Prisoners Justice Day Broadcast – August 10, 2018

CPR c/o CFRC Radio
Lower Carruthers Hall
Queen’s University
Kingston, ON
K7L-3N6
http://CFRC.ca

*JULY 29, 2018 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
*PRISONERS JUSTICE DAY BROADCAST*
*AUGUST 10, 2018*

KINGSTON, ON – On Thursday, August 10, CFRC 101.9fm presents its 10th annual broadcast for Prisoners Justice Day, remembering all those who have died behind bars. For the second time, this broadcast will be shared by CJAI 92.1fm, Amherst Island Radio.

2018 marks the 44rd annual Prisoners Justice Day, which began in commemoration of Eddie Nalon, a prisoner who bled to death in the segregation unit of Millhaven prison on August 10, 1974. More than 4 decades later, upwards of 200 prisoners die in custody each year in Canada alone.

From 4-7pm on August 10, CFRC 101.9fm will air interviews, news, features and memorials about prisoners and prison conditions. From 7-10pm, tune in for messages and music requests by and for prisoners and their loved ones and supporters. Earlier that day, there will be a vigil at St. Mary’s Cemetery at noon, and a Healing Circle at the Prison for Women site at 1pm.

The broadcast will also be simulcast on CJAI 92.1fm and streamed online at CFRC.ca.

Listeners are invited to contribute requests, messages and comments by:

MAIL: CPR c/o CFRC, Lower Carruthers Hall, 62 Fifth Field Company Lane, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, K7L-3N6
EMAIL: CFRCprisonradio [at] riseup.net
PHONE: 613-417-3359 to record a message or 613-533-CFRC [2372] live during the program

For more information, visit CFRC.ca or Twitter.com/CPRkingston

Media contact: cfrcprisonradio [at] riseup.net

 

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Prisoners Justice Day 2018 Archive

Aired August 10, 2018

Posted to the Internet Archive

This year marked the 44th annual Prisoners Justice Day and the 10th annual Prisoners Justice Day broadcast on CPR. Below is an overview of the 6 hour special broadcast. Thank you to everyone who made contributions to the show! Thank you as well to CJAI 92.9 Amherst Island Radio and CFRU 93.3-FM in Guelph for simultaneously broadcasting the show and spreading the message.

00:00:00  Introduction to Prisoners Justice Day

00:19:30   Dr. Bob Gaucher on the history of PJD

00:49:30  Prison for Women Memorial Collective

01:05:00   Donny and Jimmy Hogan on prison experimentation

01:14:50   Amina Mohamed on the film Emergent Visions: No Prisons!

01:39:30   Hugh from Ad Astra Comix on the forthcoming Peter Collins Anthology

02:00:00  PJD memorial at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Kingston

02:30:30  Prison for Women Memorial Collective Healing Circle

02:43:30  Memorial Segment (reading of names)

03:40:30  Listener messages and music requests

Critical Perspectives on the Prison Farms

Aired July 18, 2018
Posted to the Internet Archive

Tonight we feature two critical perspectives on the recent government announcement to re-introduce the prison farms program at Kingston-area prisons. The first is with Calvin Neufeld of Evolve Our Prison Farms who has been campaigning for plant-based agriculture and an animal sanctuary in place of the prison farm program. The second interview is with a member of End the Prison Industrial Complex, a Kingston-based prison abolition collective.

Links:

June 20th Government Announcement on Prison Farms Program
Evolve Our Prison Farms
End the Prison Industrial Complex
Article: Reflecting On The Prison Farms “Victory”
Zine: Reap What You Sow

 

New Zine: Right To Refuse

An Account of Resistance to Prison Pay Cuts

This second installation in the CPR Zine Series contains a transcript of an interview we did in February 2018 with Jarrod Shook. We discussed prison labour, resistance to prison pay cuts inside, the four-year lawsuit, and next steps in the struggle for better wages and dignity for prisoner workers.

Download an imposed PDF of this zine here: Right to Refuse

Calls From Home (May 2018)

Aired May 30, 2018
Posted to the Internet Archive

Calls From Home is a monthly CFRC Prison Radio segment that connects friends and family with their loved ones behind Kingston’s prison walls through the power of community radio.

News: Prisoners Justice Day in Kingston 2018 – Callout for submissions for new prison publication – Coming soon: “Free Inside” by Peter Collins – Indefinite migrant detention – Anti-construction crew releases crickets in migrant detention centre architect headquarters

Music:
Survivor – Eye of the Tiger
Christian Collins – The Lifer
Steve Earle & The Dukes – Justice in Ontario
Sing Me Home – Jailbreak
Sing Me Home – Sing Me Back Home

Calls From Home (April 2018)

Aired April 25, 2018
Posted to the Internet Archive

Calls From Home is a monthly CFRC Prison Radio segment that connects friends and family with their loved ones behind Kingston’s prison walls through the power of community radio.

News: May Day in Kingston – Certain Days Calendar 2019 Callout for Submissions – Lucasville hunger strike phone zap – Hamilton Anarchist Prison Support – Racism Against Black Canadians in Sentencing

Music:
Bad Company – Something About You
Blackbird Raum – Lucasville
The Specials – Ghost Town
Brian and Jenn Johnson – You’re Gonna Be Okay
Snotty Nose Rez Kids – KKKanada
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Peasantry or ‘Light! Inside of Light’

Queen’s Pro Bono Law Students

Aired April 11, 2018
Posted to the Internet Archive

This week’s show featured an interview with three students in the Queen’s Faculty of Law who are part of Pro Bono Students Canada, a volunteer program offering pro bono legal services to various organizations. Priya Patel, Jeremy, Ambraska, and Amita Persad-Ford are currently working with PASAN on a research project on class action lawsuits. Their research will help to inform prisoners about what class action lawsuits are, and what class actions they may be able to join, and will be circulated in PASAN’s Cell Count prison newsletter.

This show also featured Part 2 of the Canadaland Commons 2-part series on Solitary Confinement, “Stories from Solitude“.

Lisa Guenther

Aired March 14, 2018
Posted to the Internet Archive

CPR is excited to air an extended and informative interview with Lisa Guenther, the new Queen’s National Scholar in Political Philosophy and Critical Prison Studies at Queen’s University. We talked about the history of the prison, the philosophy and experience of solitary confinement, settler colonialism and incarceration, the Prison for Women, and much more. Check out her bio here: http://www.queensu.ca/philosophy/guenther-lisa.

Calls From Home (February 2018)

Aired February 28, 2018
Posted to the Internet Archive

Calls From Home is a monthly CFRC Prison Radio segment that connects friends and family with their loved ones behind Kingston’s prison walls through the power of community radio.

News: Action Alert from Solidarity Kingston – Prison Farms to Re-Open – Edmonton Prison Staff Fired for Intimidation, Criminal Activity – Hunger Strike at Edmonton Remand Centre – 2 Guards Charged in Death of Matthew Hines

Music:
James Taylor – You’ve Got a Friend
Tracy Chapman – The Promise
Alan Jackson – The One You’re Waitin’ On
Kodak Black – Tunnel Vision
Keith Urban – Cop Car
Chumbawumba – Bella Ciao

Resisting Prison Pay Cuts: An Update With Jarrod Shook

Aired February 14, 2018
Posted to the Internet Archive

Tonight we bring you an interview with Jarrod Shook about the latest Federal Court ruling on prison wages.

In 2013, the Conservative Government introduced a 30% pay cut to wages for work done by prisoners and called it a “food and accommodation tax” as well as eliminating incentive pay work done at CORCAN facilities, a government agency that contracts out prison labour to both the public and private sector. Prisoners are forced to purchase items such as stamps and personal hygiene products through government designated suppliers, and wages had already decreased sevenfold in actual purchasing power, as they hadn’t been increased since being established in the 1980s.

After exhausting internal grievance procedures, prisoners at Collins Bay Institution launched a work strike, which spread to federal prisons across Canada. Since 2014, several prisoners were fighting a lawsuit against the Government of Canada challenging the constitutionality of the pay cuts. At the end of January, a Federal Court in Ottawa threw out the case, ruling that prison labour falls under ‘programming’ and that prisoners are not in an employer-employee relationship with the Correctional Service of Canada.

I spoke with Jarrod Shook, an ex-prisoner who was a regular contributor to CPR while incarcerated at Collins Bay. He was a spokesperson for the strike in 2013, an applicant on the lawsuit, and he is now studying criminology at the University of Ottawa where he continues to be involved in prison-related activism. We discussed the history of the Inmate Pay System, resistance to prison pay cuts inside, the four-year lawsuit, and next steps in the struggle for better wages and dignity for prisoner workers.

Links:

Incentive to Scrutinize: Inmate Statement on Federal Prison Strike by Jarrod Shook (Fall 2013)
Resistance To Prison Pay Cuts by Jarrod Shook (Spring 2014)
Federal Court Decision (PDF)
National Post Article on CORCAN
Journal of Prisoners on Prisons

Music:

Johnny Cash – Man In Black

 

Photo Credit: Chris Roussakis