Montreal's Week Against Prisons, August 7-12
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Because if you're Black, you are three times more likely to end up in a federal penitentiary.
Because if you're Indigenous, you are nine times more likely to end up in a federal penitentiary.
Because these racist disparities are getting worse, not better.
Because immigrants face deportation after being punished for a criminal conviction, effectively being punished twice, once when they're sentenced criminally, and then again by being permanently removed from Canada -- often after living here since childhood.
Because over the past ten years the number of women in federal custody has increased by 40% - in some institutions women are being forced to sleep in visiting rooms due to the fact that there are not enough cells for everyone locked up.
Because under Harper the prison budget has almost doubled, with the government building new prisons and expanding old ones, preparing to lock up even more people as part of its agenda of repression.
Because at the same time as more people are spending time in prison, more prisoners are spending time in solitary confinement. More prisoners are also being double- or even triple-bunked, in general population as well as in segregation.
Because locking people up make communities less safe.
Because from the G20 to the Quebec student strike, prison is increasingly being used as a threat against people who stand up to resist the global austerity agenda.
Because prisoners are brutalized and killed, and the coroner's office simply covers this up.
Because we can't tell you how many people died in custody in 2011, because the government's figures are incomplete and misleading, and their statistics lie.
Because prisons are an inherent part of the state and capitalism.
Because prison is not part of the solution, it is part of the problem.
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Prisoners' Justice Day began to commemorate the death of Eddie Nalon, who bled to death in the segregation unit of Millhaven prison on August 10, 1974.
On the first anniversary of Eddie's death, prisoners at Millhaven refused to work, went on a one-day hunger strike and held a memorial service, even though doing so was guaranteed a stint in solitary confinement.
On May 21, 1976, another prisoner, Robert Landers, died in the segregation unit at Millhaven. That year on August 10, thousands of prisoners across Canada participated in a one-day hunger strike, while Prison Justice Day Committees were formed in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia to organize community events.
August 10, 2012, marks the 37th Prisoners Justice Day. On this day, prisoners across Canada and around the world will fast and refuse to work, while outside friends, family members, and supporters will hold events in solidarity with people inside, to call attention to the terrible conditions in prisons, as well as in other carceral spaces like immigration detention and psychiatric facilities.
In Montreal, join us for a week of activities, as our different movements and communities come together to remember the fallen and to stand in solidarity with the ongoing struggles of prisoners here and around the world.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS, AUGUST 7-12, 2012
Tuesday, August 7
Film Screening and Facilitated Discussion about Girls and Women in Prison
2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy (1500 de Maisonneuve Ouest, Suite #404)
7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
https://www.facebook.com/events/165374010263786/
Film Screening of award-winning film "Stranger Inside (2001)" (w/French subtitles) and documentary "Unlocking the Gates (2012)" followed by a facilitated discussion led by the Life After Life Collective; a 2110 action group dedicated to the de-carceration and de-criminalization of girls, women and transgendered people. The first film is about incarcerated queer women of colour in a US prison while the documentary focuses on Aboriginal women's struggle with the revolving door in Canada. Both are presented as part of the 2110 Centre's annual "Summer Night" Film Screenings. French whisper translation will be available during the discussion.
Wednesday August 8th
Inside/Out: Celebrating the Life and Work of Marilyn Buck
Casa del popolo, 4873 boul. St-Laurent
6-8pm
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/394752210574434/
in english
Marilyn Buck was an anti-imperialist, a feminist, an artist and a revolutionary, who spent almost half of her life in prison as a result of her participation in revolutionary armed movements in the united states. Amongst other things, she was convicted of helping to break Assata Shakur out of prison. While incarcerated she developed uterine cancer; she was released on July 15, 2010, and died a couple of weeks later, on August 3. Join us now for a celebration of Marilyn's life, and a book launch for Inside/Out, a recently published collection of her poems, with readings by local Montreal activists, and brief talks about Marilyn, about political prisoners, and resistance.
Friday August 10th
Vigil, Testimonies, Audio Documentaries, and Commemoration in memory of those who died in custody
1701 Parthenais street, outside the Coroner's office
2pm-4pm
Every year people die in prison, murdered by a system that refuses them adequate care, puts them in situations of abuse, subjects them to violence, is designed to rob them of their humanity. August 10 is a day in which we remember those who have died on the inside, and demand an end to the travesty that is the prison system. Join us for a vigil in front of the offices of the coroner, whose job it is to cover up deaths on the inside.
Friday August 10th
Presentation by Kim Pate
Café Touski, 2361 rue Ontario Est (metro Frontenac)
5pm-7pm
in english with whisper translation into french
Kim Pate is a criminologist. She has more than 30 years experience working with incarcerated women, and is particularly interested in the conditions of First Nations women. We have asked her to give a presentation about how the policies being put in place by the Harper government will impact the prison system, and especially how they will impact women. We want to better prepare ourselves to resist and fight back.
Friday August 10th
Presentations about the prison system at the Maison Norman Bethune
1918 rue Frontenac
7pm
in french
As part of the Week Against Prisons, the Maison Norman Bethune is giving three short presentations which explore certain questions raised by the reality of prisons in contemporary capitalist society: the role of prisons in capitalist society; prison as a site of political organizing; and the situation of women in prison.
Saturday August 11th
Solidarity in a Culture of Criminalization: Transformative Justice in the Community
2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy (1500 de Maisonneuve Ouest, Suite #404)
1pm-5pm
english
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/364754366931379/
Transformative Justice 101, followed with facilitated discussion on how to respond to several challenging hypothetical scenarios without turning to the police and a creative response session.
Sunday August 12th
Street Festival - Freedom for All Political Prisoners
1pm-6pm
Square Phillips, corner of St. Catherine and Union
Metro McGill
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/213247592138441/
Join us for an afternoon of food, theater, and music in solidarity with political prisoner struggles around the world!
For more updates and more information, check out: http://contrelesprisons.blogspot.ca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/260168030761950/
or email: montrealcontreprisons@gmail.com/
POSTERS/FLIERS: http://contrelesprisons.blogspot.ca/2012/07/affiches-tracts-posters-fliers.html
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