Yesterday, we heard two prisoners at the Nova Institution federal prison for women in Truro were awaiting results on COVID-19 tests. Fortunately, by early afternoon, it appeared both were negative— spared for now from being added to a list that’s being compiled by Justin Piche at University of Ottawa. Piche is tracking positive coronavirus cases in […]
Prison
Posted inNews + Opinion
The amnesty agenda for cannabis
Joining the list of things that used to be illegal and aren’t anymore—featuring margarine, Sunday shopping, alcohol and the right to vote for anyone who isn’t a white male—is cannabis. After almost a century of prohibition, Canada’s path to legalization has not been clear-cut. And of all the groups considered in the long, costly task […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Justice minister finally responds to Burnside prison protest
After weeks without comment, Nova Scotia’s justice minister has issued a response to the ongoing prisoner protest at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility. In an op-ed sent out Thursday afternoon, Mark Furey says that correctional facilities “can be challenging places to live and work,” but that the province is respecting and protecting the rights […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
As prisoners protest, is the province listening?
On August 21, the prisoners at the Central Nova provincial jail in Burnside launched a peaceful protest, in solidarity with a nationwide prisoner strike in the United States, to call for basic improvements in health care, rehabilitation, exercise, visits, clothing, food, air quality and library access. The protest is ongoing. East Coast Prison Justice Society […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Black August North: “We don’t pick and choose who gets human rights”
“As soon as you walk in, you feel filth.” Bianca Mercer doesn’t sugarcoat the conditions she endured at the Central Nova Correctional Facility in Burnside. “You can see the dirt on the floor and you’re in your bare feet. You feel ashamed.” Mercer was one of four prison reform advocates speaking Monday evening at an […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Burnside prison “operating as usual” despite inmate protest
The department of justice is arguing against claims made by prisoners inside the Central Nova Correctional Facility who say they don’t have access to adequate health care, rehabilitative programs or healthy food. Justice spokesperson Sarah Gillis says everything is under control inside the infamous Burnside prison, where inmates have been engaged in a peaceful protest […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Record of employment
Recounting the history of his involvement with the criminal justice system, Steve Deveau traces a line stretching nearly all the way across the country. First, in Yarmouth, where his mother was a single parent and “there was a lot of addiction around the house, lots of different forms of abuse from people who were hanging […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
End prison segregation now
“We won!” exclaimed the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, regarding the BC Supreme Court ruling January 17 against sections of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act that allow for indefinite solitary confinement. In the frustrating, protracted, and so-often disappointing battle for prison justice in this country, it is, of course, a win, and to be […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Doulas locked out of Nova Institution for Women
[Image-1] Female inmates at the Nova Institution for Women in Truro no longer have access to doula services, and the doulas don’t know why. “We’re available, but since the new warden took over in June we haven’t been allowed to meet with anyone,” says Martha Paynter, a coordinator with the volunteer group Women’s Wellness Within […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Fliss Cramman’s shackles removed
[Image-1] The mood was somber and supportive, but the tone indignant, as poet El Jones led a rally for the rights of Fliss Cramman, who was shackled to her hospital bed while recovering from surgery. Jones posted a call to arms on Facebook earlier this week in order to rally people to the Dartmouth General […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Rally to stop the deportation of Fliss Cramman set for Thursday
[Image-1] Chaining a mother of four to a hospital bed while she awaits a decision on whether she’ll be deported is torture—full stop. So says HRM’s former poet laureate and prison reform advocate El Jones, who is organizing an emergency rally outside Fliss Cramman‘s Dartmouth hospital room to try and get the Department of Justice to […]