Alberta Prison Justice Society (APJS)

How many Albertans are aware of the cost attached to incarceration? How many would be in favour of spending more money on addictions, housing, and mental health services if they knew how much we're spending to warehouse people in jail?

Only 18 days away from the CPLA prison justice conference in Vancouver! It's an exciting year for prison justice cases getting leave to the SCC and a great time to reinvigorate discussion of prison justice issues.

Opinion: The revolution in online learning has skipped over our prisons – and that helps nobody /via @globeandmail theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl…

Imagine a province being run by someone who doesn't understand the basic legal concepts of judicial independence and the duty of Crown prosecutors to be fair and impartial. They're not secrets. They are wellknown tenets of Canadian law and certainly should be known by our premier

Ibrahim Ali, who had schizophrenia, was assaulted by another inmate, police said. He was in hospital for 3 days before a social worker informed the family. By the time the family rushed to his side, doctors told them he had no chance of survival. theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…

Last year in Edmonton, 302 homeless people died. That's up eight times what it was pre-pandemic (37 in 2019). It's part of an overall alarming increase in homeless deaths across Alberta (124 in 2019 to 787 in 2023). cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…

@AFPAElliott @CACP_ACCP @StamatakisCPA @homicide_canada @Safety_Canada @PierrePoilievre @JustinTrudeau …you understand that the presumption of innocence is not displaced by the severity of the alleged crime, right? It’s important that you - a police officer charged with enforcing the law - understand that incredibly basic principle of law.

First degree murder is both planned & deliberate. This person is charged with killing a police officer. Only in Canada can you acquire bail for such a heinous charge/crime. @CACP_ACCP @StamatakisCPA @homicide_canada @Safety_Canada @PierrePoilievre @JustinTrudeau

@adamzivo People pushed to the margins are victimized & criminalized at higher rates. One would think govts would invest in proven measures to prevent victimization & upstream community supports rather than ‘tough’ measures proven to fail time & time again. #BuildCommunitiesNotCages

Sentences to prison are the punishment for the crime: security levels within prisons are to manage risks posed by prisoners within the prisons + not punishment. Has this prisoner shown that the risks he poses can't be managed at a medium security prison? cbc.ca/news/politics/…

Canada continues to subject federal prisoners to solitary confinement under different names. All prisoners should participate in work and educational programs and maintain support networks. Define and prohibit abusive solitary. #FFRR

If this is the kind of stuff coming out of progressive politicians, the upcoming Auto-theft Summit is going to be one giant wreck caused by people at the wheel who demonstrably haven't got a clue, but insist on driving us into prison walls anyways.

The APJS is collecting winter items for those struggling with houselessness this time of year:

@CityofEdmonton doing this while taking part in the clearing of encampments (disproportionately populated by Indigenous ppl) has a similar feel to it as when @JustinTrudeau shed tears about Kamloops graves while his gov waged a court battle to pay less for FN CFS than the provs.

This makes me think of the men went to the Edmonton Remand Centres for unpaid fines and were killed while in there Barry Stewart, unpaid LRT fine, was killed by his cell mate in 2011 and Daniel Robinson, unpaid driving fine, was killed by staff in 2021 #yeg #yegcc #ableg

When thinking about how this period of time will be remembered, it seems likely that it will eventually be acknowledged as an atrocity in the same vein as Alberta’s history of forced sterilizations. One has to wonder if the GOA, COE, and EPS are trying to kill off the homeless…

@JohnHoward_Can @TomEngel18 There is already clarity right in the statute and on the VIS form. It is simply often ignored by people who are angry/hurting, which is why it falls to lawyers and the court to properly exclude any extraneous sections of VISes.

@TomEngel18 Need clarity on the legitimate and illegitimate roles for victims in the criminal justice system.

This language in this so-called "powerful victim impact statement" is, in fact, impermissible, contrary to section 722 Criminal Code. I don't understand why defence lawyers, Crown prosecutors & courts allow this to happen. #LawX #criminaljustice cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

With the severe weather we’re seeing right now, these sweeps will kill people. Given the disproportionate number of Indigenous people impacted by this, I suspect that history will view this as part of a genocide. Good on @avnishnanda for fighting this.

Finally, @AmarjeetSohiYEG : it is clear that the @CityofEdmonton has been complicit with the clearings. Please stop handwringing, admit the COE’s role in all of this, and work to make housing and services a priority.

Encampment clearings are not only heartless and pointless, they will actively make things worse by promoting crime fueled by desperation and endangering the lives of the most vulnerable. @ABDanielleSmith and @DMMcFee : stop trying to justify them and do something that works.

Encampment clearings are both cruel and counterproductive. To folks like @ABDanielleSmith and @DMMcFee who have been endorsing encampment clearings as some sort of safety measure, here's why you’re wrong and should look to better funding of housing and support services (a thread)