U.S. Criminal Lawyers Warn Against Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Schemes

U.S. Criminal Lawyers Warn Against Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Schemes Washington, DC (August 16, 2010) – The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) urged the Government of Canada to abandon bipartisan efforts to establish mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses at its annual meeting in Toronto, Ontario, Saturday. The association’s Board of Directors unanimously passed … Continue reading →

Toronto City Council Endorses Vienna Declaration and Calls for Evidence-based Drug Policy

Canada’s Largest City the World’s First Municipality to Sign 
Declaration, Support Alternatives to the War on Drugs 26 August 2010 [Toronto, Canada] – Toronto City Council today voted to endorse the Vienna Declaration, a recently released document that highlights the failure of the global War on Drugs and calls for a transparent review of the … Continue reading →

Day After Day Coalition

We are a group of activists, advocates and service providers that do in-reach into women’s jails and prisons in Ontario.  We think prisons should be abolished. We oppose the G20, and all the police super powers that went along with it.  We are appalled at how G20 detainees and prisoners have been treated at the … Continue reading →

A Guilty Look

An article in today’s Toronto Star entitled:  The Fallacy of Lying Eyes and Guileless Smiles talks about how demeanor is often used by judges and juries to determine guilt or innocence, with disastrous consequences.   Excerpt below. To read the full article, click on the title above. _________________________________________________________________________________________ “It is a task so basic to the … Continue reading →

Prisoners’ Justice Week

Are you furious about the arrest and detainment of over 900 people during the G20 weekend in June? Are you angry about the detention and detainment of ten of thousands every year in immigration detention centres in the city? Want to end forced incarceration of people with disabilities in provinicial institutions, nursing homes, psychiatric facilities … Continue reading →

The G20 and Its Connections to Prisoners’ Justice Organizing

by Giselle Dias The G20 symbolized many different things to each of us but one of the overarching themes (from my perspective) was the level of state repression/oppression/violence. In a statement from the Toronto Community Mobilization Network (June 2010) they stated: “Instead of simplifying our diverse struggles in to one issue, we supported actions for … Continue reading →

Excerpt from “My Prison Education” by Conrad Black

National Post; July 31st, 2010 http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/07/31/conrad-black-my-prison-education/ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “It had been an interesting experience, from which I developed a much greater practical knowledge than I had ever had before of those who had drawn a short straw from the system; of the realities of street level American race relations; of the pathology of incorrigible criminals; and … Continue reading →