Collaborating Centre for Prison Health and Education
2206 East Mall V6T 1Z3 Vancouver, BC, Canada

As part of the Trauma at the Root: Exploring Paths to Healing with Formerly Incarcerated Men project, the Collaborating Centre for Prison Health and Education is proud to present Shifting Focus: Snapshots of Resilience, a photography exhibit created by men who have experienced incarceration. We invite you to view the exhibit and a short film about the project here: www.shifting-focus.com

The government has a special obligation to ensure the health and wellbeing of people in jail. Incarcerated people are completely dependent on the government for health care. Not only can inmates not seek out medical care on their own, they have been hamstrung at protecting themselves from infections in the first place. Behind bars there can be no ‘social distancing.’ Most of Ontario’s jails are filled to more than 80 per cent above their planned capacity. The same is true ac...ross Canada. [Incarcerated individuals] not only live in filthy conditions, but they are also routinely denied access to the most basic COVID protective measures. There are few masks, PPE, and hand sanitizer in our jails. So, people in jail are more likely to be infected, more likely to spread that infection, and because we disproportionally imprison vulnerable populations with pre-existing health issues, they are more likely to become very sick when infected. https://www.canadianlawyermag.com//there-is-no-reas/337365

Paulette Walker’s life could have gone in either direction. She could have ended up in jail, but instead she found treatment and a whole new life thanks to the Toronto Drug Treatment Court. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-woman-credits-encounter-

[People who are incarcerated] have accounted for about 80 per cent of reported COVID-19 cases linked to prisons and jails during the pandemic, according to the data. The findings emerged Monday through the Prison Pandemic Partnership, which brings together academics who study corrections and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. They are calling on provincial, territorial and federal governments to take bolder steps to protect people in correctional institutions.... https://www.theglobeandmail.com//article-researchers-call/

"Canada’s federal prison labour industry responded to the coronavirus pandemic by re-tooling workshops to make personal protective equipment (PPE) so much that other government departments can now acquire their products. Between April and early December, a total of 821,703 face masks were made by [people who are incarcerated] employed under CORCAN, the Correctional Service of Canada’s (CSC) agency responsible for its prison labour industry, according to figures obtained by HuffPost Canada" https://www.huffingtonpost.ca//canada-prison-labour-covid-

"The sad reality of the Canadian justice system is that [people who are incarcerated] are frequently released to fend for themselves and freeze on the street. And people who live in poverty, lack community support, or don’t have stable housing are more likely to be held in custody after they are arrested. But almost everyone who is [incarcerated], guilty or innocent, will be released at some point. The system, however, offers few practical and immediate supports for people released from custody. Many people walk out of court in the cloths they were arrested in even if they were arrested in the summer and released into a winter blizzard." https://www.canadianlawyermag.com//when-an-acquitta/335715

"Refusing to vaccinate [individuals who committed crimes] doesn't just put [people who are incarcerated] at risk. O'Toole's comments dismiss the dangers faced by front-line staff at prisons. Correctional officers, police officers, sheriffs, probation officers, caseworkers, lawyers, social workers, program facilitators, admin staff, kitchen staff, cleaners, nurses, and other medical professionals all go in and out of prisons daily. All of these people then go home to their fam...ilies at night. Their families go to work, go to school, go to the store. Furthermore, people are continually admitted, and [people who are incarcerated] get out of jail and go back to their communities. Cases of people who contract COVID in jail and then return home can have catastrophic effects on an already strained health care system. This is particularly true for remote, medically under-resourced communities where many Indigenous people, a group that is over-represented in the correctional system, are from. In this way, vaccinating [people who are incarcerated] reduces the risk of community spread, since preventing someone from leaving a correctional centre with COVID-19 can keep community transmission down." https://www.cbc.ca//thurs-vaccinating-inmates-protects-us-

Check out a free national webinar exploring the challenges faced by older people in custody as they leave prison and re-enter the community hosted by the CSC Citizen Advisory Committee, Metro Van West! It's open to everyone. Tuesday, November 24th from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM PST. Speakers include Laura Tamblyn Watts, Tamara Holdal, Eddy Elmer, Dan Haley and Jeff Morgan. Register @ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/127353647187/

"A community-based program designed to help individuals who are or have been incarcerated through counseling and encouraging creativity is getting a major assist from the province. iNSpiRe: Rehearsing Reintegration is a program developed by the In My Own Voice Arts Association is designed to address and decrease the impacts of crime and violence by helping participants take responsibility for their actions and readjust to life in their community." https://www.thechronicleherald.ca//community-group-helpin/

"The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the illegal drug toxicity death crisis as a catastrophic failure of Canada's current approach to drugs. Governments have moved mountains in response to the COVID-19 pandemic while a coherent pan-Canadian approach to over 15,000 overdose deaths in the past four and a half years has failed to materialize," said Donald MacPherson, executive director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. "We hope the Getting to Tomorrow dialogue series will inform, engage, and inspire Canadians to become more involved in building a new approach to drugs based on principles of public health and human rights, and lead to improved health and safety for all in our communities." https://www.newswire.ca//canadian-drug-policy-coalition-la

Check out the @ReelCauses virtual @ConvictionDoc event, in support of @EFryVancouver! Live Q&A about decarceration October 22nd with Senator Kim Pate, co-directors Ariella Pahlke and Teresa MacInnes, and two women featured in the film: Bianca Mercer and Tanya Bignell. Tickets: https://bit.ly/37f9Msg

Now [Nigel] Poor along with collaborator Earlonne Woods has turned stories of life behind bars into a hit podcast, Ear Hustle, and it was recently nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. With raw, redemptive storytelling, Ear Hustle chronicles the lives of prisoners in a way the Pulitzer committee called ‘consistently surprising and beautifully crafted.’ The show has more than 40 million downloads and listeners throughout the world, including celebrity fans from the cast of Hamilton and the actor Alan Alda. https://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/article243055746.html

For incarcerated men and women, education can provide ways of reflecting upon what led them to prison, not just individual choices, but also the broader social set of forces and conditions that shaped their lives," says Bidhan Chandra Roy, Ph.D., Cal State LA English professor. For many, this can provide a deeper sense of awareness of the conditions of incarceration and the possibilities for transformation for themselves, their communities and the world." https://www.newswise.com/a/from-incarceration-to-graduation