This year marks the 50th year of Prisoners’ Justice Day (PJD), and 50 years of prisoner solidarity and organizing for action both within and outside prisons across Ontario.
This anniversary comes at a time when we are seeing legislation, both provincial and national, that is fast-tracking the criminalization of the people we work with.
Provincially, the Community Care and Recovery Act, the Safer Municipalities Act and the Protect Ontario Through Safer Streets and Stronger Communities Act, and federally, the Strong Borders Act, are examples of current legislation that have serious implications for people who face disproportionate risk related to HIV and are more likely to be criminalized and imprisoned.
These laws make it especially important for us to recognize PJD this year.
PJD is an opportunity for us to collectively raise awareness and take action against the over incarceration of Black, Brown, Asian, Indigenous, Trans, 2-Spirit, and Non-Binary people and the injustices these communities face. It is also an opportunity for us to raise awareness about the criminalization of HIV, the reality that incarceration is correlated with risk and rates of HIV/HCV, and the increased risk of health disparities and death for those living with HIV/HCV in prison.
Together, by building awareness and engagement with our communities, we can strengthen our work to bring justice and health equity across Ontario and beyond. Our communities need to be founded on justice, connection, shared accountability, and collective care and healing, and our commitment to this work needs to be woven into our work throughout the year.
Resources
Tracking (In)Justice is a law enforcement and criminal legal data and transparency website tracking Canadian police-involved deaths and deaths in custody, and engages in community dialogue about ways to support this work.
In Criminalized Lives, people who have been criminally accused of not disclosing their HIV-positive status detail the many complexities of disclosure, and the violence that results from being criminalized.
Walls to Bridges is an educational program that brings together incarcerated and non-incarcerated students to study post-secondary courses in jails and prisons across Canada.
The Prison 4 Women Memorial Collective is a group of former prisoners who are creating a memorial garden to honour those who died at P4W and those who continue to live and die in prisons, jails, and detention centers across the country. I
The Criminalization and Punishment Education Project (CPEP) brings together criminologists, students, researchers, community members, front-line workers, and those affected by criminalization and punishment to carry out such public education, activism, and research to create social change. CPEP members work to identify key issues that are the focus of criminological and social justice inquiry, develop collaborative research projects, and plan and carry out related public education and advocacy initiatives.
Rittenhouse: A New Vision is a small grassroots organization committed to transformative justice, healing and structural change.
PASAN is a community-based HIV and Harm Reduction organization that provides support, education, and advocacy to, for, and with individuals who are incarcerated or formerly incarcerated.
