[van-announce] Prisoners' Justice Day Events

[resist]

PRISONERS JUSTICE DAY 2003 VANCOUVER EVENTS
                    August 5-10th, 2003

(Events include Film Night, Memorial Rally, Rock Against Prisons and
Community Radio Programming.  More details on events and info about Prison
Justice Day below.)

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Prison Justice Day, August 10th, is a day set aside each year when
prisoners and supporters gather to honour the memory of the women and men
who have died unnatural deaths inside of Canadian prisons.
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Film Showing of SENTENCED TO LIFE
Tuesday August 5 @ 7PM
SFU Harbour Centre
515 W. Hastings, Room 1800
Downtown Vancouver
Entry by Donation

SENTENCED TO LIFE is the story of Dianne Charron.  Diane is shuttled back
and forth between prison and a psychiatric hospital, a vicious cycle that
epitomizes the injustice of the impossibility  of trying to address mental
health disabilities  in prison.
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27th annual Prisoners' Justice Day Memorial Rally
Sunday August 10th
11 am to 12:30 PM
Claire Culhane Memorial Bench
SE Corner of Trout Lake, East Vancouver

Speakers include ex-prisoners, prisoners rights activists, plus poets and
performers.
Everyone Welcome.  ASL interpretation.  Kids' activities on site.
Rain or Shine.

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Rock Against Prisons Benefit Concert
Friday August 8th
8 PM sharp @ The Wise Hall
1882 Adanac Street at Victoria, East Vancouver
Entrance by donation.
with
  Cease Wyss - Coast Salish Welcome
  Shelley Lennox
  Stuart Stonechild
  Chrystos
  Kathleen Yearwood
  LOUD
  Sunday Skool Dropoutz

Evening includes an Art Auction of prisoner and activist art.
All proceeds go to local prisoner support groups.
This is an all-ages event.  Children welcome.

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Prison Justice Radio: on community radio stations in Vancouver
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Mon Aug 4th, 7-8 pm on Stark Raven on Co-op Radio, 102. 7 FM
Wed Aug 6th, 4-5 pm on Radio PIRG, on CJSF, 90.1 FM
Thurs Aug 7th, 5-6pm  Kla How Ya FM, Co-op Radio, 102.7 FM

PRISON JUSTICE SPECIAL PROGRAMMING:
Sat Aug 9th, 1:30 -  6pm, on Co-op Radio, 102.7 FM

BROADCAST OF PJD RALLY
Mon Aug 11th, 7-8pm, Stark Raven, on Co-op Radio, 102.7 FM



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About Prisoners'Justice Day -- August 10th
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August 10th is a day set aside each year when prisoners and supporters
gather to honour the memory of the men and women who have died unnatural
deaths inside of Canadian prisons. On August 10th, 1974, Eddie Nalon bled
to death in a solitary confinement unit at Millhaven Maximum Security
Prison near Kingston, Ontario, when the emergency call button in his cell
failed to work. An inquest into his death found that the call buttons in
that unit had been deactivated by the guards. In the year to follow, there
was another death in this same unit. The call buttons had not been
repaired. Prisoners at Millhaven mark the anniversary of these deaths by
fasting and refusing to work.

What started as a one time event behind the walls of one prison has become
a national day of solidarity. On this day, prisoners across the
country fast, refuse to work, and remain in their cells, while supporters
organize community events to draw attention to the conditions inside of
prisons.

Prisoner deaths from murder, suicide, and neglect, can and must be
prevented.

This year we are focusing the situation for women in prison. The Canadian
Human Rights Commission (CHRC)  is currently conducting a systemic review
of federally sentenced women inside Canadian prisons.  The complaint was
filed in 2001 and is looking at discrimination against women in prison
based on sex, race and disability.  The complaint has the support of
numerous organizations across the country as well as Amnesty
International.  For more information on the CHRC Inquiry, you can contact
the Prisoners Justice Day committee or go to the website of the Canadian
Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, www.elizabethfry.ca (contains all
submissions to the CHRC.)




PRISONERS' JUSTICE DAY COMMITTEE
P.O. BOX 78005, 1755 East Broadway
VANCOUVER B.C. V5N 5W1
phone: 604-682-3269 ext 3019
web: www.vcn.bc.ca/august10
email: <august10 at vcn.bc.ca>