the March issue of the American Journal of Public for individuals - before, during or after prison, Health (AJPH). said Greenspan. The researchers found 65 per cent of female inmates experienced abuse in general, and half Prevention 'would just save so much money' of them were sexually abused. "If we had more resources at the preventative Bodkin said only one study in the data evaluated level, before people got in conflict with the law, reported the prevalence of abuse among that would be really amazing," she said. men. The researchers found abuse rates "If we prevented it, we would just save so much involving male inmates were at 35.5 per cent, money in the criminal justice system. And I don't with 21.9 per cent of them having experienced think we're there yet." sexual abuse. For her part, Bodkin has done some clinical The team did a statistical analysis of the results training with men during and after prison. Some to reach the conclusion that half of inmates had have "really expansive trauma been abused, Bodkin said. histories," including severe abuse as children, she "That's an alarmingly high number." said. These are the other researchers involved in the "We suspected it was high, but there wasn't work, which included going over 34 studies from good research out there that led to a national territorial, federal and provincial prisons and jails: perspective in Canada." • Fiona Kouyoumdjian and Lucie Pivnick, As for what constitutes abuse, Bodkin and both McMaster. her team used a World Health Organization • Susan Bondy of the University of Toronto. definition, which means attendance at a • Carolyn Ziegler of Toronto's St. Michael's residential school wasn't considered, although Hospital. that research would be useful too, Bodkin said. • Ruth Elwood Martin of the University of British At any given time, 41,000 people are Columbia. incarcerated in Canada, and a disproportionate number are Indigenous. Bodkin said understanding people who have been incarcerated - including reoffenders - will go Samantha Craggs a long way in helping prevent crime. CBC News Prisons need to take trauma into account in how Feb 20, 2019 they deal with inmates, Bodkin said. "Regardless of where you stand politically, I think everyone can agree that prison is not a healthy I have often reflected upon the new vistas place for people, and that it's a symptom of that reading has opened to me. multiple other things that have gone wrong." I knew right there in prison that reading had So "how do we need to think about the impact of changed forever the course of my life. childhood trauma? How do we prevent childhood As I see it today, the ability to read awoke abuse from happening in the first place?" inside me some long dormant craving to be The findings aren't surprising to Ruth Greenspan, mentally alive. executive director of the John Howard Society of - Malcolm X Hamilton, Burlington and area in Ontario. - 3 - Spring 2019 Women's Prison Network Issue #14 Were You Incarcerated in a Provincial Inmates Kept in Prison Too Long for Jail or Prison Between May 30, 2009 Lack of Halfway Houses and Nov 27, 2017? Canada's auditor general says hundreds of A lawsuit may affect you. Please read this federal prisoners are having their parole delayed carefully. only because the Correctional Service of Canada The Ontario Superior Court of Justice decided doesn't have halfway houses for them to live in. that a class action on behalf of people who were In a new report Tuesday, Michael Ferguson says prisoners in Provincial jails from May 30, 2009 to staying in prison, sometimes for months longer November 27, 2017 (with some exclusions) (the than they're supposed to, hurts offenders' “Class”) can proceed. You have a choice of rehabilitation and prospects for success when whether or not to stay in the Class. they're released. To stay in the Class, you do not have to do He says the backlog of prisoners waiting more anything. If money or benefits are obtained, you than two months for parole increased tenfold will be notified about how to make a claim. You over the last three years, from 25 to almost 260. will be legally bound by all orders and judgments, And the shortage of spaces means parolees are and you will not be able to sue Ontario about the increasingly sent to communities where they have legal claims in this case. no family or supports, and no intention of staying. If you want to remove yourself from the class The audit says parole officers often do not get action, you must submit an opt out form. Opt out important information about the parolees they forms are available. If you remove yourself, you are supposed to monitor and help, such as cannot get money or benefits from this lawsuit if details about health conditions that could affect any are awarded. their ability to live and work on the outside. The Court has appointed Koskie Minsky LLP and A spot check of 50 cases found that nearly half McKenzie Lake LLP (“Class Counsel”) to of the time, parole officers didn't see their represent the Class. You don’t have to pay Class parolees on the right schedule or didn't check to Counsel to participate. If they get money or make sure they were following special parole benefits for the Class, they may ask for lawyers’ conditions. fees and costs which would be deducted from any money obtained or would be paid separately The Canadian Press by Ontario. Nov 20, 2018 Read the Long Form Notice, which provides more information about your rights. You can also call the toll-free information line at 1-877-453-8714 (TTY: 1-877-627-7027), email: [email protected] or write to: Jail Lockdown Class Action 3-505 133 Weber St N Waterloo, ON, N2J 3G9 - 4 - Issue #14 Women's Prison Network Spring 2019 Supreme Court quashes mandatory be "declared to be of no force and effect victims' surcharge for convicted immediately." criminals "The government could also proceed administratively, while Parliament may act to Canada's top court has quashed a mandatory bring a modified and Charter-compliant version fine slapped on convicted criminals, overturning a of the surcharge back into the Criminal Code," surcharge that critics blamed for keeping the judgment reads.

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