Prison
Send Marc Emery Mail or Money in US Prison
SENDING MARC MAIL
ALL MAIL IS READ BY PRISON OFFICIALS. Do not write about illegal activities or anything that you feel might jeaopordize your safety. The formal guidelines are listed below.
Photos are permitted (up to 25 per envelope), but don't send pictures of bongs, marijuana use or plants, nudity, or anything illegal because it will be refused.
You must include a return address or the mail will be returned to you. You can use an address different from your home if you want to keep that information private.
MARC SCOTT EMERY #40252-086 Unit DB
FDC SEATAC
PO BOX 13900
SEATTLE, WA
98198-1090
USA
Please write to Marc about what you're doing in your life, the activism you've done, the silly little pleasures and joys of your day, the news about what's happening in the world and your area, etc. Prison life is just endless boring repetition, cut off from the outside. Nothing ever changes and nothing new ever happens, so Marc would really appreciate getting reports from the outside world! Marc writes back to everyone who sends him a letter, too!
Canada's prisons not ready for inmate surge: Federal report
OTTAWA — Canadian penitentiaries are ill-equipped to deal with an anticipated surge in inmates, and existing problems of overcrowding and violence will only get worse under new sentencing laws, says the federal prison watchdog.
"We could see thousands of new admissions in federal penitentiaries over the next five years and I can tell you right now that the service does not have the capacity to deal with that. They do not have the space, they do not have the people, they do not have the programs," Howard Sapers warned Wednesday.
Judge takes issue with tough-on-crime remarks
CBC NewsP.E.I.'s top provincial court judge is speaking out against allegations by Charlottetown's mayor that the justice system is to blame for some of the city's property crime.
Mayor Clifford Lee recently suggested the courts were partly to blame because they were releasing too many people immediately after they were charged.
Judge John Douglas told CBC News Wednesday that locking up everyone before they're convicted isn't the answer.
"The presumption of innocence is not a protection for the guilty. It's there to protect you and I," said Douglas.
"Any attempt to reduce that presumption or limit its effect should be resisted."
John Howard Society needs funding
By Yvon Gauvin, Times & TranscriptA Moncton project to provide a home for men living on the street or struggling with housing is nearly complete, but it has hit a snag.
Construction of Flanders Court Residence at 15 Flanders Ct., a transition house providing apartments for 10 men and being built by the John Howard Society, is almost completed. The problem is furnishing the apartments.
Joanne Murray, executive director of the John Howard Society, said cost of furnishing each apartment is $3,000 to provide the basics so that the tenant can move in stress-free to begin working on changing his life around.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation: A Myopic Watchdog?
By: Ben Sichel, The DominionHALIFAX—A self-described “taxpayer watchdog” group with offices across Canada is poised to open an office in Halifax this fall, according to recent media reports. But critics say the organization is little more than a right-wing media mouthpiece.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) advocates for “lower taxes, less waste, and more accountable government,” according to Kevin Gaudet, the group’s federal director.
CTF’s website highlights the federal long-gun registry, the amount paid to elected officials, and “eco-taxes” as examples of wasted taxpayer money.
Close prison farms? Wrong move
By: Charles W. Moore, Telegraph JournalIt's difficult to perceive the Harper government's dogged determination to shut down Canada's six prison farm operations as other than shortsightedly, boneheadedly, dumb. Are the neo-con technocrats that hatched this idea so myopically obtuse that they're unable to grasp that the value of the 125-year-old prison farms program transcends bottom-line spread-sheeting? Even the bottom line isn't as cut-and-dried as the Tories contend.
Crime rate has fallen 15 per cent, but Conservative government still pushing law and order agenda
By: HARRIS MACLEOD, The Hill TimesThe Parliamentary Budget Officer would prefer not to do any more studies into the costs of the Harper government's slate of law and order legislation, saying it's now up to Parliamentarians to demand that full cost estimates are provided for the rest of the proposed changes to the justice system.
Liberal Public Safety critic Mark Holland (Ajax-Pickering, Ont.) asked Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page to analyse the costs of all the government's proposed justice legislation. To date, the PBO has only reported on the costs of Bill C-25, the so-called truth in sentencing act, a bill to limit credit given for time served in pre-sentencing custody.
Ottawa must pay for new Island jails: union
CBC NewsThe federal government has to help pay for the increase of prisoners expected in provincial jails as the result of proposed changes to the Criminal Code of Canada, the P.E.I. Union of Public Sector Employees says.
Shelley Ward, president of the union that represents correctional officers, said Island jails are already overcrowded, and it's posing a safety risk for her members.
"We have had reports from our members that there's been quadruple bunking in places, that inmates are also kept out in hallways because there's no room to put them in," Ward said Friday.
"So, that creates a safety risk for our correctional officers and our inmates also." Read more »
An ineffective way to fight crime
Re: Why we’re tough on crime, Aug. 13.Public Safety Minister Vic Toews insists that the prison farms had to close because they cost $4-million to operate and, by his account, were worthless because inmates didn’t get jobs on farms after release.
Yet he somehow tries to justify the expansion of old and new prisons, without admitting the cost will be well into $9 Billion and much higher over time, even though that clearly proves there will be more people imprisoned at an alarming rate, not more people rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.
Vic Toews: Why we’re tough on crime
By: Vic Toews, National PostOur government is committed to initiatives that make our communities safer. That is why the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) continues to provide training and job skills so that criminals can prove they are ready to be released back into our communities. The protection of Canadians must come first.
In February 2009, the CSC announced that prison-farm operations located in federal institutions would be discontinued. The federal government recorded $7.5-million in revenues from the six farms in 2007-08, but expenses were $11.6-million, leaving the CSC with an operational net loss of over $4-million for the farms. Over the past five years, less than 1% of those released found employment on independently operated farms. We do not believe that a 1% success rate is an effective use of taxpayers’ dollars. (Other prison-site business programs will continue, including manufacturing, services, construction, and textiles.)
