(en) Canada, Linchpin - Februrary 2013

The February broadsheet of Linchpin, a publication of Common Cause, is now available 
online. ---- Inside you will find articles on the ongoing injustices taking place inside 
the Grand Valley Institute for women, the ongoing strike of Porter airline refuelers in 
Toronto, the first annual London Prisoner Justice film festival and a recent community 
solidarity picket in Hamilton. ---- There is no justice at Grand Valley TAMMY LEE, 
Kitchener---On the early evening of January 28th protestors gathered outside of the Grand 
Valley Institution for Women (GVI), a federal prison in Kitchener, ON. Approximately 30 
people came out to show their support for the women inside, and to draw attention to the 
ongoing abuse at the institution, which in recent months has garnered substantial media 
attention in the wake of a drugs-for-sex scandal.

A little over a week before the protest, Kinew James
was found unresponsive in her cell at a psychiatric
prison in Saskatoon, and later died in hospital of an
apparent heart attack. Kinew, 35, had been serving
a 15-year sentence, and was set to be released this
August. Fellow inmates had heard Kinew shouting
for help from her cell, and repeatedly pushing the
distress call alarm. Despite the calls for help, guards
ignored the alarm and allowed over an hour to pass
before responding with the health care unit. A prompt
response to the distress alarm could have been the
difference between life and death for Kinew. Her
family and several prisoner rights? advocate groups are
demanding an inquiry into her death.
Observers have been quick to draw parallels
between the experiences of Kinew James and that of
Ashley Smith. Both Kinew and Ashley had histories
of struggling with mental illness and self-harm, had
their sentences extended for charges incurred while in
prison, were routinely placed in solitary confinement,
and died while incarcerated. In 2007 Ashley who was
19 and an inmate at Grand Valley Institution, died of
asphyxiation after tying a cloth around her neck as
guards watched, but did not intervene. An inquest
into her death is ongoing, and continues to reveal
exceedingly disturbing facts about the practices and
conditions at Grand Valley.
Kinew up until only a few months ago was also an
inmate at GVI, but was transferred to Saskatoon after
coming forward with allegations that a guard at Grand
Valley Institution was exchanging drugs and cigarettes
for sex with inmates. Kinew was not the only person
to make such an accusation. According to Kim Pate,
executive director of the Canadian Association of
Elizabeth Fry Societies, at least 3 other women had
made similar claims. These allegations hit the media in
early November, and the guard in question (a relative
of a senior manager at the prison) was suspended, and
an internal investigation launched.
Only days after the death of Kinew James, the
findings of the investigation were released. The
Correctional Service of Canada and the Waterloo
Regional Police announced that their investigation
had concluded that the drugs-for-sex accusations were
unfounded. Several outside groups raised concerns
throughout the investigation that evidence would be
difficult to gather due to the fact that inmates, having
no protection from the potential reprisals of guards
are too afraid to speak up of abuse and offer testimony.
This concern was dismissed by investigators who
claimed that it had no basis. The accused guard, who
had been suspended with pay, has since returned to
work and the investigation closed.

To say that GVI and the prison system in general
failed both Ashley Smith and Kinew James would be
a massive understatement.
However, to view their tragic stories as exceptional
would also be a mistake ? their experiences are
not an exception to the rule, but rather the brutal
norm of a system that fails all incarcerated women.

No internal investigation or inquiry will address
this. The formal complaint mechanisms of guards
investigating guards, of police investigating prisons,
will never favour these women. There is no justice, and
there is no accountability at Grand Valley. Isolation,
deprivation, abuse, and sexual exploitation are inherent
to the violent institution.

-------------------------------------------------------

COMMON CAUSE // anarchist organization

COMMON CAUSE is an Ontario-wide
anarchist organization with branches active
in Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo,
and London. We publish Linchpin monthly,
along with additional content online. To
find out more about our work get in touch
with a local branch in your area:
Toronto
commoncausetoronto@gmail.com
Kitchener-Waterloo
commoncausekw@gmail.com
Hamilton
commoncausehamilton@gmail.com
London
commoncauselondon@gmail.com

Struggle Changes Everythin