[van-announce] Prison Justice Day 2006 Vancouver Events

[Prisoners' Justice Day Committee]

***please forward***


Prison Justice Day 2006 Vancouver Events:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

**Annual Prison Justice Day Memorial Rally
Thursday  August 10th, 6:30 pm
Claire Culhane Memorial Bench
SE Corner of Trout Lake, near the playground & snackbar
15th & Victoria, East Vancouver
Speakers & performers include Cease Wyss - Coast Salish welcome, Eddie
Rouse, Strength in Sisterhood, Karlene Faith, BCPWA Prison Outreach
Program,  No One Is Illegal, Justice For Girls.
Everyone Welcome. Rain or Shine.


**Prison Justice Day Community Radio Specials:
STARK RAVEN, Co-op Radio 102.7 FM. www.coopradio.org
 Monday August 7th,  7-8 pm. Prison Justice Day Special
 Monday August 14th, 7-8 pm. Highlights of PJD rally.


**Film Screening: Cruel and Unusual
A documentary film looking at transgender women inside men's prisons in
the United States.
 Wed August 23, 5pm
 Tinseltown Cinemas, 88 East Pender, Vancouver
Part of Out on Screen Queer Film Festival, http://www.outonscreen.com
Co-presented by the Vancouver Prison Justice Day Committee.

Cruel and Unusual is more than an unflinching account of the atrocities
suffered by transgender women who are sexually abused by guards and
prisoners, denied ongoing hormone treatment, and placed in psychologically
damaging solitary confinement for "their own protection".

Shot over three years, it braids together several poignant character
profiles, personalizing the issue with honest accounts of the
circumstances leading up to their arrests. It is estimated that 30% of
transgender Americans have been incarcerated --3 times the national
average. Cruel and Unusual explores how the poverty that often results
from discrimination creates this imbalance, and pays tribute to the brave
individuals seeking to rectify it.

http://www.cruelandunusualfilm.com
Janet Baus, Dan Hunt and Reid Williams/ USA/ 2005/ video/ 66 mins
Director in attendance

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Prison Justice Day Committee -- Vancouver
PO Box 78005, 1755 East Broadway.  Vancouver, BC  V5N 5W1
604-682-3269 x3019
pjd at prisonjustice.ca
http://www.prisonjustice.ca
(poster PDF of events & post event audio highlights available at the website)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
More about Prison Justice Day -- August 10th.

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 the unit had been deactivated by the guards. Following
the death of another prisoner in 1976, in that same unit, it was
discovered that the call buttons had not been repaired. Prisoners 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.

For a full history of PJD:
http://prisonjustice.ca/politics/1014_history.html