PAST EVENTS and ANNOUCEMENTS

Vancouver
Sunday Aug 10th, 11am.
Claire Culhane Memorial Bench. South East Corner of Trout Lake Park. Victoria/15th, East Vancouver. Coast Salish Territories.
Ex-prisoners, families, friends and activists gather to commemorate the women and men who have died behind bars in Canada.
Everyone welcome. Rain or shine. Organized by the Vancouver Prison Justice Day Committee.

Toronto
Sunday Aug 10th, 6:30 - 9 pm.
Outside the Toronto Don Jail
550 Gerrard Street East, Toronto
Speakers and performers TBA
Organized by the Prisoners Justice Action Committee. For more info: pjac_committee (at) yahoo.com

Toronto is building a sustained prisoners' justice movement focused on justice not jails! Come out and remember the lives of the many prisoners and ex-prisoners who have died inside and outside of various incarceration and detention prisons, jails, hospitals and centres. Show your support for the many courageous prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their allies, and help in the fight for justice not jails!

Currently confirmed speakers and performers include:
Toronto Harm Reduction Task Force, Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault, Audrey Redman, Osa Eribo, Sex Professionals of Canada, recordings from prisoners across Ontario, Richard Lathwell, Trevor Gray, and Maria Kassten. More will be announced soon.

TUESDAY AUG 8
6pm - Keynote Speaker: Kim Pate
7:30 - 9pm - Penal Abolition 101: Workshop
Student Campus Centre (SCC), 55 Gould Street, Ryerson University, Multi-purpose Hall

WEDNESDAY AUG 9
6pm - This Black Soil: A Story of Resistance and Rebirth FILM SCREENING
7:30 - 9pm - Prison Activism 101: Workshop
Student Campus Centre (SCC), 55 Gould Street, Ryerson University, Multi-purpose Hall

THURSDAY AUG 10
12noon
OCAP March and Demonstration at the Police Services Board
DAVID MILLER: CALL OFF YOUR DOGS!
All Saints Church (corner of Sherbourne and Dundas) Lunch Served.
6:30-9pm
PJD CandleLight Vigil & Rally, Don Jail, 550 Gerrard St East
Speakers include Osa Eribo, Jim Loney, Audrey Redman, Dudley Laws, Charlene Barker, Amber Kellen, and Family and Friends of Gary Freeman.
Performers include LAL.

FRIDAY AUG 11
Sumoud invites you to HOSTAGES OF APARTHEID
A fundraiser in solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese political prisoners
6pm- Steelworkers Hall, 33 Cecil (College/ Spadina).
Tickets $10 advance/$20 door

SATURDAY AUG 12
81 Reasons Rally & BBQ
Stop the proposed Youth Super Jail!
12:45pm-Buses from Toronto at St. George Subway Stn for Chingacousy Park, Brampton

BLACK AUGUST: Freedom Cry!
Originating in the California Prison System to honour fallen freedom fighters, join Afua Cooper, Treson, Strong, John Akpata, Sankofa, The Voyce, Sunray and Symbolik - w/ music by El Machetero.
Presented by 8 Rooks Enlightenment & I.S.I.S. CIRCLE.
8 pm - El Mocambo, 464 Spadina Avenue, $5 - $10 cover

SUNDAY AUG 13
No One Is Illegal - Rally for Status for Non-Status People!
Stop all Detentions and Deportations!
1pm - Buses leave OISE (252 Bloor Street West) for the Heritage Inn Detention Centre.

Prisoners Justice Week Organizing Committee: prisoners_justice_week (at) yahoo (dot) ca
www.pjac.org Prisoners Justice Action Committee
For more info: 416-920-9567
Media Sponsor: CKLN 88.1FM

The Eighth amendment to the US Constitution prohibits the infliction of ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment on prisoners. This paper promise is of little consolation to transgender women whose punishment could hardly be described as anything else when they are placed in men’s prisons.

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.

Stark Raven Radio May Day Special on Prison Labour
Tune into Stark Raven Radio for a May Day Special:
Prisoners at work and the prison labour industry in North America

Mon May 1st, 7- 8 pm
On Co-op Radio, 102.7FM
Online: www.coopradio.org

Interviews with:
Alex Friedman, Prison Legal News
Gordon Lafer, union organizer and professor

It is part of Co-op Radio’s SPRING MEMBER DRIVE!
Support non-profit radio in your community. Become a member of Co-op Radio. Call 604-684-8494.

The Spring Member Drive runs from April 21-May 7, 2006. Lots of great specials and reasons to join and become a member. Tune in and join up!
(Interested in becoming a member and suppporting Stark Raven? Email us stark-raven (at) coopradio.org and we can set you up!)

Tune into Stark Raven 3 times a month for interviews, news and features on issues related to prisons and criminalization, both locally and from around the world.
Topics include: Guantanamo, Canadian prison conditions, the death penalty, privatization, criminalization of immigrants & refugees, national security certificates, political prisoners, police actions, detention and the war on terror, healthcare & HIV AIDS inside, hunger strikes and other forms of prison protest and more….

Prison Justice Day Memorial Rally
Claire Culhane Memorial Bench. Trout Lake (15th & Victoria), SE Corner. East Vancouver.
Speakers include ex-prisoners, prisoners rights activists, plus poets and performers.
Everyone Welcome. Rain or Shine.
Click Here to Download PDF of Prison Justice Day Rally & Documentary Poster

30 years of Prison Justice Day: Radio Documentary
Airing on:

Monday August 8th
7-8 pm (Pacific Daylight Time) Co-op Radio, 102.7 FM. Vancouver, BC. www.coopradio.org

Tuesday August 9th
12-1 pm (Pacific Daylight Time) CFBX, 92.5 FM. Kamloops, BC. www.theX.ca

Wednesday August 10th
11 am (MST) on CJSW 90.9 FM, Calgary, AB www.cjsw.com
12-1 pm (Pacific Daylight Time) CFBX, 92.5 FM. Kamloops, BC. www.theX.ca
2-3 pm (Pacific Daylight Time) on CITR 101.9 FM, Vancouver, BC www.citr.ca
4-5 pm (Pacific Daylight Time) CJSF Radio, 90.1FM. Burnaby, BC www.cjsf.ca
6-7 pm. (Eastern Daylight Time) CFRU Radio. 93.3 FM. Guelph, ON www.cfru.ca
(time unknown) on CHSR 97.9 FM, Fredericton, NB www.unb.ca/chsr

Thursday, August 11
5:00-6:00 PM on CKUT 90.3 FM, Montreal, QC www.ckut.ca
Also doing a week of special PJD programming, weekdays from 5-6pm, August 11-19.

Friday August 12th
1-2 pm (Pacific Daylight Time) CFBX, 92.5 FM. Kamloops, BC. www.theX.ca

Featuring interviews with prisoners, ex-prisoners and prison support activists documenting the history and issues of Prisoners' Justice Day. Produced by Stark Raven Radio. email: stark-raven (at) coopradio.org.
You can also download it from radio 4 all.

Toronto - PRISONERS' JUSTICE DAY 2005 Candlelight Vigil and Rally

Wednesday August 10th, 6:30pm - 9pm

Join us outside the Don Jail
550 Gerrard St East
Speakers, an Open Mic and local performers including LAL. This will be followed by the candlelight vigil and reading of some of the hundreds of names of people who have died in prison this year.

PJD T-shirts will be available featuring the art of Pete Collins.

For more info:
Prisoners Justice Action Committee (PJAC)
[email protected]
www.pjac.org
416-972-9992

Friday July 22nd, 7:30pm.

Prison Justice Day Film Night: Women In Prison
Video In Studios. 1965 Main St. East Vancouver. By donation.
Coast Salish Welcome: Cease Wyss
Speakers: Strength In Sisterhood & Joint Effort

EYES IN THE BACK OF YOUR HEAD (33mins CDN 2003 doc) Director: Clarke Mackey
Armed with disposable cameras, former prisoners return to the now-closed Prison for Women (P4W) in Kingston, Ontario, to reflect on their experiences and the city known as the prison capital of Canada. Featuring ex-prisoner Ann Hansen, as well as Dr. Julia Sudbury of Critical Resistance, who examines the role of the Prison Industrial Complex in Canada and around the world.

RELEASED: FIVE SHORT VIDEOS ABOUT WOMEN & PRISON (28 minutes U.S. 2001 doc)
RELEASED features former political prisoner Angela Davis, filmmaker Cheryl Dunye and Duran Ruiz’s deconstruction of 20/20’s representation of Ruiz’s life as prisoner, prostitute and junkie. RELEASED boldly styles an innovative statement about women, prison, artistic collaboration and documentary. The documentary is composed of five original shorts linked into a coherent whole. These include the following:

UNYIELDING CONDITIONING - Sylvain White and Tamika Miller (emerging music video director and producer) work with former inmates, including Angela Davis and photographer Tracy Mostovoy, to represent eloquent portraits of former women prisoners. Music video style.

SHELTERED - Enid Baxter Blader (emerging video artist) explores the effects of recurring incarceration (always followed by a fruitless search for shelter) on her close childhood friend, Christine Ennis. Video art style.

A GRAM 'O PUSSY - Scarlot Harlot (BLIND EYE TO JUSTICE: HIV+ Women Incarcerated in California) and Duran Ruiz (featured on a recent 20/20 segment exploring prostitution) deconstruct how the mainstream media represented Ruiz, prison, drugs, and prostitution, and then re-represent her as an artist and activist. Activist video feel.

BREATHE - Animator Joseph Saito shows the interior story of an incarcerated woman: photographs and memories offer small relief to the cold, noir-like, nihilistic world he draws. Animation.

MAKING THE INVISIBLE INVINCIBLE - a look at Cheryl Dunye's "STRANGER INSIDE". Cheryl Dunye (The Watermelon Woman) collaborates with Super-8 filmmaker, Irwin Swirnoff, to create a diary of her experiences directing a dramatic feature about a mother and daughter who meet in prison. Video-diary feel.

Prison Justice Day Audio Documentary Seeks Input

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first Prison Justice Day (PJD). In honour of this anniversary, Stark Raven, a Vancouver-based community radio show focusing on prisons, is working on an audio documentary about PJD. We will be covering the history of PJD, stories of those working on the inside and the outside, and looking at how things have changed for prisoners since the first PJD 30 years ago.

We are looking for people who were involved in the first PJD in 1975, as well as others that have been involved in subsequent years on the inside and outside.

We plan to air this documentary for PJD (August 10th) 2005 on Vancouver Co-op Radio. We will also be posting the audio online as well as sending the CD to campus and community radio stations across canada, and making the CD available to people in the community.

Thank you,

Friday May 27, 2005. 7:30pm

GIRL TROUBLE: Joint Effort & DOXA Film Screening

JOINT EFFORT is pleased to co-present with DOXA Documentary Film & Video Festival
Girl Trouble (Lexi Leban/Lidia Szajko, USA, 74 min, director Lexi Leban in attendance)
Friday, May 27, Pacific Cinematheque, 1131 Howe Street, 7:30pm. $9
Shot over a four-year period, Girl Trouble documents the compelling personal stories of three girls entangled in San Francisco's failing juvenile justice system.

Full Synopsis: How is it that young women comprise about one third of the young offenders population in the United States, but only receive 2% of support services? In Girl Trouble, girls tell their truth about juvenile justice and their search for support within a system designed to work against them. Girl Trouble follows three young San Francisco women on the brink of adulthood over a four-year course. At the film's beginning they are wrestling with poverty, domestic violence, drug addiction and homelessness in their lives, and have already had contact with the juvenile justice system. Hope comes in the form of the Center for Young Women's Development, the first American employment, leadership, and advocacy program run entirely by and for girls who have been locked up and are trying to change their lives. Girl Trouble is a film that takes a personal look at the reasons why teenage girls are entering the juvenile justice system in greater numbers and at younger ages, and why current corrections strategies are failing to stop the cycle of incarceration. It movingly depicts several bold and articulate young women who must negotiate a system that at the same time seeks to punish and rehabilitate those who come into contact with it.

Directors' Bios:
Lexi Leban is an independent filmmaker and educator. Her short films have screened at film festivals at home and abroad. She was the Co-producer of Mama Wuhunzi, a feature documentary about women building wheelchairs for use in developing countries. Selected screenings include the Tribeca Film Center and public television broadcast. Ms. Leban has an MFA in film production from San Francisco State University and is the Department Coordinator of the Digital Motion Picture Program at Cogswell College in Silicon Valley.

Lidia Szajko is an independent filmmaker and film educator whose works have screened on public television and at festivals internationally. Her films, which explore social and human rights issues, and the experiences of people living in transition, have won multiple awards. Ms. Szajko is Chair of the Film Production Department at City College of San Francisco. She was appointed to the San Francisco Film Commission in 2001.

DOXA Documentary Film & Video Festival
May 24 - May 29, 2005
Opening Screening, May 24, 7:30 pm at The Vogue,
Evening screenings at Pacific Cinémathèque at 7:30 and 9:30 pm and matinees at various times.
$7 matinees / $9 evenings / $15 opening night
available at Bibliophile Bookshop, Videomatica and Festival Box Office at 604.257.0366 or www.festivalboxoffice.com
Information: 604.646.3200 or www.doxafestival.ca

Sunday May 29, 2005. Starting at noon (note rescheduled date)

Annual Joint Effort Fundraising Garage Sale
Outside the Reach Clinic
1135 Commercial Drive
East Vancouver

Thinking about some spring cleaning? Doing some downsizing?
Trying to figure out what to do with all that stuff you dont want?
Drop it by on Sunday May 15th (the earlier the better) and at the same time, find yourself a new summer outfit!
Please contact Joint Effort for more details on dropping off donations before the 15th.

Joint Effort is an independent local women in prison support group, who organizes weekly programs for women inside. For more information: jointeffort(at)prisonjustice.ca

Thursday January 20, 6.30-10pm
Saturday January 22, 4-10pm
Sunday January 23, 4-10pm

Toronto's first PRISONERS' JUSTICE FILM FESTIVAL
Innis Town Hall - University of Toronto
Located at the corner of Sussex Ave and St. George St.

Presented by the Prison Justice Action Committee in partnership with UofT's Social Justice Cluster

15 amazing short and feature length films about racism, homophobia, colonization, immigration detention and the prison-industrial complex! Information on the politics and economics of prison construction and what the move to privatization will mean for local communities. Speakers include films’ directors, actors, prisoners, ex-prisoners and community advocates. The festival features community tables, art displays by prisoners and immigration detainees and the launch of upcoming campaigns against prison privatization and the new youth superjail.

Admission: pay-what-you-can with a suggested donation of $5

THURSDAY JANUARY 20th

PRISON PRIVATIZATION AND YOUTH DETENTION

Centered on prison privatization, Corrections is the story of profits and massive imprisonment, how the histories of racial and economic inequality in the U.S. are emerging today from the walls of its prisons, and how this crisis has become the base for an entire industry. Weaving together stories of the leading corporations, testimony from experts and the lives of ordinary people, Corrections takes audiences behind the walls of prisons where they might not want you to leave. Official Selection Slamdance Film Festival. Directed by Ashley Hunt.

From the privately operated SuperJail in Penetanguishene, Ontario, to Nashville's detention centre, operated by Corrections Corporation of America - the second largest private prison operator in the world - multinational corporations are turning prisoners into commodities. This hard-hitting documentary juxtaposes former prisoners and prison activists with corporate moguls and corrections officials, demonstrating how Ontario’s experiment with private prisons is leading to a U.S. style prison crisis. Directed by Sarah Zammit.

8:30pm

With California facing unprecedented budget deficits, the state is balancing the budget by slashing education and other social services, while prison spending has remained largely untouched. The Education Not Incarceration Coalition is a grassroots initiative to bring prison activists and educators together to lobby for better education and for reducing prison spending by reducing the number of people in prison. This organizing video is designed to help create coalitions between prison activists, students and educators. For more information: www.may8.org

The California Youth Authority (CYA) is California's youth incarceration system for youth in serious or repeat trouble with the law. After a string of scandals, the CYA has come under increasing attack from parents, lawmakers, and media for utterly failing in its mission to rehabilitate youth. Created by activists from Books Not Bars, System Failure details rampant human rights violations in these institutions with stories from children and families who have been inside. Giving voice to the rising tide of opposition, the film advocates closing CYA's nine facilities and replacing them with community-based alternatives that give youth a chance to succeed on the outside. Directed by Renee Byrd.

Produced by Critical Resistance as part of its campaign to stop construction of a 5,160 bed prison slated for Delano, California, this documentary debunks the myth that prisons are economic drivers for impoverished rural communities and exposes the environmental racism at play in prison siting today. The film documents the involvement of Mexican farmworkers in the struggle against prison expansion, and demonstrates the legacy of racism and resistance that culminated in the Delano campaign. Directed by Ashley Hunt.

* With a display of art by Pete Collins (Lifer at Bath Institution, www.buriedaliveillustrations.com)

MIND BODY SPIRIT: PRISONS AND HEALTH

Blind Eye to Justice (1998, US, 34min)

Portrays the injustices of the California prison system as seen through the eyes of incarcerated HIV+ women. Animation and found footage create a powerful montage that evokes the atmosphere in women's prisons--the violations as well as the hope and courage of prison activists who fight quietly, and from the inside. Countless numbers of women prisoners have died of AIDS, but no one yet has documented the numbers or their names. Blind Eye to Justice is dedicated to prisoner activist Joann Walker and "to those women who have died, and those who are surviving." Narrated by Angela Y. Davis. Directed by Carol Leigh.

The Correctional Services of Canada has always viewed tattooing in prison as an illegal activity. It is a punishable offence to either give or to receive a tattoo while inside. This has made tattooing in prison a covert and costly activity, in terms of personal freedoms and the health risks involved. In this documentary made by The Lifer’s Group at Joyceville Penitentiary, prisoners and health care professionals question the reasoning behind the prison system's reluctance to set-up safe tattoo sites within each prison. Edited by Dave Fenwick, Laurence Stocking.

Federal women ex-prisoners take photographs at the recently closed Prison 4 Women in Kingston, Ontario. The women are members of Womyn 4 Justice, a group of prisoners and ex-prisoners who are currently organizing to build a transition house for women leaving prison. Telltales Media Production, Dir: Clarke Mackey, Produced with Kingston Insights Project.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 22nd 7-10pm

A powerful documentary that investigates Australia's current immigration policies in the context of two hundred years of colonisation. The pivotal action in the documentary is the dramatic footage of the Easter 2002 outbreak from the Woomera detention centre when 53 detainees escaped. Drive-By Shooting/Tallstoreez Productionz.

With no film-making experience six University of Guelph undergraduate students and a Sheridan College student created a project using the medium of film to engage a wide audience in dialogue about the role that post-9/11 security consciousness has had on the detention and deportation of immigrants and refugees in Canada. The film’s starting point is the recently negotiated use of the Guelph correctional facility for detaining immigrants. The film aims to inspire collective opposition to current practices of detention.

Provides much-needed public information about the security-certificate process by highlighting the case of Mohamed Harkat who has been in detention in Ottawa 18 months. Director/ Producer Anice Wong.

* With a display of art work by detainees at the Heritage Inn Detention Centre provided by No-One Is Illegal-Toronto's Prison Art Group for Women.

FIRST NATIONS PRISONERS

Johnny Greyeyes is the powerful story of a Native woman struggling to maintain strength, love and spirit within the walls of a women’s prison. Since the shooting death of her father, Johnny has spent most of her life in prison where she falls in love with her cellmate Lana. But her responsibilities to the outside world weigh heavily as she attempts to pull together her fractured natural family. The first feature film focusing on Native lesbians, Johnny Greyeyes is a deeply humanizing portrait of life behind bars. An official Sundance selection, the movie was also nominated for Best Picture at the American Indian Motion Picture Awards, and Jorge Manzano won Best Director. It also won the Freedom Award at Los Angeles Outfest 2000. Directed by Jorge Manzano.

* With artwork by Randy Charboneau.

RESISTANCE AND POLITICAL PRISONERS

In 1985, lesbian activist Laura Whitehorn was convicted of bombing the United States Capitol building and "conspiring to influence, change and protest policies of the United States government through violent and illegal means." This is a story of the making of a revolutionary. OUT chronicles the life of this courageous woman. From growing up in a liberal middle-class Jewish household, to involvement with radical leftist organizations of the 1960's and 1970's, to her 20 year sentence in prison (of which she served 14), Whitehorn has seen the twentieth century evolve, while the injustices surrounding class, race and gender remain the same. Articulate, candid interviews interwoven with compelling archival footage help OUT capture the portrait of an uncompromising radical. Directed by Rhonda Collins and Sonja de Vries.

A hard-hitting documentary on the experiences of Palestinian child prisoners. The documentary includes interviews with ex-child detainees, their families and their lawyer as well as exclusive footage from the inside an Israeli military court. The film highlights the personal pain experienced by the children and their relatives during the period of their incarceration, as well as placing this suffering within the wider context of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. DCI/PS and Dar Productions. Directed by Saed Andoni

The story of a young Iranian woman who becomes politically active in opposing Ayatollah Khomeini's regime in the 1980s. She is made to pay a heavy price, not only in terms of her immediate suffering, her torture and imprisonment at the hands of the regime, but the deeper pain of having her daughter, born in prison, taken away by the authorities, to be brought up by her husband's family. Directed by Zohreh Neirizi.

The Prison Justice Action Committee works on issues of prison justice and prisoners’ rights, public awareness campaigns and Prisoner’s Justice Day.
For more information www.pjac.org. 416 920 9567. Email: pjac_committee (at) yahoo.co

Many thanks to our Co-sponsors:
- Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Studies, U of T
- Faculty of Social Work, U of T
- Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)
- LGBTQ Resources and Programs, UofT
- PASAN (Prisoners' HIV/AIDS Support Action Network)
- John Howard Society - Toronto
- Metro Network for Social Justice
- U of T, Criminology Dept
- Global Justice Working Group of First Unitarian Congregation, Ottawa
- Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societie

Media Sponsors:
CIUT89.5fm and CKLN88.1fm

Endorsers include:
- Black Youth United
- Joint Effort - Vancouver
- Vancouver Prisoners' Justice Day Committee
- Books 2 Prisoners - Vancouver
- Womyn 4 Justice
- Innocence Project
- Lifers Group, Bath Institution
- Native Brotherhood, Bath Institution
- Native Brotherhood, Joyceville Institution
- Rittenhouse: Transformative Justice
- Lifers Group, Joyceville Institution
- Sumoud, Political Prisoner Support Group
- Toronto Action for Social Change
- No One Is Illegal - Toronto
- The Coalition Against War and Racism
- John Howard Society of Kingston
- John Howard Society, Collins Bay
- Resistance on the Soundial, CIUT89.5fm
- Buried Alive Illustrations
- Sexual Diversity Studies, U of T
- The Justice for Mohamed Harkat Committee
- Toronto Action for Social Change
- Edmonton Chapter to Stop Secret Trials and Deportations
- New Socialist Group
- Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
- Al-Awda Toronto
- Don't Ask, Don't Tell Coalition
- Inmate Pen Pal Connection
- Christian Inmate Pen Pal Connection
- Strength in SISterhood
- Free the Cuban 5 Committee - Toronto
- Criminology Department, York University
- The June 30th Coalition
- Women's Organizing Committee
- Pardons Canada

Art Against Prisons
Art by prisoners and activists (with a fundraiser silent auction on Aug 7)

1:00 - 5:00 pm every day
Interurban Gallery: corner of E. Hastings & Carral St.
Free admission.

Featuring the work of: Kate Barry, Carl Billington, Brenda Blondell, Bobh, Christiane Bordier, Louise Croft, Frederick Cummings,Tom Elton, Kenna Fair, Filis, Elizabeth Fischer, Heather Frise, Gayle Horii, Suzo Hickey, Gord Hill, Kaori Kasai, Liliana Kleiner, Velveeta Krisp, Dave Lester, Carel Moiseiwitsch, Janice Oakley, Jean Smith, Stuart Stonechild, Tania Willard, Diane Wood, Miss Wu, Kai Ling Xue
Click on the names in red to view the piece(s)

Saturday August 7, 2004

Performance Night & Silent Auction of Art
A fundraiser for local prisoner support groups

7:00 pm Interurban Gallery, E. Hastings & Carral St.
Admission by donation. Kids welcome.

With performances by: Chrystos, Wayde Compton + Jason De Couto, Mecca Normal, Trish Kelly, Shauna Paull, Tralala, Diane Wood, Cease Wyss

Monday August 9, 2004

Prison Justice Radio
4:00 - 9:00 pm on Co-op Radio 102.7 FM

Tuesday August 10, 2004

Prison Justice Day Memorial Rally
Honouring the memory of the women and men who have died unnatural deaths inside canadian prisons

7:00 pm Trout Lake Park, Victoria Drive. At the Claire Culhane Memorial Bench (South East end)
Bring family and friends. Rain or shine.

With: Cease Wyss - Coast Salish Welcome, Eddie Rouse, Karlene Faith, Kim Pate, Tom Elton, Brenda Blondell - Strength In Sisterhood, Painted Pony Drum Group, BCPWA Prison Outreach Program

Wednesday August 11, 2004

Dangerous Living
A documentary film co-presented with Out on Screen and Amnesty International

5:00 pm Cinemark Tinseltown
Note: Date & time are tentative. Please check back here, or at the Out on Screen site for confirmed info in late July.

Dangerous Living is a compelling examination of the struggles and triumphs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Global South, from After Stonewall director John Scagliotti.

Tuesday July 27, 2004

Books Through Bars Benefit for Books to Prisoners
An Evening with Activists & Authors

Doors open at 7:00 pm
Video In Studios: 1965 Main Street
Sliding scale: $6-$15 = postage to send one book to one prisoner or a box of books to a group of prisoners

Coast Salish Welcome
Cease Wyss

Readings by
Rita Wong, Karlene Faith, Ivan E. Coyote, Emma Kivisild, Lora McElhinney, Marie Annhearte Baker

Performance by
Jen Paches

This is an all ages event. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. Video in is wheelchair accessible.

We will be accepting donations of new or used books at the door.

Books 2 Prisoners started in 1992 in response to prisoner complaints over the lack of current and diverse reading materials available in prison libraries. Our mandate is to send books free of charge to prisoners by request. We currently send books to prisoners in to over fifty Canadian prisons, jails and youth detention centres. Our books are donated by publishers, distributers, book stores and individual sources.

Deadline: July 28th, 2004

Calling All Artists!…Prisoners’ Justice Day Committee Seeking Art…

The Vancouver Prisoners’ Justice Day Committee is looking for artists interested in donating art to our upcoming art show and silent auction. The art show will take place in advance of Prisoners’ Justice Day between August 5-7th at the Interurban Gallery (at Carrall and Hastings.)

In honour of Prisoners’ Justice Day, we are encouraging art on the theme of Prisoners’ rights and resistance to incarceration. (Though we are open to all mediums and themes.)

Deadline for donations is July 15, 2004.

If you are interested or have further questions please contact us at:
august10 (at) vcn.bc.ca or 604-682-3269 x3019

Thursday August 5, 2004

Prison Abolition Workshop
2:00 pm Interurban Gallery, E. Hastings & Carral St.